5pm - 6pm
Wednesday 7 October 2020
Mad-dog everettianism
A seminar on the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics given by Caltech physicist, Sean Carroll.
Free
University of Surrey
Guildford
Surrey
GU2 7XH
This event has passed
Attendance is by invitation only. We will send the Zoom link to attendees just before the event is due to start.
Synopsis of talk
Quantum mechanics is a theory of wave functions in Hilbert space. Many features that we generally take for granted when we use quantum mechanics -- classical spacetime, locality, the system/environment split, collapse/branching, preferred observables, the born rule for probabilities -- should in principle be derivable from the basic ingredients of the quantum state and the Hamiltonian. I will discuss recent progress on these problems, including consequences for quantum gravity and emergent spacetime.
About Sean Carroll
Sean Carroll is a well-known American theoretical physicist, specialising in quantum mechanics, cosmology, statistical mechanics, and the foundations of physics. He is Research Professor of Physics at Caltech and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.
His latest book, Something Deeply Hidden, is about quantum mechanics, Many Worlds, and the emergence of spacetime. And he also has a regular podcast, called Mindscape, in which he interviews all sorts of fascinating and smart people.
This seminar has been organised by the Quantum Foundations Centre.
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