Exactly the Same Conformal Field Theory That Vafanai Used to Construct the Hologram for the Stringy Black Hole Solution

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Cygnus X1 is 98, 99%, within 1% of the speed limit. Jarrus 1915, maybe 2%. There's a lot of them that are really, really whizzing around up there. And when they get very near the speed limit, as they like to do, they get exactly the same conformal symmetry that Vafanai used to construct the hologram for the stringy black holes. The symmetry also has predictions which we've made for the structure of emissions from, and signals from, you know, astrophysical black holes.

Quantum gravity research is inspired by experiment — all of the experimental data that supports quantum mechanics, and supports general relativity — but it’s only inspiration, not detailed guidance. So it’s easy to “do research on quantum gravity” and get lost in a world of toy models and mathematical abstraction. Today’s guest, Andrew Strominger, is a leading researcher in string theory and quantum gravity, and one who has always kept his eyes on the prize: connecting to the real world. We talk about the development of string theory, the puzzle of a positive cosmological constant, and how black holes and string theory can teach us about each other.

Support Mindscape on Patreon.

Andrew Strominger received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently the Gwill E. York Professor of Physics at Harvard University. Among his awards are the Dirac Medal, the Klein Medal, the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.