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Jamboree presentation

Of all known interactions in the universe, gravity is my favourite.
Einstein's general relativity is a pretty successful theory of classical gravitational fields, consistent with experiments all the way from micron scales out to the edges of the visible universe.
But as a quantum field theory, it fails at high energy scales, giving nonsense like scattering probabilities >100%.
Question: how much can humans learn about Quantum Gravity? Black holes provide a fascinating laboratory for investigating this.

[Event Horizon Telescope 2024, polarized light from Sgr A* in the Milky Way galaxy]

Black holes have famously strong gravity near the singularity. There, we definitely need a quantum theory of gravity to do calculations, such as string theory.
What about near the event horizon? This is actually still an open research question.
Holography conjecture: a quantum gravity system can be alternatively described by a special kind of quantum field theory (without gravity!) living in one less dimension of spacetime.
State of the art? This depends on dark energy parameter Λ.
- Λ < 0: Tons known.
- Λ = 0: Moderate amount known. ← My current focus.
- Λ > 0: Tougher nut to crack.

Curious about research in T-HEP? Unsure how to start a chat? Simply tell me about what fascinates you and I will do the same.
Suggested courses:-
1. Introduction to holography (PHY2406S); ← **NEW!**
2. QFT x 2 (PHY2403F, PHY2404S); ← required for T-HEP;
3. ?Some GR (PHY1483F, PHY1484S), depending on your background.
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