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Emergence and Phenomenology in Quantum Gravity
Emergence and Phenomenology in Quantum Gravity by Isabeau Premont-Schwarz´ A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2010 © Isabeau Premont-Schwarz´ 2010 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT This thesis is based on the following five articles: • A. Hamma, F. Markopoulou, I. Pr´emont-Schwarz and S. Severini, “Lieb-Robinson bounds and the speed of light from topological order,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 (2009) 017204 [arXiv:0808.2495 [quant-ph]]. • I. Pr´emont-Schwarz ,A. Hamma, I. Klich and F. Markopoulou, “Lieb-Robinson bounds for commutator-bounded operators ,” Phys. Rev. A 81, 040102(R) (2010) .[arXiv:0912.4544 [quant-ph]]. • I. Pr´emont-Schwarz and J. Hnybida, “Lieb-Robinson bounds with dependence on interaction strengths, ” [arXiv:1002.4190 [math-ph]]. • L. Modesto and I. Pr´emont-Schwarz, “Self-dual Black Holes in LQG: Theory and Phenomenology,” Phys. Rev. D 80, 064041 (2009) [arXiv:0905.3170 [hep-th]]. • S. Hossenfelder, L. Modesto and I. Pr´emont-Schwarz, “A model for non-singular black hole collapse and evaporation ,” Phys. Rev. D 81, 044036 (2010) [arXiv:0912.1823 [gr-qc]]. I did the majority of the work in the first article, but the project was initiated by Fotini Markopoulou-Kalamara and Alioscia Hamma and the manuscript was mostly written by Alioscia Hamma. -
Prizes, Fellowships and Scholarships
ESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES ALERT Issue 26: Volume 2 R SCHOLARSHIPS, PRIZES AND FELLOWSHIPS (Quarter: July - September, 2016) A Compilation by the Scholarships & Prizes RESEARCH SERVICES UNIT Early/ Mid Career Fellowships OFFICE OF RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (ORID), UNIVERSITY OF GHANA Pre/ Post-Doctoral Fellowships Thesis/ Dissertation Funding JUNE 2016 Issue 26: Volume 2: Scholarships, Prizes and Fellowships (July – September, 2016) TABLE OF CONTENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR JULY 2016 DAVID ADLER LECTURESHIP AWARD ............................................................................................................ 15 HAYMAN PRIZE FOR PUBLISHED WORK PERTAINING TO TRAUMATISED CHILDREN AND ADULTS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 HANS A BETHE PRIZE ........................................................................................................................................... 16 TOM W BONNER PRIZE IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS ............................................................................................ 17 HERBERT P BROIDA PRIZE .................................................................................................................................. 18 OLIVER E BUCKLEY PRIZE IN CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS ............................................................... 18 DANNIE HEINEMAN PRIZE FOR MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS.................................................................. -
2018 APS Prize and Award Recipients
APS Announces 2018 Prize and Award Recipients The APS would like to congratulate the recipients of these APS prizes and awards. They will be presented during APS award ceremonies throughout the year. Both March and April meeting award ceremonies are open to all APS members and their guests. At the March Meeting, the APS Prizes and Awards Ceremony will be held Monday, March 5, 5:45 - 6:45 p.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) in Los Angeles, CA. At the April Meeting, the APS Prizes and Awards Ceremony will be held Sunday, April 15, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, OH. In addition to the award ceremonies, most prize and award recipients will give invited talks during the meeting. Some recipients of prizes, awards are recognized at APS unit meetings. For the schedule of APS meetings, please visit http://www.aps.org/meetings/calendar.cfm. Nominations are open for most 2019 prizes and awards. We encourage members to nominate their highly-qualified peers, and to consider broadening the diversity and depth of the nomination pool from which honorees are selected. For nomination submission instructions, please visit the APS web site (http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/index.cfm). Prizes 2018 APS MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN PHYSICS 2018 PRIZE FOR A FACULTY MEMBER FOR RESEARCH IN AN UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTION Eugene N. Parker University of Chicago Warren F. Rogers In recognition of many fundamental contributions to space physics, Indiana Wesleyan University plasma physics, solar physics and astrophysics for over 60 years. -
Sabine Hossenfelder on “The Case Against Beauty in Physics” Julia
Rationally Speaking #211: Sabine Hossenfelder on “The case against beauty in physics” Julia: Welcome to Rationally Speaking, the podcast where we explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense. I'm your host, Julia Galef, and I'm here with today's guest, Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is a theoretical physicist, focusing on quantum gravity. She's a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, and blogs at Back Reaction. She just published the book, "Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray." "Lost in Math” argues that physicists, in at least certain sub-fields, evaluate theories based heavily on aesthetics, like is this theory beautiful? Instead of simply, what does the evidence suggest is true? The book is full of interviews Sabine did with top physicists, where she tries to ask them: what's the justification for this? Why should we expect beauty to be a good guide to truth? And, spoiler alert, ultimately, she comes away rather unsatisfied with the answers. So, we're going to talk about "Lost in Math" and the case for and against beauty in physics. Sabine, welcome to the show. Sabine: Hello. Julia: So, probably best to start with: what do you mean by beauty, in this context? And is it closer to a kind of “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” thing, like, every physicist has their own sort of aesthetic sense? Or is more like there's a consensus among physicists about what constitutes a beautiful theory? Sabine: Interestingly enough, there's mostly consensus about it. Let me put ahead that I will not try to tell anyone what beauty means, I am just trying to summarize what physicists seem to mean when they speak of beauty, when they say “that theory is beautiful.” There are several ingredients to this sense of beauty. -
Executive Committee Meeting 6:00 Pm, November 22, 2008 Marriott Rivercenter Hotel
Executive Committee Meeting 6:00 pm, November 22, 2008 Marriott Rivercenter Hotel Attendees: Steve Pope, Lex Smits, Phil Marcus, Ellen Longmire, Juan Lasheras, Anette Hosoi, Laurette Tuckerman, Jim Brasseur, Paul Steen, Minami Yoda, Martin Maxey, Jean Hertzberg, Monica Malouf, Ken Kiger, Sharath Girimaji, Krishnan Mahesh, Gary Leal, Bill Schultz, Andrea Prosperetti, Julian Domaradzki, Jim Duncan, John Foss, PK Yeung, Ann Karagozian, Lance Collins, Kimberly Hill, Peggy Holland, Jason Bardi (AIP) Note: Attachments related to agenda items follow the order of the agenda and are appended to this document. Key Decisions The ExCom voted to move $100k of operating funds to an endowment for a new award. The ExCom voted that a new name (not Otto Laporte) should be chosen for this award. In the coming year, the Award committee (currently the Fluid Dynamics Prize committee) should establish the award criteria, making sure to distinguish the criteria from those associated with the Batchelor prize. The committee should suggest appropriate wording for the award application and make a recommendation on the naming of the award. The ExCom voted to move Newsletter publication to the first weeks of June and December each year. The ExCom voted to continue the Ad Hoc Committee on Media and Public Relations for two more years (through 2010). The ExCom voted that $15,000 per year in 2009 and 2010 be allocated for Media and Public Relations activities. Most of these funds would be applied toward continuing to use AIP media services in support of news releases and Virtual Pressroom activities related to the annual DFD meeting. Meeting Discussion 1. -
A Natural Introduction to Fine-Tuning
A Natural Introduction to Fine-Tuning Julian De Vuyst ∗ Department of Physics & Astronomy, Ghent University, Krijgslaan, S9, 9000 Ghent, Belgium Abstract A well-known topic within the philosophy of physics is the problem of fine-tuning: the fact that the universal constants seem to take non-arbitrary values in order for live to thrive in our Universe. In this paper we will talk about this problem in general, giving some examples from physics. We will review some solutions like the design argument, logical probability, cosmological natural selection, etc. Moreover, we will also discuss why it's dangerous to uphold the Principle of Naturalness as a scientific principle. After going through this paper, the reader should have a general idea what this problem exactly entails whenever it is mentioned in other sources and we recommend the reader to think critically about these concepts. arXiv:2012.05617v1 [physics.hist-ph] 10 Dec 2020 ∗[email protected] 1 Contents 1 Introduction3 2 A Take on Constants3 2.I The Role of Units . .4 2.II Derived vs Fundamental Constants . .5 3 The Concept of Naturalness6 3.I Technical Naturalness . .6 3.I.a A Wilsonian Perspective . .6 3.I.b A Brief History . .8 3.II Numerical/General Naturalness . .9 4 The Fine-Tuning Problem9 5 Some Examples from Physics 10 5.I The Cosmological Constant Problem . 10 5.II The Flatness Problem . 11 5.III The Higgs Mass . 12 5.IV The Strong CP Problem . 13 6 Resolutions to Fine-Tuning 14 6.I We are here, full stop . 14 6.II Designed like Clockwork . -
Faculty Award Winners by Award
Department of Physics and Astronomy Awards by Award Award Faculty Member Year Academia Europaea Kharzeev, Dmitri 2021 Academy of Teacher‐Scholar Award (Stony Brook) Jung, Chang Kee 2003 Academy Prize for Physics, Academy of Sciences, Goettingen, Germany Pietralla, Norbert 2004 AFOSR Young Investigator Award Allison, Thomas 2013 Albert Szent‐Gyorgi Fellowship (Hungary) Mihaly, Laszlo 2005 Alpha Epsilon Delta Premedical Honor Society (honorary member) Mendez, Emilio 1998 American Academy of Arts & Sciences Fellow Brown, Gerald 1976 Dill, Kenneth 2014 Zamolodchikov, Alexander 2012 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow Allen, Philip 2009 Ben‐Zvi, Ilan 2007 Jung, Chang Kee 2017 Dill, Kenneth 1997 Jacak, Barbara 2009 Sprouse, Gene 2012 Grannis, Paul 2000 Jacobsen, Chris 2002 Kharzeev, Dmitri 2010 Kirz, Janos 1985 Korepin, Vladmir 1998 Lee, Linwood 1985 Marburger, Jack 2000 Mihaly, Laszlo 2013 Stephens, Peter 2011 Sterman, George 2011 Swartz, Cliff 1973 American Association of Physics Teachers Distinguished Service Award Swartz, Cliff 1973 American Association of Physics Teachers Millikan Award Strassenburg, Arnold 1972 American Geophysical Union/U.S. Geological Survey ‐ naming of de Zafra Ridge, Antarctica de Zafra, Robert 2002 American Physical Society DAMOP Best Dissertation Weinacht, Thomas 2002 American Physical Society Fellow Abanov, Alexandre 2016 Allen, Philip 1986 Aronson, Meigan 2001 Averin, Dmitri 2004 Ben‐Zvi, Ilan 1994 Brown, Gerald 1976 Deshpande, Abhay 2014 Drees, Axel 2016 Essig, Rouven 2020 Nathan Leoce‐Schappin -
Members Elect Barry Barish As Next APS Vice-President
October 2008 Volume 17, No. 9 www.aps.org/publications/apsnews 21st Century Campaign Nears Goal APS NEWS and Needs Your Support! A PublicAtion of the AmericAn PhysicAl society • www.APs.org/PublicAtions/APsnews (See insert) Energy Efficiency Crucial to Achieving Energy Security Members Elect Barry Barish and Reducing Global Warming, States APS Report as next APS Vice-President Tapping wasted energy from miles per gallon mileage for cars needs because they require sig- APS members have elected in physics from the University of inefficient automobiles, homes and and other light-duty vehicles by nificant scientific and engineering Barry Barish, Linde Professor of California, Berkeley. He joined businesses is equivalent to discov- 2030 and the elimination of energy breakthroughs in several critical Physics Emeritus at Caltech, as the faculty at Caltech in 1963. ering a hidden energy reserve that from fossil fuels in new residential areas. the Society’s next vice president. Among his noteworthy experi- will help the United States improve buildings by 2020. The study also calls on Congress Barish will assume the office in ments were those performed at its energy security and reduce glob- and the White House to increase January 2009. At the same time, Fermilab using high-energy neu- al warming, an APS study panel has spending on research and develop- Curtis Callan of trino collisions to concluded. ment of next-generation building Princeton Univer- reveal the quark Their report, Energy Future: technologies, training scientists sity will become substructure of Think Efficiency, states that the key who work on building technologies president-elect, and the nucleon. -
Quantized Vortices in Superfluid Dark Matter
Quantized Vortices in Superfluid Dark Matter Renate Mauland Master’s Thesis, Spring 2019 ii Copyright c 2019, Renate Mauland This work, entitled “Quantized Vortices in Superfluid Dark Matter” is distributed under the terms of the Public Library of Science Open Access License, a copy of which can be found at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/licenses-and-copyright. Cover Photo: Open Source Image from www.pexels.com. Abstract In a recent paper by Berezhiani and Khoury [1], a superfluid dark matter (DM) model was presented. The model consists of light axion-like DM particles (m ∼ eV), which condense and form a superfluid at galactic scales. The superfluid exhibits collective excitations known as phonons, which interact with baryons and mediate a force similar to that of Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). The superfluid DM model therefore combines the success of MOND at small scales with that of the ΛCDM model at large scales. By analogy with superfluids studied in the lab, we expect a grid of vortices with quantized circulation to form in a rotating galaxy containing superfluid DM. In this thesis, we explore the properties of the superfluid DM vortices and their impact on the surroundings. We find that the vortex cores are small, 10−4 − 10−3 m, and that the vortices are separated by vast distances, ∼ 0:002 AU. The viable parameter space of the model is found to be substantial, and a reduction in the DM particle mass results in larger vortices with a higher energy. Yet, no combination of parameters explored here give vortices energetic enough to have a noticeable effect on the galaxy as a whole. -
Educationinnovation2015.Pdf
Edited by: Michael Thoennessen, Michigan State University, and Graham Peaslee, Hope College Layout and design: Erin O’Donnell, NSCL, Michigan State University Front cover: Photograph of lead-tungstate scintillator crystals in a support frame for the Primakoff Experiment (PrimEx) in Hall B at Jefferson Lab. Preamble 3 1 Executive Summary 5 2 Education and Workforce 9 2.1 Workforce Development 9 2.2 Graduate and Postgraduate Education 19 2.3 Undergraduate Education 27 2.4 Outreach and K12 37 3 Innovation 43 3.1 Defense and Security 46 3.2 Energy and Climate 49 3.3 Health and Medicine 54 3.4 Art, Forensic, and other Applications 61 Appendix A: Town Meeting Program 72 Appendix B: Town Meeting Attendees 76 Appendix C: Presentation Abstracts 78 Appendix D: Examples of Outreach Activities 135 Ed Hartouni (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) Anna Hayes (Los Alamos National Laboratory) Calvin Howell (Duke University) Cynthia Keppel (Jefferson Lab) Micha Kilburn (University of Notre Dame) Amy McCausey (Michigan State University, conference coordinator) Graham Peaslee (Hope College, co-convener) David Robertson (University of Missouri) Gunther Roland (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Mike Snow (Indiana University) Michael Thoennessen (Michigan State University, co-convener) The town meeting was supported by the Division of Nuclear Physics and the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. We would like to thank Kandice Carter, Jolie Cizewski, Micha Kilburn, Peggy Norris, Erich Ormand, and Warren Rogers for suggestions, proof reading, data compilation, collecting the examples of outreach activities. The DNP NSAC Long Range Plan Town Meeting on Education and Innovation was held August 6–8, 2014 on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI. -
APS News January 2019, Vol. 28, No. 1
January 2019 • Vol. 28, No. 1 A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Plasma physics and plants APS.ORG/APSNEWS Page 3 Highlights from 2018 Blending Paint with Physics The editors of Physics (physics. The experiments sparked a series By Leah Poffenberger aps.org) look back at their favorite of theoretical studies, each attempt- 2018 APS Division of Fluid stories of 2018, from groundbreak- ing to explain this unconventional Dynamics Meeting, Atlanta— ing research to a poem inspired by behavior (see physics.aps.org/ Five years ago, Roberto Zenit, a quantum physics. articles/v11/84). One prediction physics professor at the National Graphene: A New indicates that twisted graphene’s Autonomous University of Mexico, superconductivity might also be Superconductor later reported the first observation was studying biological flows when topological, a desirable property 2018’s splashiest condensed- of the Higgs boson decaying into art historian Sandra Zetina enlisted for quantum computation. matter-physics result came bottom quarks (see physics.aps.org/ him for a project: using fluid from two sheets of graphene. The Higgs Shows up with the articles/v11/91). This decay is the dynamics to uncover the secret Researchers in the USA and Japan Heaviest Quarks most likely fate of the Higgs boson, behind modern art techniques. reported finding superconductiv- After detecting the Higgs boson but it was extremely difficult to At this year’s Division of Fluid ity in stacked graphene bilayers in 2012, the next order of business see above the heavy background Dynamics meeting—his 20th— ids, a person who has developed in which one layer is twisted with was testing whether it behaves as of bottom quarks generated in a Zenit, an APS Fellow and member certain knowledge about the way respect to the other. -
Experiment of the Week B. Jacak Awarded Tom W
November 30, 2018 | VOLUME 39 NUMBER 45 B. JACAK AWARDED TOM W. precision mass measurements, commitment to mentoring of young researchers, and leadership in the low energy BONNER PRIZE nuclear physics community.” Contributed by Gary Westfall Former NSCL graduate student Barbara Jacak has been Ania received her PhD from MSU in 2011 for her research awarded the 2019 Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics at the NSCL at the Penning trap mass spectrometry LEBIT by the American Physical Society. The Bonner Prize is facility under supervision by Prof. Georg Bollen. Her thesis awarded annually to recognize and encourage outstanding work included the high-precision mass measurement of experimental research in nuclear physics. Barbara phosphorus-32, which provided the most stringent test of the Jacak received the Bonner Prize “For her leadership in Isobaric Multiplet Mass Equation at the time. She added the the discovery and characterization of the quark-gluon new ion manipulation technique called Stored Waveform plasma, in particular for her contributions to the PHENIX Inverse Fourier Transform ion excitation to the LEBIT experiment and its explorations of jets as probes.” portfolio. Already during her time as graduate student at MSU Ania demonstrated her interest and talent in bringing Barbara Jacak received her Ph.D. from MSU for her students together and engage them in extracurricular research at NSCL in 1984 working under the supervision of activities, for example in the Women and Minorities in the Prof. David Scott and closely with Prof. Gary Westfall Her Physical Sciences program. thesis was entitled “Fragment Production in Intermediate Energy Heavy Ion Reactions”.