Lecture Season
2012
 | Ted Jacobson
University of Maryland, Department of Physics |
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| LECTURE INFORMATION |
Black holes and warped spacetime
Nothing in physics can prevent some stars and other systems from experiencing continued
gravitational collapse, resulting in a "black hole" that is cut off from communication with
the rest of the universe. For nearly a century this fact has often disturbed, confused, and
puzzled physicists, including Einstein himself, whose general relativity theory accounts for
the existence and properties of these strange objects. This talk will begin by sketching
the conceptual framework of Einstein's warped spacetime theory of gravity, and will then
describe the nature of black holes and the difficulty and success physicists experienced in
coming to terms with them, including a bit of psychoanalysis. That will set us up to explain
the famous discovery of Hawking that black holes can evaporate, and the perplexing puzzles of quantum gravity raised by the existence of black holes.
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25/
10/2011 
TSH-B128 8:00pm Campus Map Parking Info |
| SPEAKER BACKGROUND |
Theodore Jacobson is a Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He
is a leading researcher in the field of gravitational physics, and a devoted and accomplished educator. Dr. Jacobson’s research has focused on quantum gravity, testing the foundations of relativity theory, and the phenomenon of Hawking radiation and black hole entropy. He has authored more than 100 scientific papers, which have received over 5900 citations in other articles. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and has served on the editorial board of Physical Review D and as a Divisional Editor for Physical Review Letters.
Website:
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