3 pm in Boggs B-6A (pre-reception at CRA - Boggs Building, First Floor)
Georgia Tech School of Mathematics & School of Physics Colloquium
Abhay Ashtekar
Department of Physics and Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry Penn State University
"Big Bang and the Quantum"
General relativity is based on a deep interplay between physics
and mathematics: Gravity is encoded in geometry. It has had
spectacular observational success and has also pushed forward the
frontier of geometric analysis. But the theory is incomplete
because it ignores quantum physics. It predicts that the
space-time ends at singularities such as the big-bang. Physics
then comes to a halt. Recent developments in loop quantum gravity show
that these predictions arise because the theory has been pushed
beyond the domain of its validity. With new inputs from
mathematics, one can extend cosmology beyond the big-bang. The talk
will provide an overview of this new and rich interplay between
physics and mathematics.
