2024 Ta-You Wu Lecture in Physics | Constraints on Quantum Gravity

Abstract: Superstring theory is currently the best candidate for the ultimate unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics. Although predictions of the theory are typically made at extremely high energies and beyond the reach of current experiments and observations, several non-trivial constraints have recently been found on its low-energy effective theory. Because of the unusual ultraviolet behavior of gravitational theory, the standard argument for the separation of scales does not work for gravity, leading to robust low-energy predictions of consistency requirements at high energy. For gravitational theories in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes, we can formulate such constraints and aim to prove or falsify them using the AdS/CFT correspondence. I will review recent progress in this approach and discuss examples of such constraints and their implications for low energy physics.

Please join us for the lecture at 3:00 pm and a reception before the lecture beginning at 2:30 pm. You may find more information on our webpage: https://myumi.ch/xmvm8.

This lecture will also be live-streamed via YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T-IYWIW-0E