Colloquium: Renormalization Group Approach to Quantum Gravity
Author: UNB
Posted on Dec 3, 2013
Category:
Seminars and Colloquia
Colloquium
Renormalization Group Approach to Quantum Gravity
Gaurav Narain (Institute of Mathematical Sciences, India)
Thursday, December 5, 2013 at 12:30 pm
Tilley Hall Room 404
In the last century, theoretical physics witnessed two important major revolutions: Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity. First one addresses the physics at small scales while second one explains a large number of phenomenas ranging from astrophysical to cosmological scales. However there are situations at very high energies which demands a theory which can explain and understand what goes on at those high energies. The effort to develop such a theory goes under the research field with a name ‘Quantum Gravity’ (QG). At present there are many approaches to QG. Perturbative quantum gravity is one such approach and is also the oldest among all the approaches that are practiced today. In this approach one uses the usual Quantum Field Theory (QFT) methods to study theories of gravity. QFT has been very well tested in experiments and it was used with great accuracy to explain large number of phenomenas where effects of gravity are irrelevant. The success of QFT to explain non-gravitational quantum phenomenas motivated one to use the same methods and apply it to gravity. This talk is based on the application of QFT to gravity: its success and its failures.
Dr. Gaurav Narain is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, India.
