Aotearoa Fundamental Physics Workshop 2018

Observer-Dependent Entropy

December 12-14 2018

The notions of entropy and information are recurring themes in vastly different areas of physics. With Bekenstein's work linking gravitational horizons to entropy, any quantum theory of gravity will have to account for the emergence of Bekenstein’s notion of entropy. In parallel, today's availability of quantum information experiments made the question of how quantum field theories in general cope with information and entropy increasingly pressing. At the conjunction of these two avenues of inquiry lies the fact that entropy encodes lack of knowledge. Observers now enter the formalism, either through an observer's method for coarse-graining encapsulating this ignorance, or directly through the observer's trajectory in space-time and resulting horizons hiding information. This workshop aims to bring both experts of the field and young researchers together to discuss and explore this exciting interplay of topics.

AotearoaFP18 Poster

Feel free to download and distribute the poster as either PNG (750kB) or PDF (1.6MB).

To register, simply click here. The menu at the top left (hard to find in a mobile browser, a bit easier if mobile held horizontally) also directs to the registration and will link to further information and subpages later on.

Speakers:

  • Valentina Baccetti
  • Luis C. Barbado
  • Netta Engelhardt
  • Jorma Louko
  • Robert B. Mann

We gratefully acknowledge funding provided by FQXi.

Contacts: Sebastian Schuster (sebastian.schuster@sms.vuw.ac.nz), Matt Visser (matt.visser@sms.vuw.ac.nz)