Quantum Gravity meets Statistical Physics

ABSTRACT
Recent work on quantum gravity has revealed deep connections with subjects like quantum information, statistical physics and quantum chaos. In particular, low-energy effective field theories that include gravity turn out to have more access to high-energy degrees of freedom than their non-gravitational Wilsonian counterparts. While precise microscopic high-energy information is inaccessible, certain statistical high-energy information does manifest itself in an interesting way at low energies. I will describe some recent work trying to make this connection more precise, and explain how it connects to issues like wormholes, baby universes, averaging over theories and the black hole information paradox.

BIO
Jan de Boer has been a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Amsterdam for the past 20 years. He has worked on a broad range of subjects in theoretical physics with an emphasis on problems in string theory, black holes, quantum gravity, and holography.

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Q&A