Nag Lecture 2019
Prof. Atish Dabholkar
International Centre for Theoretical Physics,
Trieste, Italy
Public Lecture
Date: 07-01-2019 and Time: 04:00pm
Venue: Institute of Mathematical Sciences,Ramanujan Auditorium
QUANTUM BLACK HOLES
An encounter between Hawking and Ramanujan
Black Holes are an astonishing prediction of Einstein's General Relativity with bizarre causal and quantum properties. Hawking discovered that a Quantum Black Hole is not really black but is slowly emitting radiation. Understanding the implications of Hawking radiation has proved to be a very valuable guide in our search to unify General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics to learn about the quantum structure of spacetime. Explorations of quantum black holes in string theory have led to unexpected connections with the beautiful mathematical structures created by Ramanujan from a century ago. In this lecture I will describe the fascinating history, physics, and mathematics of quantum black holes.
About the Speaker
Prof. Atish Dabholkar is a theoretical physicist working at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. He is currently the head of the High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics section at ICTP and also the Directeur de Recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at Sorbonne Universites in the "Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Hautes Energies" (LPTHE). Prof. Dabholkar is a leading researcher in the field of string theory and has made important contributions to further our understanding of black holes and quantum gravity. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his work in theoretical physics. In 2006, he was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest science honours in India. He was awarded the Chaire d'Excellence of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in France in 2007. He is also a recipient of the National Leadership award from the President of India in 2008.