Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture 2022

The sixteenth Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture, entitled Black Holes, Thermodynamics and Information Loss, will be given by Professor Robert Wald (University of Chicago) at 5 PM GMT on Friday 4th November at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge. The lecture will also be livestreamed online.

A black hole is a "region of no escape" produced by the complete gravitational collapse of a body. Black holes occur in nature and are of considerable importance in astrophysics. Black holes are also extremely important as objects of study in theoretical physics, as they provide major insights into the fundamental properties of quantum gravity. These insights arise mainly from a truly remarkable relationship between laws of black hole physics and ordinary thermodynamic laws---most significantly, Hawking's discovery that black holes emit thermal radiation at a finite temperature as a result of quantum particle creation. This thermal emission should result in the complete "evaporation" of an isolated black hole within a finite time. An issue of considerable interest is whether information is destroyed in this process.

Admission is free, but pre-booking is required.

To learn more about Andrew’s life and work, please visit http://andrewchamblin.org/.

Images

A stellar black hole, Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/M.Kornmesser

Professor Robert Wald, Credit: Department of Physics, University of Chicago