Adventures with black holes: past, present and future

Tue 29 October 2024

Centre for Mathematical Sciences

The Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture by Professor Andrew Strominger (Harvard)

In the last decade black holes have come to centre stage in both theoretical and observational science. Theoretically, they were shown a half-century ago by Stephen Hawking and others to obey a precise but still-mysterious set of laws which imply they are paradoxically both the simplest and most complex objects in the Universe. Compelling progress on this paradox has occurred recently. Observationally, they have finally and dramatically been seen in the sky, including at LIGO and the Event Horizon Telescope. Future prospects for progress on both fronts hinge on emergent symmetries occurring near the black holes. An elementary presentation of aspects of these topics and their interplay will be given.

Cost: Free