(Back to
the menu - click here.)
|
Date: |
Download-files: |
Time: |
|
Thursday,
26 March 2026 |
Video-Recording for any system with MP4-support - Video.mp4 (ca. 524 Mb) |
15:15 – 16:35 |
"Recent
Progress on Simulating the Explosive Death of Massive Stars"
Prof.
Marcus Aspelmayer
(Faculty
of Physics, University of Vienna)
Abstract:
In 1926, right after writing his famous
wave equation, Schrödinger introduces the
concept
of coherent states to resolve the outstanding puzzle how to correctly
describe
the quantum dynamics of a mechanical harmonic oscillator.
Today, 100 years later, mechanical quantum
systems are an experimental reality
in laboratories all over the
world - enabled by the development of quantum
optomechanics,
a new paradigm for light-matter interaction that allows quantum
optical
control of solid-state mechanical objects (Curiously, one of the first ideas
along
this line already appeared in a letter from Schrödinger to Sommerfeld
in 1931).
Devices currently being studied cover a
mass range of more than 17 orders of magnitude
- from nanomechanical waveguides of some picograms
to macroscopic, kilogram-weight
mirrors
of gravitational wave detectors.
The fast progress in controlling ever
increasing masses in the quantum regime creates
new and unexpected
opportunities to address one of the outstanding questions at the
interface
between quantum physics and gravity, namely “does gravity require a quantum
description?”.
Concretely, quantum optomechanics enables experiments
that
directly
probe the phenomenology of quantum states of gravitational source masses.
This can lead to experimental outcomes
that are inconsistent with the predictions of a
purely
classical field theory of gravity. Such 'Quantum Cavendish' experiments will
rely
on delocalized motional
quantum states of sufficiently massive objects and gravity
experiments
on the micrometer scale. I review the current status in the lab and the
challenges
to be overcome for future experiments.