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Quantum mechanics is pivotal to modern science, but what is it? How is it used? Join us and our expert speakers for a tour of the quantum world, from the everyday matter surrounding us, to the wild theoretical space-times which may hold the key to time travel - and of course, with a quick stop at the quantum pub along the way!
Can we create wormholes using quantum fields?
Dr. Eleni Kontou
(Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow of mathematics)
Exotic spacetimes with wormholes, superluminal travel, or time machines require negative energy. While it is a science fiction concept in classical physics, negative energy is a reality when we are discussing quantum fields. But can we have enough of it to create such spacetimes? In this talk I will discuss what negative energy is and how we can create it. I will also explain why negative energy is a necessary ingredient in order to travel back in time, and finally the limitations on it, otherwise known as quantum inequalities.
Quantum states at the pub: the latest updates
Professor Irene d'Amico
(Professor of physics)
In 2016 quantum states arrived to the pub. And they liked it. We discovered that even quantum states are partial to a good (quantum) pint of Yorkshire beer. So now…. here they are again(!), spreading their weirdness over crisps and ale. Come to listen to what happens when beer becomes quantum, or worse, entangled. We will share the latest quantum news including on quantum communicating satellites and commercial quantum computers. Quantum, quantum, quantum!
The quantum world we live in
Dr. Phil Hasnip
(EPSRC Research Software Engineering Fellow in physics)
Quantum physics predicts all sorts of new and exotic behaviour, but it doesn't have much to say about our everyday lives... or does it? Come along and hear how none of us would exist without quantum physics, what makes some materials metals and some insulators, and how quantum physics is already guiding the development of new materials for a vast range of important applications, from medicine to power generation.
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