Universal Equations: Understanding the Universe through Theory and Math

Take a journey to the cutting edge of theoretical physics: string theory! In this “Cafe Scientifique'' style session, we will explore one of string theory’s most surprising predictions, that all the information in our 3D universe may be contained in a mysterious 2D image, like a hologram. This “holographic principle” promises not only to unite Einstein’s relativity with quantum physics, but also has the potential to someday provide us with cleaner energy, faster computers, and novel electronics.

While astronomy, space travel, and everyday experience provide ample evidence that the Earth is approximately a ball, is there a way to test this hypothesis using just the geometric measurements we can perform on the surface of the planet? The talk will introduce the fascinating world of curved geometry and its modern applications in data analytics. In our main example we will talk about lemurs.

Carbon nanotubes are molecules - long tubes of graphite, just one atom thick – which have very special chemical properties. They can be utilised in a variety of different ways, ranging from the building of bicycles, to cancer treatments, to touch screen technology. To build them, it’s important to understand their geometric characteristics on an atomic level. I will describe how we can investigate these characteristics using an area of maths known as algebraic topology.