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SUMMARY:Einstein’s Brane - Prof Paul Townsend (DAMTP Cambridge)
DTSTART:20160224T200000Z
DTEND:20160224T210000Z
UID:TALK63922@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Swaraj Dash
DESCRIPTION:2015 was the centenary of Einstein’s formulation of his grav
 itational field equations\,  inspired in part by Maxwell’s equations.\nI
 n 1916 Einstein used this  ``General Relativity’’ theory  to predict t
 he  existence  of gravitational waves\,  and in 1917 he applied  it to\nth
 e universe  as a whole\, thereby founding modern cosmology.  For the last 
 30 years of his life\, starting around 1925\,  he tried\nto find a  ``unif
 ied field theory’’  of gravity and electromagnetism. These were all ``
 classical’’\,  Einstein didn’t attempt to incorporate\nquantum mecha
 nics\, and it later became apparent that  there was a clash between quantu
 m mechanics and General Relativity.\nThis was eventually  resolved by  ``S
 tring Theory’’\,  which emerged in the mid  1970s from the ashes of an
  unsuccessful theory of the strong nuclear force (now explained by QCD). B
 y the end of the 1980s it was known that there are just five consistent st
 ring theories. In the 1990s\, these were unified into ``M-theory’’\, w
 hich has been described as a ``brane democracy’’ in which strings are 
 just 1-branes.  A bonus is that  M-theory allows for a unification  of gra
 vity with electromagnetism and all the other forces of nature\, along with
  the ``dark energy’’ that makes up 3/4 of the universe — originally 
 proposed (avant la lettre) by Einstein!\n\nThis talk will attempt to expla
 in some of the ideas of string/M-theory and to put them into a context pro
 vided by the history\nof unification in the 20th century and by  Einstein
 ’s ideas and accomplishments. A few equations will be mentioned but only
 \nE=mc^2 will be used.
LOCATION:Wolfson Lecture Theatre\,  Department of Chemistry\, Lensfield Ro
 ad
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