Physical Society Colloquium

Black Holes, Quantum Gravity and Holography

Alejandra Castro

Institute for Theoretical Physics
University of Amsterdam

Gravity is intrinsically different from other physical forces. Gravity is geometry. This raises the fundamental question: how does geometry emerge from a quantum theory? Black holes have inspired revolutionary ideas to attack this question, with one impressive outcome being the holographic principle.

In this talk I will review how we understand quantum gravity from a holographic perspective. The bold assertion of holography is that some ordinary quantum field theories are secretly theories of quantum gravity. In holography, the quantum field theory dictates how to define observables in quantum gravity. This provides novel insights on how to treat, characterize and probe black holes which I will discuss.