DTPA Seminar: Harold Steinacker

The Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics invites you to the department seminary:

Harold Steinacker: A special matrix model at the origin of spacetime and gravity

We discuss an approach towards a quantum theory of spacetime & gravity based on a distinguished matrix model. This model is known as IKKT or IIB model, and was proposed as a non-perturbative definition of string theory. It is singled out among similar models by maximal supersymmetry, leading to good UV behavior. The framework naturally leads to quantum spacetime, and an explicit candidate will be described in some detail. The resulting gravitational theory is expected to be a modification of general relativity both in the UV and in the IR, some aspects of which will be discussed.