Graduate student seminar | Aidan Chatwin-Davies, A Covariant Minimum Length in Quantum Gravity and Cosmology

Speaker

Aidan Chatwin-Davies, PhD Candidate
Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo

Abstract

Considerations from quantum gravity motivate the existence of a fundamental minimum length in nature beyond which the notion of distance no longer makes sense. In this talk, I will give an introduction to what a minimum length is and to why it is expected to exist in nature. I will then discuss recent results that make use of sampling theory to formulate a covariant notion of a minimum length; that is, a notion of a minimum length that is consistent with Einstein's theory of relativity. Finally, we will see how this covariant minimum length could be tested with cosmological data. No knowledge of quantum theory, relativity, sampling theory, or cosmology is assumed for this talk.