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Wake Forest Physics… |
WFU Physics Colloquium
TITLE:
Creating Particles in an Expanding Universe
SPEAKER:
Professor Leonard Parker
TIME: 4pm, Wednesday November 28, 2012
PLACE: Room 101 Olin Physical Laboratory
Refreshments will be served at 3:30 PM in the Olin Lounge. All interested persons are cordially invited to attend.
ABSTRACT
In 1962, as a graduate student at Harvard University, I endeavored to explore
in my Ph.D. thesis how elementary particles and other quanta could originate in the
observed expanding universe. In this colloquium, I will describe the exciting results of
this study and how they relate to present day observations of the 3 degree cosmic microwave
background radiation left over from the "inflating big bang" and to fundamental properties
of black holes. Starting from the familiar simple harmonic oscillator, I will go over the
basic ideas and difficulties that had to be overcome, in a way that should be accessible
to students and non-specialists.
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