Phenomenology of Black Holes in Quantum Gravity (Cancelled) (21w5091)

The Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics will host the "Phenomenology of Black Holes in Quantum Gravity" workshop in Hangzhou, China from May 23 to May 28, 2021.

The existence of black holes is one of the major predictions of Einstein's theory of general relativity and has been one of the most outstanding problems in physics since 1970s, especially after Hawking in 1974 discovered that black holes can radiate thermally as a black body, and two years later found the information paradox, which showes the inconsistence of black hole evolution with the principles of quantum mechanics. In the past seven decades or so, the studies have been carried out both semi-classically and in full theories of quantum gravity, including string theory and loop quantum gravity. However, with the detections of gravitational waves by LIGO in 2015, and later joined by Virgo in 2017, and the direct observation of the M87 supermassive black hole by Event Horizon Telescope in 2017 and announced two years later (2019), two new observational windows to the regime of strong gravity have opened, including the regions near the horizons of black holes. As a matter of fact, there have been already tentative evidence for the presence of quantum gravitational effects on the first gravitational wave from two binary black hole merger observed by LIGO in 2015 and from the one emitted by the merger of two neutron stars observed by both LIGO and Virgo in 2017, although further confirmations are still needed.

In this 5-day workshop, we shall bring the fields leaders, both theoretical and observational, together across the boundaries of several different fields, to discuss the important issues about black hole physics and gravitational wave astronomy in particular, and quantum field theory and quantum gravity in general. The workshop is very timely and important, and has been already received strong support from various leaders of the fields.

The Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (IASM) in Hangzhou, China, and the Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) in Banff, are collaborative Canada-US-Mexico ventures that provide an environment for creative interaction as well as the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and methods within the Mathematical Sciences, with related disciplines and with industry. The research station in Banff is supported by Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Alberta's Advanced Education and Technology, and Mexico's Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT).