Physics Colloquium: “From Quantum Information to Black Holes and Cosmology”

The Syracuse University Department of Physics is pleased to welcome Ying Zhao, Post-Doctoral Associate at MIT, for her talk titled, “From quantum information to black holes and cosmology.”

Zhao obtained her Ph.D. from Stanford University, working with Prof. Leonard Susskind. After having post-doc experience at IAS and KITP,  she is now a post-doctoral associate at MIT in the Center for Theoretical Physics.

Abstract: Black holes have not just become laboratories for astronomers, but also present some of the deepest unsolved problems in theoretical physics. During the past decade surprising connections have been made between ideas from quantum information and and gravitational physics. In this talk, Zhao will explain several aspects of these connections. In particular, we will see that by treating a black hole as a quantum computer, we can understand various properties of the black hole interior. She will also show that similar ideas, when applied to cosmology, lead to surprising and puzzling features that motivate future studies of the subject.