# Video Library

Since 2002 Perimeter Institute has been recording seminars, conference talks, and public outreach events using video cameras installed in our lecture theatres.  Perimeter now has 7 formal presentation spaces for its many scientific conferences, seminars, workshops and educational outreach activities, all with advanced audio-visual technical capabilities.  Recordings of events in these areas are all available On-Demand from this Video Library and on Perimeter Institute Recorded Seminar Archive (PIRSA)PIRSA is a permanent, free, searchable, and citable archive of recorded seminars from relevant bodies in physics. This resource has been partially modelled after Cornell University's arXiv.org.

## Brane interactions: the origin of space-time dimensionality and the physics of cosmic superstrings

Wednesday Sep 30, 2009
Speaker(s):

Collisions and subsequent decays of higher dimensional branes leave
behind three-dimensional branes, one of which could play the role of
our universe. This process also leads to the production of
one-dimensional branes, D-strings, and fundamental ones (F-strings),
known as cosmic superstrings. In the first part of this talk, I will discuss the mechanism we have proposed in order to explain the origin of the space-time dimensionality, while in the second part I will review formation and dynamics of cosmic superstrings.

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## On the 2-vector re-formulation of quantum mechanics

Wednesday Sep 30, 2009
Speaker(s):

I will discuss properties of pre- and post-selected ensembles in quantum mechanics. I will also discuss the proper way to observe these properties through the use of a new type of non-disturbing measurement which I call 'weak measurement'. A number of these new experiments have already been successfully performed and others are in the planning stage. These experiments have confirmed the unique property of pre- and post-selected ensembles that I call 'weak values.' Theoretical analysis of the outcomes of these experiments have produced several very rich results.

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## Lessons from black holes -- Equations of motion, scales &amp;amp; effective coupling of quantum gravity

Wednesday Sep 30, 2009
Speaker(s):

We use black holes to understand some basic properties of theories of quantum gravity. First, we apply ideas from black hole physics to the physics of accelerated observers to show that the equations of motion of generalized theories of gravity are equivalent to the thermodynamic relation $\delta Q = T \delta S$. Our proof relies on extending previous arguments by using a more general definition of the Noether charge entropy. We have thus completed the implementation of Jacobson's proposal to express Einstein's equations as a thermodynamic equation of state.

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## The nature of the wave function in de Broglie's pilot-wave theory

Wednesday Sep 30, 2009
Speaker(s):

TBA

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## Statistical Mechanics (PHYS 602) - Lecture 3

Wednesday Sep 30, 2009
Speaker(s):

## Reality and the Role of the Wave Function in Quantum Mechanics

Wednesday Sep 30, 2009
Speaker(s):

The most puzzling issue in the foundations of quantum mechanics is perhaps that of the status of the wave function of a system in a quantum universe. Is the wave function objective or subjective? Does it represent the physical state of the system or merely our information about the system? And if the former, does it provide a complete description of the system or only a partial description?

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## Quantum Field Theory (PHYS 601) - Lecture 3

Wednesday Sep 30, 2009

## Dynamical origin of quantum probabilities revisited

Tuesday Sep 29, 2009
Speaker(s):

The de Broglie-Bohm theory is about non-relativistic point-particles that move deterministically along trajectories. The theory reproduces the predictions of standard quantum theory given that the distribution of particle positions over an ensemble of systems, all described by the same wavefunction psi, equals the quantum equilibrium distribution |psi| squared. Numerical simulations by Valentini and Westman have illustrated that non-equilibrium particle distributions may relax to quantum equilibrium after some time.

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## Noncomutative Effects in Primordial Density Fluctuations

Tuesday Sep 29, 2009
Speaker(s):

Near the Planckian scales, quantum gravity is expected to drastically change the structure of spacetime, one feature of which may be noncomutativity of the coordinates. Based on the recent advances in
quantum field theories on such noncommutative spaces, I will consider the
fluctuations of inflaton and look for possible noncommutative corrections
in the CMB. Anisotropy and non-gaussianity are the result. The resultant
distribution is then compared with ACBAR, CBI and WMAP data to constrain
the scale of noncommutativity parameter.

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## Topics in dynamical wave function collapse

Tuesday Sep 29, 2009
Speaker(s):

It will be shown how the CSL (continuous spontaneous localization) dynamical collapse equations work. A mathematically equivalent, non-collapse, Hamiltonian formulation will be described, with interpretative differences between it and CSL briefly discussed. A random field engenders collapse in CSL, and particle energies increase due to collapse. Energy of the random field will be treated, such that energy of particles plus field is conserved. A conserved energy-momentum-stress density tensor for the random field will be presented, enabling gravitational applications.

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## Next Public Lecture

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## RECENT PUBLIC LECTURE

### Niels Bohr: Life Behind the Physics

Speaker: Vilhelm Bohr