Université de Genève
École de physique: Département de physique nucléaire et corspusculaire
24, Quai Ernest-Ansermet
1211 GENEVE 4
Tél: (022) 379 62 73 - Fax: (022) 379 69 92
Friday 18 January 2008
Colloquium
at 17:00 – Stückelberg Auditorium
The Fabric of Spacetime
Prof. Demetrios Christodoulou / Laureate of he Tomalla Prize for gravity research
The first part of the lecture is a review of the geometric and physical basis of general relativity theory. It begins with Gauss‘s intrinsic geometry of surfaces, proceeding to Riemannian geometry, special relativity and the concept of spacetime with its geometry, the equivalence principle, the identification of tidal gravitational force with spacetime curvature, concluding with the formulation of general relativity and Einstein’s equations.
The second part of the lecture begins with the incompleteness theorem of Penrose and its geometric antecedents. Demetrios Christodoulou then proceeds to describe his work on the stabilityof the Minkowski spacetime and the nonlinear memory effect of gravitational waves.The lecture ends with a discussion of his work on spherically symmetric gravitational collapse, the formation of black holes, and the formation of unstable naked singularities.
The lecture shall be framed on a series of drawings which illustrate the concepts involved.
The colloquium is part of the award ceremony of the Tomalla Prize 2008 and is followed by an aperitif.
Prof. Ruth Durrer / Department of Theoretical Physics