Two Manifestations of the Failure of General Relativity

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• George Chapline (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California)
• Friday 28 November 2008, 13:00-14:00
• Pavilion B Potter Room (B1.19).

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr H K Kunduri.

GR is bound to fail under some circumstances due to its incompatibility with quantum mechanics. In this talk two examples of possible failures of GR that may be confirmed in the very near future are described. The first example relates to the fact that GR cannot provide an exact description of any rotating object. In the case of a rotating compact object GR may not be even qualitatively correct. In particular, we will argue that in reality rotating compact objects have a Godel-like vortex core. The prediction is that the highly collimated jets seen emerging from AGN originate from inside the compact object. The second example relates to the fact that GR must fail as one approaches an event horizon. As a consequence cosmic rays hitting the surface of a compact object will produce a gamma ray spectrum with a dip below 70 MeV. In the case of the compact object located at Sg A* it may be possible to see this spectral anomaly with GLAST .

This talk is part of the DAMTP Friday GR Seminar series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All CMS events
• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
• CMS Events
• Cambridge Astronomy Talks
• Cosmology lists
• Cosmology, Astrophysics and General Relativity
• DAMTP Friday GR Seminar
• DAMTP info aggregator
• Interested Talks
• Kavli Institute for Cosmology Talk Lists
• Pavilion B Potter Room (B1.19)
• Priscilla
• School of Physical Sciences
• bld31

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.