Speaker
Keith Ng
(University of Waterloo)
Description
Classically, the equivalence principle tells us that an observer cannot determine the global structure of spacetime using local measurements. After reviewing previous results demonstrating the sensitivity of detectors to spacetime, I proceed to our most recent result: that one can distinguish between a detector in flat space and one inside a hollow spherical shell by measuring the energy required to switch it on and off. These results suggest that, in principle, a particle detector can be used to probe the shape of spacetime far away from the detector itself due to the non-local nature of quantum fields.
Author
Keith Ng
(University of Waterloo)
