Conveners
(DTP) M2-2 Gravity and Cosmology and Astrophysics | Gravité, cosmologie et astrophysique (DPT)
- Mark Walton (University of Lethbridge)
Quantum black holes are one of the main playgrounds of any theory of quantum gravity. Describing such objects is a principal goal of these theories. I will review the fundamentals of analyzing black holes in non-perturbative canonical quantum gravity and briefly present some of the models arising from this approach. I will also present a short overview of some of the phenomenological aspects...
Following the techniques of canonical loop quantum gravity, a full Thiemann regularization is performed on the scalar constraint of classical general relativity. The regularized Hamiltonian is then considered for a general spherically-symmetric spacetime, without recourse to additional gauge-fixing conditions commonly imposed to aid in computing the radial holonomies. By investigating the form...
Caustics are regions of high intensity created generically by the natural focusing of waves, and are universally described by catastrophe theory. Each distinct class of catastrophe is uniquely described by its own diffraction pattern, the simplest two being the Airy and Pearcey functions. A more exotic form of logarithmic wave singularity occurs near event horizons, which have acoustic...
We use a novel approach to numerically calculate Fast-Oscillating Integrals (FOI) using the Picard-Lefschetz theory. In this theory, analytic oscillatory integrals are converted into sums of convex integrals by deforming the integration domain in the complex plane. Feldbrugge, Pen, and Turok 2019 introduced a new numerical integrator to evaluate the interference effects near caustics in lenses...
