Wednesday 22 April 2009

Speaker: Charles Wang   (U Aberdeen)

Title: Scalar Gravitational Waves, High Energy Cosmic Rays and Quantum Decoherence

Abstract:

Gravity incorporating a scalar field provides a promising extension to general relativity. Variants
of the scalar field are required to explain a range of important processes in theoretical physics 
and cosmology. They are believed to be responsible for the Higgs mechanism, inflation and dark energy.
One dynamical consequence of the scalar field is the emission of scalar gravitational waves from
violent gravitational events, which might be detectable by e.g. GEO, LIGO and LISA. In this talk,
further possible observational effects of scalar gravitational waves will be discussed including the
transfer of energy to astroparticles and the decoherence in quantum matter wave interferometers.