Fall 2026 Physics Colloquium: Three Ways To Build A Spacetime

Title: Three Ways To Build A Spacetime

Abstract: How is spacetime built?  What is it built from? What can asking these questions tell us about the nature of black holes, the beginnings of our universe, or the nature of quantum gravity? After a brief review of the nature and use of dualities in modern string theory and quantum gravity, we explore three approaches to theoretically constructing spacetime itself: entanglement entropy, quasinormal modes, and the "double copy" prescription. We discuss how these approaches provide new theoretical and physical windows into the nature of spacetime.

Bio: Dr. Cynthia Keeler studies the nature of quantum gravity with a particular focus on how spacetime itself is constructed, using quasinormal modes as well as holographic and color-kinematics dualities. She is particularly interested in using entanglement entropy information to understand the shape of dual spacetimes. Keeler graduated from Stanford University in 2003 with a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics. She then studied at University of California at Berkeley, earning her M.A. in Physics in 2006. Continuing at Berkeley, she received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2005, and her Ph.D. in Physics in 2008. She then held postdoctoral appointments at Harvard University’s Center for the Fundamental Laws of Nature, the University of Michigan, and finally at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University. She was a Marie Curie Fellow from 2015 to 2017. She joined Arizona State University physics department in 2017, and became Associate Professor in 2023.

3:00 PM in PAS 201 / YouTube

Refreshments in PAS 236, 2:30PM