Physics Colloquium: Gravity, Black Holes and Their Holographic Duals

Holographic Dualities are at the forefront of contemporary theoretical physics research, peering into the fundamental nature of our universe and providing best attempt answers to humankind’s bold questions about basic physical phenomena. Yet, the concepts, ideas and mathematical rigors associated with these dualities have long been reserved for the specific field researchers and experts. In this talk I will attempt to shatter this long held paradigm by presenting on several aspects of my holography research in a self-contained and pedagogical manner. We will begin with examples at the college physics level and move up from there through advanced topics in black hole thermodynamics and quantum gravity. There are numerous examples of Holographic Dualities in physics, with the AdS/CFT correspondence of string theory being probably the most famous. Of particular interest to our work and pedagogical implementation, are the holographic scaling properties of black holes and their gravitational fields. Advanced gravitational and field theoretic physics is not just in demand, but a necessity in a positive forward evolving physics undergraduate education. The challenge for educators, teachers and professors is to provide ample opportunity for students to learn the respective topics with maximum pedagogical efficiency, but without sacrificing scientific worth and content rigor. This will be the premise of my talk and also defines my proposed audience to include undergraduate physics majors from freshmen to seniors and by default faculty and staff.