Symmetries and Quantum Universe

Symmetries and the Quantum Universe 900322SCI

  • I teachthiscourse together with Prof. Dr. B. Nienhuis (UvA) during the spring semester.
  • The course includes a 2-day visit to CERN (Geneva) and the ESRF/ILL synchroton and research facilities (Grenoble). The trip is partly sponsored by Nikhef and AUC. Due to limited number of places for thetrip, students who are interested in taking the course are advised to notify me early in the fall semester. Third year students will be given priority.


Prof. Nienhuis's website

Preliminary Course Description

Hand-in Problems (25% of grade)

Problem Set Week 9

Problem Set Week 10

Problem Set Week 11

Problem Set Week 13

Problem Set Week 14

Visit to CERN/ESRF/ILL

See pictures of our visit to CERN below. The trip was part of the course "Symmetries and the Quantum Universe" and was partially sponsored by Nikhef (Nationaal instituut voor subatomaire fysica).


DSC02062.JPG

The Cathedral


DSC02051.JPG

Down the Tunnel


DSC02041.JPG

Capstone Thesis Project

  • Holographic Dualities and Emergent Gravity


Project description

Lectures in English

  • Strings and Quantum Gravity. Consequences for Reductionism. University of Navarre, Pamplona, Spain. June 21, 2011.
  • The Quest for a Theory of Everything. Het Wereldbeeld, AUC, Amsterdam. June 6, 2011.  
  • Black Hole Horizons: The Gravity ofParadigms.
    CREA, Amsterdam. March 9, 2011.

Lectures in Dutch

  • De zoektocht naar een unificerende theorie. De Leidsche Fles, symposium 'De rand van de wetenschap', Universiteit Leiden, 10 november 2011.
  • Hiërarchisch of democratisch? Over de eenheid van de natuurwetenschap. Fysica 2011, sessie Interdisciplinariteit van de realiteit, VU, Amsterdam. 15 april 2011.
  • Wat rechtvaardigt de eenheid van de wetenschap? Waar alfa, bèta en gamma samenkomen. College StudieMarathon, Oude Manhuispoort, UvA. 19 januari 2011.