High Energy Physics Seminar

We now have precise models of quantum gravity that describe a universe in a box (the AdS/CFT correspondence), but we still lack a full formulation of quantum gravity in spacetimes experiencing cosmic expansion and contraction. Recently it was proposed that microscopic models of braneworld cosmology could be realized in the context of AdS/CFT using black hole microstates containing an end-of-the-world brane. I will explain these bottom up constructions and argue that, while the resulting phenomenology is far from realistic, we are making progress on the more modest goal of exhibiting some completely well-defined microscopic model describing cosmic expansion and contraction. I will also discuss follow up work where we explicitly construct candidate microstates in a concrete microscopic model and compare them to the predictions of the bottom up model. This is joint work with collaborators at UBC and with my PhD student Stefano Antonini.

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