Gerard ′t Hooft on physics beneath quantum mechanics + Video: Joe Polchinsky on Black Holes and Firewalls

The following two items involve topics that you may not be fully understand  (I sure don’t) but can still be fun if you have any interest in fundamental physics:

Nobel physicist Gerard ′t Hooft offers some interesting speculation on what sort of physics might lie beneath quantum mechanics: Does Some Deeper Level of Physics Underlie Quantum Mechanics? An Interview with Nobelist Gerard ’t Hooft – Critical Opalescence/Scientific American Blog Network

(‘t Hooft, by the way, is an enthusiastic supporter of the Mars One initiative: Prof. Dr. Gerard ‘t Hooft, ambassador of Mars One – Mars One.)

===

Joe Polchinsky gives a general overview of the black hole intersection of quantum mechanics and general relativity and the key questions that arise there:

Caption:

Speaker: Joe Polchinsky, Kavli Institute for Particle Physics, UC Santa Barbara

Abstract:

Thought experiments have played an important role in figuring out the laws of physics. For the unification of quantum mechanics and gravity, where the phenomena take place in extreme regimes, they are even more crucial. Hawking’s 1976 paper “Breakdown of Predictability in Gravitational Collapse” presented one of the great thought experiments in the history of physics, arguing that black holes destroy information in a way that requires a modification of the laws of quantum mechanics. Skeptics for years failed to poke holes in Hawking’s argument, but concluded that if quantum mechanics is to be saved then our understanding of spacetime must break down in a radical way.

Dr. Polchinsky will present some of the history of these ideas, what has already been learned from this puzzle, and the recent `firewall’ controversy, which argues that Einstein’s theory breaks down radically for an observer falling into a black hole.