The unreasonable simplicity and complexity of black holes — Prof. Hari Kunduri

Talk Synopsis

The unreasonable simplicity and complexity of black holes

Black holes are the one of the best examples of how investigating the extreme limits of a theory can lead to real physical predictions that can be ultimately verified.  Truly, they must be believed in to be seen. In this talk I will give a short introduction to the geometric ideas underlying general relativity and how black holes emerge from it. I will explain why their classical description is to simple, but their quantum description poses many interesting problems that continue to challenge theoretical physicists today.

Bio:  Dr Kunduri completed his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics at the University of Toronto and then obtained his Ph.D in 2007 from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at the University of Cambridge. Following this he held postdoctoral fellowships at the Universities of Nottingham, Cambridge, and Alberta before taking up an assistant professorship in mathematics at Memorial University in St John’s, Newfoundland. He joined McMaster University as an associate professor in Mathematics and Physics in 2022. His research focusses on the mathematical theory of black holes in general relativity. 

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