WEEKLY COLLOQUIUM
Thursday, March 6, 2025
3:05 - 4:20 PM
Location: Biological Sciences, Room 334
Phenomenology of the Future in Spacetime
Dr. David Van Buren
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
The conceptual project of physics is to explain the universe, but the pragmatic project is to predict the future. We can compute the forward trajectory of particles and the future configuration of systems with varying accuracy. We seek better accuracy so we can we apply these predictions to better inhabit the future. These predictions can be used to adjust accelerator control signals to cause two ultra-relativistic particle beams to collide head on so we can reliably conduct our experiment. They can also be used to plan our own trajectory through spacetime so we can have a better future ourselves. Of course the future is conditioned on the past, but since most of the past is unknowable due to symmetries inherent in the universe or the limitations of measurement, the future is also not knowable with certainty. This will be a wide-ranging discussion of a way to think about the future on all scales and our agency in bringing about the future, understanding that there can be no absolute certainty.
Spring 2025 Department of Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Schedule
(This schedule will be updated throughout the semester.)
- Thursday, February 6: Dr. Jose Rodriguez, CSULA, "Cooperative Order from Flat Electron Bands in Twisted Bi-Layer Graphene"
- Thursday, February 13:
- Thursday, February 20: Dr. Emilie Royer, CSULA, "The Night Sky’s Hidden Light: Airglow as a Window into Solar System Atmospheric Dynamics"
- Thursday, February 27: Dr. Keeyoon Sung, JPL/Caltech, "High-Precision Molecular Spectroscopy in Support of NASA Space Missions and Instrument Design"
- Thursday, March 6: Dr. David Van Buren, JPL/Caltech, "Phenomenology of the Future in Spacetime"
- Thursday, March 13:
- Thursday, March 20:
- Thursday, March 27:
- Thursday, April 3: Spring Break, No Colloquium
- Thursday, April 10:
- Thursday, April 17:
- Thursday, April 24:
- Thursday, May 1:
Thursday, May 8:
End of Spring 2025 Semester