The last Copernican Revolution: "Spacetime of the Gaps"*

• Guilherme Franzmann (Stockholm University)

Room: Albano 3: 4204 - SU Conference Room (56 seats) Many centuries ago, Copernicus told us that we were not in the center of the Universe. Since then, many other Copernican steps moved us away from a central place in our understanding of the Universe. Nonetheless, it still has remained a place. In this colloquium, I will argue that, perhaps, the very last Copernican revolution will melt away any fundamental notion of space, and perhaps time. We will talk about the very deepphilosophical and conceptual idea that spacetime is emergent while keeping the level as pedagogical as possible. We won't shy away from big conceptual leaps, but we will restrain ourselves from being excessively technical. By the end of this talk, I hope you will be as fascinated as I am about the current frontier in our understanding of quantum gravity and inspired by the real possibility that we may test the emergent nature of spacetime in the lab and in the sky. * A reference to the "God of the Gaps" theological perspective.

Testing the limits of physics with massive quantum systems

• Sofia Qvarfort (Stockholm University)

Room: Albano 3: 4204 - SU Conference Room (56 seats) Microscopic mirrors, levitated beads, and vibrating membranes are among the most massive resonator systems that we can currently cool to the quantum regime. With masses much higher than the single-atom scale, these systems are excellent candidates for testing the limits of quantum physics and gravity. In this talk, I will give a brief overview of this field and tell you about my own research, which concerns developing models of these systems in the laboratory, and asking how we can use them as probes of gravity.

Optical searches for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence with the VASCO project

• Beatriz Villarroel (Stockholm University)

Room: Albano 3: 4204 - SU Conference Room (56 seats)

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