TAM Seminar - Making Mechanics Quantum - Vivishek Sudhir
Thursday, November 19, 2026 |
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM CT
How precisely can we measure and control the motion of an object? Quantum mechanics gives a famously unsettling answer: the act of measurement inevitably disturbs the motion we seek to measure — this is the famous uncertainty principle of Heisenberg, theorized almost exactly 100 years ago. I will describe recent experiments that approach these limits using tangibly macroscopic mechanical oscillators, including the measurement and quantum control of motion of a kilogram-scale mirror, and of a centimeter-scale torsional oscillator. At these scales, quantum mechanics becomes a theory we can test with objects we can see and weigh—opening the possibility of asking whether quantum mechanics survives unchanged in the macroscopic world, and ultimately whether gravity itself must obey quantum rules, one of the pre-eminent problems of modern physics.
Audience
- Faculty/Staff
- Student
- Post Docs/Docs
- Graduate Students
Contact
Ezri Alfie
(847) 491-3257
Email
Interest
- Academic (general)