Theory Group Lunchtime Seminars
Scheduled seminars are listed below.
Announcements and reminders will be posted to the physics-theory-group-seminar list.
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- In the "Search Outlook settings" box type "distribution groups" and click the top search result.
- Under "Distribution groups I belong to" click the icon with two little people and a "+" sign.
- Search for physics-theory-group-seminar and double click on the result.
- Click "join". You will then be added to the email list once approved by a moderator.
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- Sign into your university email account via webmail.
- Click the settings icon along the top icon bar (looks like a cog/gear).
- In the "Search Outlook settings" box type "distribution groups" and click the top search result.
- Under "Distribution groups I belong to" click
physics-theory-group-seminar. - Click the "leave" icon above the list (looks like two people with a minus sign to their bottom right).
[If you are a member of Theory group, you will receive seminar announcements via physics-theory or physics-theory-staff. You do NOT need to subscribe to the above mailing list as well.]
Theory Seminar: Elisabetta Matsumoto (Georgia Tech), Non-Euclidean Virtual Reality, 1300 in PS1.28 (joint with the Geometric Topology seminar)
The properties of euclidean space seem natural and obvious to us, to the point that it took mathematicians over two thousand years to see an alternative to Euclid’s parallel postulate. The eventual discovery of hyperbolic geometry in the 19th century shook our assumptions, revealing just how strongly our native experience of the world blinded us from consistent alternatives, even in a field that many see as purely theoretical. Non-euclidean spaces are still seen as unintuitive and exotic, but with direct immersive experiences we can get a better intuitive feel for them. The latest wave of virtual reality hardware, in particular the HTC Vive, tracks both the orientation and the position of the headset within a room-sized volume, allowing for such an experience. We use this nacent technology to explore the three-dimensional geometries of the Thurston/Perelman geometrization theorem. This talk focuses on our simulations of H³ and H²×E.
Joint work with: Vi Hart, Andrea Hawksley, and Henry Segerman
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