Seminars
Seminars occur on Wednesdays from 12:00-1:00 PM Pacific in ISB 130 with a hybrid option over Zoom unless otherwise posted. To join the mailing list, please contact Prof. Christopher Smallwood at christopher.smallwood@sjsu.edu with the words "Seminars and Events" included in the subject heading.
This Week
Quantum chaos and low-dimensional quantum gravity
Curtis Asplund, San José State University
Wednesday, 10/29/2025, 12:00-1:00pm Pacific
Abstract: Physicists have long been interested in chaotic behavior, meaning when things behave
in complicated and/or difficult-to-predict ways. For classical systems like orbiting
celestial bodies or mechanical systems, we have a well-developed theory for this kind
of behavior. It involves concepts such as sensitivity to initial conditions (the butterfly
effect) and exponentially diverging trajectories (Lyapunov exponents). I will discuss
these and then turn to the challenge of extending these concepts to quantum mechanical
systems and quantum field theories, for which new concepts like entanglement and quantum
complexity can be useful. With this background, I'll present recent results from myself
and my collaborators on quantum chaotic behavior in two-dimensional quantum field
theories, and how it can be related to the behavior of quantum gravity in three dimensions.
The motivating context for this work comes from the exciting achievements of experimental
physicists who are making significant progress in realizing simulations of low-dimensional
quantum chaotic and quantum gravitational systems in laboratory experiments.
Bio: Dr. Curtis T. Asplund is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at San José State University. He completed postdocs at Columbia University and KU Leuven, and earned his Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara and his B.A. in Mathematics and Physics from Oberlin College. He is a theoretical physicist who studies quantum aspects of black holes and entanglement in quantum field theory. He is also on the Steering Committee of the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.
