02/21/2022
By Lynne Schaufenbil

The Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology along with the Space Science Laboratory invite you to a virtual seminar on Thursday, March 17 at 11 a.m. by Ioannis Contopoulo, Academy of Athens, Research Center for Astronomy and Applied Mathematics.

Short biography:

Present position: Director of Research, Research Center for Astronomy & Applied Mathematics of the Academy of Athens since 2005.  Education: BA Electrical Engineering NTUA 1987; MA, PhD Astrophysics (with Richard Lovelace) Cornell University 1992.  Other positions: Research Associate NASA/Goddard and University of Chicago; Visiting professor University of Crete; Production Engineer Hellenic Aluminum Rolling Industry; R&D Hellenic Center for Metals Research.  Research Interests: relativistic magnetohydrodynamics, pulsar and black hole magnetospheres, numerical astrophysics

Abstract:

Richard Feynman famously quoted that "interference patterns are impossible, absolutely impossible to explain in any classical way and have in them the heart of quantum mechanics". We respectfully disagree. We will show with two particular numerical experiments that, if individual classical particles carry a "phase" that is collected at the point of their detection, the processing of the phases of a large number of particles by a special type of "detector" may generate interference patterns. In a world where all detectors operate like our special type of detector, Nature behaves classically, and wave-like behavior manifests itself only in the eyes of the detectors.

Please contact Lynne_Schaufenbil@uml.edu for the Zoom link if you are interested in attending.