dc.contributor.author | Adjei, Eugene | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2021-01-13 17:12:16 (GMT) | |
dc.date.available | 2021-01-13 17:12:16 (GMT) | |
dc.date.issued | 2021-01-13 | |
dc.date.submitted | 2020-12-12 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10012/16648 | |
dc.description.abstract | We look at some ideas that can be found from making connections among optics, non-Hermitian dynamics and gravity. Using nonlinear optics, we demonstrate how loss can be used to make brighter sources of thermal light. Also, we simulate accelerating Unruh-DeWitt detectors in 1+1 spacetime using a nonlinear-optical setup engineered to have variable dispersion. In our last connection with gravity, we make a connection between a dynamic spacetime metric from linearized gravity and a spacetime-dependent refractive index from a linear-optical setup. From these connections with gravity, we argue that spacetime might be emergent, and that one should not quantize the metric to find a quantum gravity theory. Instead, we propose that gravity might have a gauge theory description and that the problem of quantizing gravity is equivalent to that of quantizing a gauge field. A gauge theory of gravity will make it possible to include this interaction into the Standard Model, and this inclusion may have implications for physics beyond the Standard Model. | en |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | University of Waterloo | en |
dc.subject | Gravitational refractive index | en |
dc.subject | Simulation of Unruh-DeWitt detectors | en |
dc.subject | Non-Hermitian optics | en |
dc.title | Optics, Loss and Gravity | en |
dc.type | Doctoral Thesis | en |
dc.pending | false | |
uws-etd.degree.department | Physics and Astronomy | en |
uws-etd.degree.discipline | Physics | en |
uws-etd.degree.grantor | University of Waterloo | en |
uws-etd.degree | Doctor of Philosophy | en |
uws-etd.embargo.terms | 0 | en |
uws.contributor.advisor | Branczyk, Agata | |
uws.contributor.advisor | Mosca, Michele | |
uws.contributor.affiliation1 | Faculty of Science | en |
uws.published.city | Waterloo | en |
uws.published.country | Canada | en |
uws.published.province | Ontario | en |
uws.typeOfResource | Text | en |
uws.peerReviewStatus | Unreviewed | en |
uws.scholarLevel | Graduate | en |