February 14, 20222:00 pm – 3:00 pm (CDT)

## Strong Cosmic Censorship Versus Λ

Speaker:

Mihalis Dafermos (University of Cambridge & Princeton University)

Host:

Christopher Pope

Location:

Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics & Astronomy

College Station, Texas 77843

#### Event Details

The strong cosmic censorship conjecture is a fundamental open  problem in classical general relativity, first put forth by Roger Penrose
in the early 70s. This is essentially the question of whether general relativity is a deterministic theory. Perhaps the most exciting arena
where the validity of the conjecture is challenged is the interior of rotating black holes, and there has been a lot of work in the past 50
years in identifying mechanisms ensuring that at least some formulation of the conjecture be true. It turns out that when a nonzero cosmological
constant Λ is added to the Einstein equations, these underlying mechanisms change in an unexpected way, and the validity of the conjecture depends on
a detailed understanding of subtle aspects of black hole scattering theory, surprisingly involving, in the case of negative Λ, some number
theory. Does strong cosmic censorship survive the challenge of non-zero Λ? This talk will try to address this Question!