The 2019 DiPerna Lecture will be given by Gunther Uhlmann (University of Washington) on January 31, 2019, 4PM in 60 Evans Hall:
Through Space-Time
Abstract: We will consider the question on whether we can determine the structure of space time by making measurements near the worldline of an observer. We will consider both active and passive measurements. For the case of passive measurements one measures the fronts of light sources near the observer. For the case of active measurements we couple Einstein equations with matter or electromagnetic fields and formulate the question of determining the structure of space time as the problem of recovering the metric from observations of waves near the observer, The method applies to several other inverse problems for nonlinear equations, for example, nonlinear elastic equations. No previous knowledge of Einstein's equations or Lorentzian geometry will be assumed.