Emergent Spacetime in the Laboratory

Neven Bilić, Ph.D. Professor
Institute Ruđer Bošković, Croatia

The spacetime geometry on small scales is basically flat. However, it is possible to mimic a curved 3+1 dimensional spacetime in the laboratory by making use of fluid dynamics. This brings us to the concepts of acoustic geometry and analog gravity. Acoustic geometry is based on kinematics of sound waves (adiabatic perturbations) propagating in a non-uniformly flowing medium in full analogy with light waves propagating in curved geometry of spacetime. Analog gravity models may provide laboratory tests for quantum field theory in curved spacetime and ultimately a laboratory of quantum gravity. Various aspects of analog gravity will be discussed, in particular, the analog black hole and analog cosmology.