Lecture Theatre 1, Physics, Sandy Bay campus
Summary:Hear Professor Michael Tobar discuss his cutting-edge research on measuring time and new physics.
Professor Michael Tobar knows the importance of time. His cutting-edge research involves measuring time to improve international clock technology and precision measurements, as well as undertaking laboratory research to test the fundamental rules of physics.
Professor Tobar directs the Quantum Technologies and Dark Matter (QDM) Research Laboratories at The University of Western Australia. The research group are world leaders in precision and quantum measurement technologies and its application to tests of fundamental physics. Such experiments include precision experiments to convert dark matter into light, measure quantum effects in macroscopic masses to search for a theory of quantum gravity, precision tests of the Einstein's Equivalence Principle including experiments to see if the speed of light is in fact constant, and high frequency gravitational wave detection experiments at frequencies much higher than is currently detected worldwide. This work includes the necessary development of some of the world's best clocks and sensors, including the ultra-precise sapphire clock and interferometer noise measurement systems.
In this lecture, Professor Tobar will give an overview of this work, including international collaborations to hunt for the elusive dark matter particles, which are observed to exist in the cosmos, and indeed must exist around us all now. As well as undertaking ground-breaking experiments in his laboratories, his research group is part of the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) collaboration, the biggest worldwide collaboration to search for axion dark matter.
