Home Page of Tejinder Pal Singh
Affiliation | Research | CV | Publications | Students | Awards | Teaching | Popular Science | Schooling
- Affiliation:
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
- Homi Bhabha Road
- Mumbai 400005
- India
- Designation : Professor
- Email : tpsingh at tifr.res.in OR tejinder.tifr at gmail.com
- Follow @TEJINDER_TIFR
- The AIKYON Academy of Young Researchers in Foundational Physics
- Tel: +91-22-22782600 (Office): +91-22-22783160 (Residence)
- Research Interests :
- Quantum Gravity; Unification and division algebras; Quantum Measurement Problem and Foundations of Quantum Mechanics; Gravitation Theories with Torsion; Cosmology - The Origin of Cosmic Acceleration and Dark Energy, The Cosmological Constant Problem and the Large Scale Structure of the Universe; Gravitational Collapse and Cosmic Censorship.
- COLLOQUIUM AT TIFR: Towards the unification of the four fundamental forces, February 10, 2021 at 1600 hrs IST Link Here YouTube Recording
- COLLOQUIUM AT TIFR: Why do elementary particles have such strange looking mass ratios? , February 9, 2022 at 1600 hrs IST Slides here YouTube Recording
- RECENT ARTICLES, VIDEO LECTURES:
- Why do elementary particles have such strange mass ratios? - The importance of quantum gravity at low energies -
- Forthcoming invited talk: Gravitation, and quantum theory, as emergent phenomena DICE 2022. Castiglioncello, Italy, September, 2022
- Invited Review: Quantum theory without classical time: a route to quantum gravity and unification Talk at University of Regensburg, January 21, 2022
- Majorana neutrinos, Exceptional Jordan algebra, and mass ratios for charged fermions
- Left-Right symmetric fermions and sterile neutrinos from complex split biquaternions and bioctonions
- Quantum theory without classical time: octonions, and a theoretical derivation of the fine structure constant 1/137, Talk at Perimeter Institute conference on `Octonions and the standard miodel'
- The characteristic equation of the exceptional Jordan algebra: its eigenvalues, and their relation with mass ratios of quarks and leptons [Preprint at Researchgate], Delhi University Talk
- Aikyons, Octonions, and Unification, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus Talk, IIT Delhi Talk
- Trace dynamics and division algebras: towards quantum gravity and unification, Audio slides of Webinar at: Albert Einstein Institute, Potsdam, Monday September 21, 2020, Aikyon Theory Simplified
- Trace dynamics, and a ground state in spontaneous quantum gravity
- Octonions, trace dynamics and non-commutative geometry: a case for unification in spontaneous quantum gravity
- A basic definition for spin in the new matrix dynamics
- Why does the Kerr-Newman black hole have the same gyromagnetic ratio as the electron? INO Lecture
- The pollen and the electron: a study in randomness
- Nature does not play dice on the Planck scale
- Spontaneous Quantum Gravity, Video Lecture
- Blog: Schrdinger's cat and Einstein's space-time in the twenty-first century
- Dark energy as a large scale quantum gravitational phenomenon
- Proposal for a new quantum theory of gravity V: A testable prediction
- From quantum foundations to quantum gravity: an overview of the new theory
- Proposal for a new quantum theory of gravity IV: Black Hole Entropy
- Proposal for a new quantum theory of gravity III: Equations of quantum gravity
- Proposal for a new quantum theory of gravity II : spectral action and trace dynamics
- Quantum gravity as an emergent phenomenon
- Proposal for a new quantum theory of gravity, ASET Colloquium, An elementary account, Plausibility arguments, BITS Goa Talk
- Thinking about Quantum Gravity: YouTube Video Lecture Series Video#1 Playlist
- Outline for a quantum theory of gravity
- Space-time from collapse of the wave-function: Article, Blog Post
- Testing the Limits of Quantum Mechanics Article, TIFR Colloquium
- Space and time as a consequence of GRW quantum jumps
- Testing spontaneous collapse through bulk heating experiments
- Quantum theory and the structure of space-time
- CURRENT RESEARCH (2021): THE CONNECTION BETWEEN QUANTUM FOUNDATIONS AND QUANTUM GRAVITY
I am currently working on the deep theoretical connection between quantum foundations, and the sought for quantum theory of gravity. And I collaborate with experimentalists to test these ideas in the laboratory, and in the cosmological setting, as also in the context of black hole physics. Quantum theory, despite being extremely successful and agreeing with every experiment to date, poses difficult unresolved conceptual issues: the nature of the quantum-to-classical transition, the absence of position superpositions in the macroscopic world, quantum non-locality, and the problem of time in quantum theory. I have argued that addressing these issues points us towards the sought for quantum theory of gravity. Some of these issues have been addressed by spontaneous collapse theories, which provide a unified description of classical and quantum dynamics, by suggesting that the principle of quantum linear superposition is approximate, not exact. These theories are falsifiable, and are currently being tested in the laboratory. We have shown that the resolution of the problem of time in quantum theory guides us towards quantum gravity, and spontaneous localisation plays an important role in bridging the quantum gravitational world and the classical one. We have predicted the intriguing phenomenon of quantum interference in time, and spontaneous collapse in time - these are in principle testable in the laboratory, and constitute a test of quantum gravity. These ideas also seem to have important implications for black hole physics and cosmology, which are currently being investigated. You can get more information on these works from the articles listed above, and from my ongoing YouTube video lecture series `Thinking about Quantum Gravity’.- CV: Detailed CV
- Date of Birth : 23rd July, 1962
- Masters in Physics [Five Year Integrated Programme] : IIT, Delhi (1979-1984)
- Ph. D. in Physics : TIFR, Mumbai (1984-1989)
- Post-Doctoral Fellow at ICTP, Trieste : 1989-90
- Faculty Member at TIFR since 1989
- List of Publications :
- PDF file
- Link to Spires Database
- Link to Google Scholar
- Graduate Student(s): -
- Past Graduate Students :
- Srimanta Banerjee
- Sayantani Bera (post-doc, IUCAA, Pune)
- Shreya Banerjee (post-doc, Ben Gurion University, Israel)
- Priti Mishra [Faculty, Patna University]
- Kinjalk Lochan [Faculty, IISER Mohali]
- Aseem Paranjape [The Jurgen Ehlers Thesis Prize 2013 from International Society of General Relativity and Gravitation; Faculty, IUCAA, Pune]
- Rakesh Tibrewala [Faculty, LNMIIT, Jaipur ]
- Sashideep Gutti [Faculty, BITS Hyderabad]
- Sukratu Barve [Faculty, Univ. of Pune]
- Awards and Recognition :
- CBSE HSC Examination (1977) : All-India Rank 11
- CBSE Senior Secondary Examination [1979] : All-India Rank 3
- IIT Delhi Silver Medal [1984]
- Gravity Research Foundation [USA] Essay Contest :
- 3rd Prize (1998)
- 4th Prize (2004) [jointly with Cenalo Vaz, Cincinnati]
- 2nd Prize (2008)
- Center for Excellence Visiting Scholar, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto [Aug.-Oct. 2000]
- Fourth Prize in 2009 Essay Contest of the Foundational Questions Institute (USA)
- 4th Prize in FQXi essay contest 2011
- 4th Prize in FQXi essay contest 2012, jointly with Angelo Bassi and Hendrik Ulbricht
- 2nd Prize in FQXi essay contest 2013, jointly with Angelo Bassi and Saikat Ghosh
- 3rd Prize in FQXi eessay contest 2014
- Creative Thinking Prize in FQXi essay contest 2015, jointly with Anshu Gupta Mujumdar
- 4th Prize in FQXi essay contest 2018
- John Templeton Foundation project grant for research on `Quantum physics and the nature of reality' [2011-2013]
- Co-investigator: John Templeton Foundation project grant for research on 'Experimental and theoretical exploration of fundamental limits of quantum mechanics' PI: Hendrik Ulbricht (Southampton), Co-investigator: Angelo Bassi (Trieste) 2013-2016
- Member, Foundational Questions Institute, USA
- Teaching [Graduate Courses at TIFR]:
- Classical Electrodynamics [1993]
- Astronomy and Astrophysics [1995]
- Classical Electrodynamics [1998]
- Statistical Mechanics [2001]
- Classical Mechanics [2003]
- Statistical Mechanics [2009]
- General Relativity and Cosmology [2013]
- Some Popular Science Articles / Podcast / Youtube Video:
- Special Relativity for the School-Going Child
- Quantum theory and the Cosmological Constant
- Quantum theory, gravity, and the standard model of particle physics
- FQXi Lecture 'Quantum measurement and quantum gravity'
- FQXI Podcast: Testing the quantum limits
- YouTube Video: Does Nature Play Dice?
- Schooling :
- Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, Ambala Cantonment, 1975-79
- Kendriya Vidyalaya, BHU Varanasi, 1974-75
- Kendriya Vidayala, Babina Cantonment, 1973-74
- Shalini Preparatory School, Clement Town, Dehradun, 1969-72