Chasing the dragon: tidal bores in the UK and elsewhere; quantum and relativistic analogies

TYPEOther, Special colloquium
Speaker:Michael Berry
Affiliation:University of Bristol
Date:09.05.2018
Time:13:00 - 14:00
Location:Lidow 001
Abstract:

In some of the world’s rivers, an incoming high tide can arrive as a breaking wave, or as a smooth jump decorated by waves. An approximate theory is inspired by hamiltonians in quantum mechanics, and there is an analogy with white hole horizons in relativity. This dramatic phenomenon, in which the river flows backwards, illustrates the first unification in physics: the same force - gravity - keeps us on the ground, holds the moon in its orbit, and pulls the tides.