22.03.2024
Tübingen Reloaded: Insights with Physicist Dr. Horacio S. Vieira
In this series, we invite research alumni, who returned to the University of Tübingen on a Tübingen Reloaded grant, to share their insights and reflections by completing 10 sentences. Join us and discover what fuels their curiosity and gain impressions of their stay.
Discover how physicist Dr. Horacio S. Vieira, invited back to the University of Tübingen by Prof. Dr. Kostas Kokkotas (Theoretical Astrophysics), reflects on his field of research and his stay. Dr. Horacio S. Vieira is an Alexander von Humboldt Research Group Leader in the Department of Physics, at the Institute of Natural Sciences at the Federal University of Lavras of Brazil.
1. The most exciting aspect of being a physicist is...
understanding our universe, by reading nature’s language: mathematics.
2. In my research project at the University of Tübingen, I was exploring...
the quantum nature of gravity, by investigating quantum probes on acoustic black hole spacetimes. Acoustic black holes are analog models of gravity which mimic the effective geometry of astrophysical black holes. They are solutions of hydrodynamical, condensate matter and/or optical equations of motion and could be implemented in high specialized quantum gravity laboratories.
3. One of the biggest challenges I face in my research is...
finding theoretical solutions that can be tested in a quantum gravity laboratory. For those of you who are unfamiliar with a quantum gravity laboratory – it’s a type of laboratory that uses superfluids (E.g. Helium II near the absolute zero temperature), water channels and/or laser beams to experimentally reproduce high speed vortices (similar to a draining bathtub, but at the speed of sound), which is an analog model of gravity, and then to shoot a sound wave that interacts with it as a quantum particle.
4. Collaborating with other researchers helps me to...
improve my own research, further my professional career and foster personal growth.
5. If I could explain one concept in physics to the entire world, it would be...
Einstein’s general relativity, because it is the most interesting, provocative and intriguing theory in physics, and the subject of my research.
6. As a physicist, I often find inspiration in...
the works of the greats, such as Galileo, da Vinci, Faraday and Einstein.
7. If I weren't a physicist, I would probably be...
a paleontologist or a historian, because I love dinosaurs and mummies.
8. When I'm not in the lab, I enjoy...
playing with my son, talking to my wife, and going to the cinema.
9. Coming from Brazil, I'm intrigued by this aspect of German culture…
the insatiable, tireless and eternal desire for the renewal of buildings and urban structures, such as roads, bridges and train lines.
10. My favorite thing about Tübingen is…
all the very old buildings, for example, the Bürgeramt, Schloss Hohentübingen and the houses along the riverfront as seen from the Neckar bridge.
