Monday, 1 June, 2026 
at Anton Rauch Lecture Hall, Atominstitut, Stadionallee 2, 1020 Wien

Host: Caslav Bruker

Programme:

16:30 Get Together with Snacks

17:00 VCQ Award Talks & Laudatio:
VCQ Best Thesis award winners – Anne Catherina de la Hamette and Victoria Sophia Kabel
VCQ Best Paper Award winner – Fabian Schaden

17:45 VCQ Colloquium Talk by Adrian Kent

You can follow this talk via zoom here (passcode vcq_2026).

Talk details:

Beyond Quantum Theory?

Quantum theory is one of our two most successful physical theories.   Many physicists believe that it can be extended to describe gravity and cosmology.   Moreover, many argue that there is no empirical reason to question quantum theory’s universality and very strong reasons to doubt whether there is any coherent and plausible alternative that remains within the realms of science.

Arguments include reasoning suggesting that theories that extend quantum theory must violate one or more well-established principles, including Lorentz invariance, the no-superluminal signalling principle, the quantum no-signalling principle, the second law of thermodynamics, conservation of energy, and even that P ≠ NP.

In this talk I look critically at some of the key arguments and reconsider the range of possible extensions of quantum theory and their motivations.