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Gravity, Cosmology, and High Energy Physics Program
In partnership with Columbia Univ. (Brian Greene) and
PI (Justin Khoury), UNC-Chapel Hill (Laura Mersini-Houghton) has initiated
and co-sponsored a series of conferences on fundamental topics in
cosmology, "A debate in Cosmology", by bringing together world-leading
experts in the field in order to stimulate progress and encourage
breakthroughs in the selected issues:
- The first conference was held Oct 15-16 at NYAS, on the topic of "Time's Arrow". Pictures here.
- The second conference was held Sept. 2-4 at PI on the topic of "The Multiverse". See poster. A videocast of the talks can be found here.
Research in our group
- Gravitational waves and numerical relativity
- Beyond Standard Model, neutrino cosmology
- Extensions of the standard model regarding massive neutrinos and the strong CP problem
- Cosmic microwave background anisotropies and dark energy
- Doubly-special relativity
- String phenomenology inspired by the AdS/CFT corrrespondence and quiver gauge theories
- Dark energy, astrophysical signatures of new physics, string cosmology, and inflation
- The problem of UHECR
- Quantum foam and Planck-scale physics, and Holography
- Quantum field theory in curved space
More information about topics of interest to us can be found here:
High-energy physics,
gravitational physics,
string theory.
Bahnson Fund and Institute for Field Physics
News
- Sept 2008 -- L.Mersini-Houghton biographical portrait, featured in the chronicle of eminent scientists, in 'the September 2008 issue of 'Bild der Wissenschaft.' See article here: (1) (2)
- Sept 2008 -- L.Mersini-Houghton's work on the Initial Conditions and the predictions for the existence of a giant void, observed a few months later, were featured in the August 2008 issue of 'Science Illustrated' magazine. Please read it here: (1) (2) (3) (4)
- Sept 2008 -- UNC collaborates with Columbia University and Perimeter Institute (PI) to host a
conference at
PI in Waterloo, Ontario, CA. See poster. The talks can be found online here.
- Mar 2008 -- Mersini-Houghton's work
on the selection of the initial conditions and
the multiverse as Cover Story on Italian Science Magazine 'Focus'.
Please read it
here
- Feb 2008 -- Laura Mersini-Houghton interviewed in Public
Radio about her work on the Initial Conditions of the universe and the discovery of the void
predicted in this theory. The interview also includes a discussion of the impact of the budget cuts in physical sciences this year. You can listen to
it here.
- Feb 2008 -- Laura Mersini Houghton interviewed in German Radio about
her work on the Multiverse and the Initial Conditions of the Universe. Transcript can be found here and you can listen to it here.
- Jan 2008 -- To honor her work, the Prime Minister of Albania met
with Laura Mersini-Houghton. They discussed her recent work in Cosmology and how her success can be an inspiration to aspiring Albanian scientists.
- Jan 2008 -- Laura Mersini-Houghton's work from the "Time's Arrow" conference (see below) was featured in the Jan. issue of Scientific
American.
- Jan 2008 -- The "Time's Arrow" conference was organized by Laura Mersini-Houghton (UNC), B. Greene (Columbia U.), and J. Khoury (PI).
Mersini-Houghton's work
was presented there, and also presented as the cover story on the Jan. issue of Bild
der Wissenschaft.
- Dec 2007 -- Laura Mersini-Houghton's work on initial conditions reviewed as one of the Top Ten Stories of 2007 in the Dec. 22 issue
of The New Scientist.
- Dec 2007 -- Laura Mersini-Houghton's work featured on Canadian television on Dec.
3.
- Nov 2007 -- Featured article about Laura Mersini-Houghton's work in Nov. 27 issue
of Wissenschaft. Also see here.
- Nov 2007 -- Cover story article on the Nov.24 issue of 'New Scientist, written by Marcus
Chown, featuring the work of Laura Mersini-Houghton on the Initial Conditions
of the Universe and its observational implications, specifically the recently
confirmed prediction about the 200 Mpc giant void at z<1. New Scientist
- Nov 2007 -- Feature article on Nov.23 issue of the main Italian national newspaper, 'La
Repubblica', about the work of Laura Mersini-Houghton. It was also featured in la Voce di Fiore as well as in ITWire.
- Oct 2007 -- Together with B.Greene and J.Khoury, L.Mersini-Houghton organizes a
conference about "Time's Arrow" at the NYAS,which is the first in the series of
workshops on fundamental topics in Cosmology this team is leading, entitled "A
Debate in Cosmology". Pictures here.
- Oct 7-8 2007 -- Sir Professor Roger Penrose visits UNC. Host, Laura Mersini-Houghton.
- Sept 2007 -- Laura Mersini-Houghton interview in German Radio about
her
work on Initial Conditions of the Universe.
- Sept 2007 -- -Sept. 2007: Feature article on Laura Mersini-Houghton on "Klan"
Magazine
- Aug 2007 -- Laura Mersini-Houghton interview "Serious Science
at the
Inaugural Conference of fqxi and in an interview about Leonard Parker
- Sep 2006 -- Archil Kobakhidze accepts a postdoc position at the
Research Center for HEP, University of Melbourne and a full
professorship at his home university in Tblisi that he has
deferred until 2009.
- Feb 2006 -- Jack Ng wins William C. Friday/Class of 1986 Award for Excellence in Teaching -- Jack Ng and Henk van Dam's paper on Physical Review Letters
(in collaboration with W. Christiansen) led to news stories in
Science,
New Scientist,
Physics Today, and on the web
PhysOrg.com
- Jan 2006
-- Laura Mersini-Houghton's BBC interview
-- Michele Arzano accepts a three year postdoc position at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada.
- Apr 2005 -- Michele Arzano wins a Dissertation Completion Research Fellowship for the Academic Year 2005/2006 funded by the UNC Graduate School.
- March 2005 -- Jack Ng was interviewed by the Finnish astronomy magazine Tahdet ja avaruus (Issue 2, 2005).
- November 2004 -- Cover of Scientific American features article on Black Hole Computers, authored by Jack Ng and MIT's Seth Loyd.
- April 2004 --
KamLAND paper, co-authored by Ryan Rohm, acquires 500 citations in its first year
--The 1970 graviton paper by Henk van Dam attracts 100 new citations from string theorists after 2000
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| Past GCHEP Postdoctoral Researchers: |
Xavier Calmet
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Archil Kobakhidze |
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Seminars
Seminars are typically held at 3:30 PM on Tuesdays, in room 258. Following is the current schedule of upcoming speakers:
| SPRING 2008 |
|
|
| Date/Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| Tue, Apr. 1 3:30 PM |
Scott Watson, University of Michigan |
TBA |
| Tue, Apr. 8 3:30 PM |
Will Kinney, University of Buffalo |
TBA |
| PAST SEMINARS |
|
|
| FALL 2007 |
|
|
| Date/Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| Tue, Aug. 28 3:30 PM |
T. Kephart, Vanderbilt U |
Generalized Aharonov-Bohm Effect |
| Tue, Oct. 23 3:30 PM |
G. Starkman, Case Western Reserve U |
TBA |
| Tue, Nov. 6 3:30 PM |
Josh Erlich, College of William & Mary |
TBA |
| Tue, Nov. 13 3:30 PM |
C. Carone, College of William & Mary |
TBA |
| Tue, Nov. 27 3:30 PM |
L. William, U of Minnesota-Minneapolis |
Astrophysical Probes of the Large Scale Structure
and Implications for the Early Universe |
| SPRING 2007 |
|
|
| Date/Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| Mon, Jan. 22 4:00 PM |
K. Milton, U of Oklahoma |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Where Have
All the Magnetic Monopoles Gone? |
| Tue, Jan. 23 3:30 PM |
K. Milton, U of Oklahoma |
How does Casimir energy fall?--The interaction of
gravity with quantum vacuum energy |
| Tue, Feb. 13 3:30 PM |
Amjad Ashoorioon, U of Waterloo |
TBA |
| Thur, Mar. 29 3:30 PM |
H. Fritzsch, U of Munich |
TBA |
| Thur, Apr. 5 2:00 PM |
Saswat Sarangi, Columbia U |
Tunneling in the Landscape |
| Tue, Apr. 17 3:30 PM |
Eugene A. Lim, Yale U |
Magnetically Actuated Nanorod Arrays as Biomimetic Cilia |
| FALL 2006 |
|
|
| Date/Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| Mon, Oct. 2 4:00 PM |
Dejan Stojkovic, Case Western |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: TBA |
| Tue, Oct. 3 3:30 PM |
Dejan Stojkovic, Case Western |
TBA |
| Mon, Oct. 9 4:00 PM |
Maxim Markevitch, CFA,Harvard |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: TBA |
| Tue, Oct. 10 3:30 PM |
Maxim Markevitch, CFA,Harvard |
TBA |
| Tue, Oct. 17 3:30 PM |
Bob Wald, U of Chicago |
Quantum Fields in Curved Space |
| Tue, Nov. 7 3:30 PM |
G. Amelino-Camelia, U of Rome |
TBA |
| Mon, Nov. 20 4:00 PM |
M. Shifman, U of Minnesota |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: TBA |
| SPRING 2006 |
|
|
| Date/Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| Mon, Jan. 30 4:00 PM |
E. Gerjuoy, U. of Pittsburgh |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Recollections of Oppenheimer and Schwinger |
| Thur, Feb. 23 4:00 PM |
Hael Collins, UMass |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Beyond the Big Bang |
| Fri, Feb. 24 3:30 PM |
Hael Collins, UMass |
An effective theory of initial conditions in inflation |
| Wed, Mar. 1 4:00 PM |
Hassan Firouzjahi, Cornell |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: The Prospects of String Cosmology |
| Thur, Mar. 2 2:30 PM |
Hassan Firouzjahi, Cornell |
Some Aspects of Brane Inflation |
| Mon, Mar. 6 4:00 PM |
Ken Olum, Tufts |
UNC physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Cosmic strings: a window on ultra-high-energy physics |
| Tue, Mar. 7 12:00 PM |
Ken Olum, Tufts |
Cosmic strings: a window on ultra-high-energy physics |
| Wed, Mar. 8 4:00 PM |
Jose Juan Blanco-Pillado, NYU |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Cosmic Superstrings |
| Thur, Mar. 9 12:00 PM |
Jose Juan Blanco-Pillado, NYU |
Racetrack Inflation |
| Mon, Mar. 20 4:00 PM |
Ben Metcalf, (Max Planck Institute-Garching) |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Cosmology and Gravitational Lensing |
| Tue, Mar. 21 3:30 PM |
Ben Metcalf, (Max Planck Institute-Garching) |
Missing Galaxies, Small-Scale Structure and Very Small-Scale Structure |
| Mon, Apr. 10 4:00 PM |
J. Verbaarschot, SUNY |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Foundations and Applications of RMT |
| Tue, Apr. 11 3:30 PM |
J. Verbaarschot, SUNY |
QCD-like Partition Functions, Random Matrices and Toda Lattices |
| FALL 2005 |
|
|
| Date/Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| Mon, Sept. 13 4:00 PM |
D. Minic, Virginia Polytechnic |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Confinement of Quarks: One of the Great Unsolved
Problems in Physics |
| Tue, Sept. 13 3:30 PM |
D. Minic, Virginia Polytechnic |
Confinement of Glue in 3D pure QCD |
| Tue, Sept. 20 3:30 PM |
Gary Felder, Smith College Northampton |
Waves and Bubbles: The Detailed Structure of Preheating |
| Mon, Sept. 26 4:00 PM |
Hendrik van Dam and Laura Mersini, UNC |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Special Colloquium in celebration of Albert
Einsteins annus mirabilis 1905: Prof. van Dam presents
''Special Relativity'' and Prof. Mersini presents ''General Relativity and Cosmology'' |
| Mon, Oct. 4 4:00 PM |
R.S. Chivukula, Michigan State University |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Mass in QCD: Symmetries of a Quantum Field Theory |
| Tue, Oct. 4 3:30 PM |
R.S. Chivukula, Michigan State University |
Higgsless Models: Lesson from Deconstruction |
| Tue, Oct. 11 3:30 PM |
P. Anderson,Wake Forest University |
Short Distance amd Initial Sate Effects in Inflation: a Conservative Approach |
| Tue, Oct. 18 3:30 PM |
Jorge Pullin, LSU |
Quantum Mechanics with Real Clocks, Fundamental Decoherence and the Black Hole
Information Puzzle |
| Tue, Oct. 25 3:30 PM |
Rocky Kolb, University of Chicago
| Thoughts on Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Inflation |
| Tue, Nov. 1 3:30 PM |
Finn Larsen, U. Michigan |
Anomalies and Small Black Holes |
| Tue, Nov. 8 3:30 PM |
Marco Peloso, U. Minnesota |
Thermalization and Reheating after Inflation |
| Fri, Nov. 18 3:30 PM |
Tom Kephart, Vanderbilt |
The Eccentric Universe: Exact Solutions and Density Perturbations |
| Tue, Nov. 22 |
No seminars-Thanksgiving week |
| Tue, Nov. 29 3:30 PM |
Tom Weiler, Vanderbilt |
The Roles of Distance, Gravity and QM in Decohering Astrophysical Neutrinos |
| Tue, Dec. 6 3:30 PM |
Michele Arzano, UNC |
Heuristic Arguments for Log Corrections to the Black
Hole Entropy-Area Law |
| Fri, Dec. 9 3:30 PM |
Jack Ng and Wayne Christiansen, UNC |
Probing Spacetime Foam with Extragalactic Sources |
| SPRING 2005 |
|
|
| Date/Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| Tue, Jan. 18 3:30 PM |
Simon DeDeo, Princeton |
Spontaneous Lorentz Violation and Particle Dark Energy |
| Tue, Jan. 25 3:30 PM |
Yun Wang, University of Oklahoma |
Dark Energy Search with Supernovae
(abs) |
| Tue, Feb. 1 3:30 PM |
Aurthur Lue, Case Western |
TBA |
| Tue, Feb. 8 3:30 PM |
Beverly Berger, NSF |
The Generic Big Crunch: Exploring Strong-Field Gravity with Numerical Simulation |
| Tue, Feb. 15 3:30 PM |
Rich Holman, Carnegi |
TBA |
| Tue, Mar. 8 3:30 PM |
Hendrik Van Dam, UNC |
Neutrix calculus and quantum field theory |
| Mon, Mar. 28 4:00 PM |
Nima Arkani-Hamed, Harvard |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium (cookies, coffee, and tea in room 272 at 3:30) |
| Tue, Apr. 19 3:30 PM |
Katie Freese,
MCTP and U. Michigan at Ann Arbor |
TBA |
|
|
|
| FALL 2004 |
|
|
| Date/Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| Tue, Sept. 7 3:30 PM |
Alexander Kaganovich, Ben Gurion University |
Some Old Puzzles of Particle Physics and Cosmology in the Light of the Two Measures Theory |
| Tue, Sept. 28 3:30 PM |
Marc Sher, William and Mary |
(a) Universal Extra Dimensions and Kaluza-Klein Bound States
(b) Lorentz and CPT Violation in the Extended Standard Model |
| Mon, Oct. 4 4:00 PM |
Andreas Albrecht, UC Davis |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: The Quantum Universe Report and the recent advances in cosmology
and fundamental physics
(abs) |
| Tue, Oct. 5 2:00 PM |
Andreas Albrecht, UC Davis |
Cosmic Inflation and the Arrow of Time
(abs)
**Note special time*** |
| Mon, Oct. 18 4:00 PM |
Lawrence Krauss, Case Western |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium:
"Life, the Universe, and Nothing: The Future of Life in an Ever Expanding Universe" |
| Mon, Oct. 18 5:30 PM |
Lawrence Krauss, Case Western |
Realistic bound on dark energy 'w' from SN1a **Note special time and day** |
| Mon, Oct. 25 4:00 PM |
Carl Bender, Washington University |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: PT-symmetric Hamiltonians |
| Tue, Oct. 26 3:30 PM |
Carl Bender, Washington University |
New results on quantum field theory |
| Tue, Nov. 2 3:30 PM |
Gia Dvali, NYU |
Large Distance Gravity and the Universe's Cosmic Acceleration |
| Tue, Nov. 9 3:30 PM |
Justin Khoury, Columbia University |
Chameleon Fields: Awaiting Surprises for Tests of Gravity in Space |
| Mon, Nov. 15 4:00 PM |
Cliff Burgess, McGill University |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: String Theory: Quantum Mechanics and Gravity -- The Start of a Beautiful Relationship? |
| Tue, Nov. 16 3:30 PM |
Cliff Burgess, McGill University |
Supersymmetric Large Extra Dimensions and the Cosmological Constant |
| Wed, Nov. 17 12:00 noon |
Cliff Burgess, McGill University |
Informal discussion |
| Mon, Nov. 29 4:00 PM |
Gordon Kane, University of Michigan |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium (cookies, coffee, and tea in room 272 at 3:30) |
| Tue, Nov. 30 3:30 PM |
Todor Stanev, Bartol Institute |
The Highest Energy Cosmic Rays |
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|
|
| SPRING 2004 |
|
|
| Tue, Feb. 24 3:30 PM |
Dan Reichart, UNC |
Gamma-Ray Bursts as Probes of the Early Universe
(abs) |
| Mon, Mar. 15 1:00 PM |
Sean Carroll, U. of Chicago |
How Eternal Inflation Can Explain the Second Law of Thermodynamics ***Note special day and time*** |
| Mon, Mar. 15 4:00 PM |
Sean Carroll, U. of Chicago |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Dark Energy and the Preposterous Universe
(abs) |
| Tue, Mar. 23 3:30 PM |
Ue-Li Pen, CITA |
Measuring the universe with cosmic shear
(abs) |
| Tue, Apr. 13 3:30 PM |
Rabindra Mohapatra, U. of Maryland |
A unified picture of neutrino mass, inflation, and dark matter |
| Mon, Apr. 19 4:00 PM |
Lee Smolin, Perimeter Inst. |
UNC Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Loop quantum gravity: basic results and phenomenological implications
(abs) |
| Thu, Apr. 29 4:00 PM |
Scott Dodelson, Fermilab |
Dark Energy, Clusters, and Lensing
(abs)
***Note special day and time*** |
| Tue, May 4 3:30 PM |
Nima Arkani-Hamed, Harvard |
***Rescheduled for later date*** |
Publications
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