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Unlocking the Universe: New Seminar Series Explores the Frontiers of Theoretical Physics

By Heidi Opdyke Email Heidi Opdyke

Heidi Opdyke

In a bold step toward deepening our understanding of the universe, Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Physics has launched "In Theory," a Seminar Series in Theoretical Physics. This initiative brings together leading minds from around the world to explore the most profound questions in science.

Riccardo Penco and Rachel Rosen, both associate professors of physics, are leading the initiative to bring high-profile speakers to Carnegie Mellon and engage in activities such as student-focused meetings, public lectures or short collaboration visits. The seminar series is intended to support theoretical physics research, build a sense of community and enable collaborations across different subfields in physics.

"In recent years the Department of Physics and the Mellon College of Science have made a considerable investment in theoretical physicists, bringing in junior faculty who have a broad outlook and can talk across subfields," said Penco. "This is the vision of where theoretical physics is going, and we want to be at the forefront of that."

Today’s theoretical physicists not only tackle longstanding problems about the origin of the universe and fundamental particles. They also apply established theories to new problems and develop computational tools.

"There is growing awareness at leading institutions across the country that something particle physicists discover can be applied to condensed matter physics or can inform new models of cosmology," Rosen said. "This process happens faster if people from different backgrounds talk with each other. We’re working on creating the infrastructure to support these cross-field interactions."

The inaugural speaker will be Mark Bowick, deputy director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara. Bowick began his career in string theory, made significant contributions to gravity, and later shifted his focus to soft matter, as well as 2D materials like graphene.

He will present a lecture for the Department of Physics with the title "Facets of Order – Symmetry or Not?" which will take place at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25 at Doherty Hall 2302. He will discuss the relation between symmetry and order including several examples where extremization leads to extreme "symmetry-breaking." These include discrete geometrical structures as optimal graphs, calculus of variations problems, energy-minimizing shapes in soft condensed-matter systems and superfluid-like order in biological development.

Bowick received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Caltech in 1983 and held research positions at Yale and MIT before joining Syracuse University in 1987. He received the Department of Energy’s Outstanding Junior Investigator award and became a full professor in 1998. Bowick’s research spans high energy theoretical physics and condensed matter physics. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (Division of Condensed Matter Physics) in 2004, and is a member of the APS and AAAS.

The second speaker in the series will be Claudia de Rham, director of the Abdus Salam Centre for Theoretical Physics at Imperial College in the United Kingdom. De Rham’s expertise lies at the interface of quantum field theory, gravity, cosmology, particle physics, numerical simulations and theoretical mathematical physics. She will be at Carnegie Mellon Nov. 10-12. Additional speakers will be announced in the spring.

The Seminar Series in Theoretical Physics is supported in part by physics doctoral alumni Vidhya Ramachandran and Marc Fasnacht.