Jean Zinn-Justin: The Fate of the Vacuum: from Galileo to dark matter and dark energy

Title: The Fate of the Vacuum: from Galileo to dark matter and dark energy

Speaker: Jean Zinn-Justin

                 IRFU/CEA Paris-Saclay University, France

Place: Room 201, Teaching Building 12

Time: Sept. 23, Monday, 15:00-17:00

Abstract

Although in the west the Ancient Greeks already discussed the existence and the nature of the vacuum, the topic became scientific only in the early 17th century with scholars like Galileo or Torricelli. In varying forms, it has remained a matter of debate until today and at various stages it was linked to deep and fundamental physics issues. Among them, one can mention, in the past, the existence and properties of aether and today the puzzles of dark matter and dark energy.

Short Biography

Prof. Jean Zinn-Justin is a theoretical and mathematical physicist who has held a permanent position in the Saclay Nuclear Research Centre (CEA) since 1970. He became CEA scientific adviser in 2008. From 1993-1998, he was head of Institute of Theoretical Physics at CEA. From 2003 -2008, he was head of Irfu (ex Dapnia), CEA/Saclay. 2013-2015, he served as President of the Academic Senate of the Paris-Saclay University. He has also been the head editor of Journal de Physique, Journal of Physics A (IOP) and continues  to  be a board member of New Journal of Physics, Progress of Physics and Nuclear Physics.

Jean Zinn-Justin is a world authority on Quantum Field Theory in particle and statistical physics, phase transitions and, in particular, the renormalization group. He has made seminal contributions to the renormalizability of gauge theories and has written several books on the subject. In recognition of his work he has been awarded a number of honorary degrees and prizes. In 1977, he was awarded the Langevin Prize of the French Physical Society; in 1981 the Ampère prize of the French Academy of Sciences; in 1996 the Gentner-Kastler Prize of French and German physical societies; in 2003 the Gay-Lussac-Humboldt prize. He has been a member of the French Academy of Science （法兰西科学院院士） since 2011.

Welcome to attend!