Nathan Seiberg to Lecture On Possible New Physics at Institute for Advanced Study
PRESS CONTACT: Alexandra Altman, (609) 951-4406
Nathan Seiberg, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, will discuss the idea of new physics beyond the Standard Model in a public lecture, “What’s Next?” on Wednesday, December 4, at 4:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus.
In recent decades, physicists and astronomers have discovered two beautiful Standard Models, one for the quantum world of extremely short distances, and one for the universe as a whole. Both models have had spectacular success, but there are also strong arguments for new physics beyond these models. In this lecture, Seiberg will review these models, their successes and their shortfalls. He will describe how experiments in the near future could point to new physics suggesting a profound conceptual revolution that will change our view of the world.
Seiberg is a leading mathematical physicist whose research has made major contributions to understanding string theory, quantum field theory and particle physics. His exact solutions of theories have uncovered unexpected insights, including the fundamental role of electric-magnetic duality in quantum field theories, and they have led to many applications in physics and mathematics. He has also clarified how supersymmetry can be dynamically broken and tested, an effort now underway at the
Large Hadron Collider.
Seiberg received his Ph.D. in 1982 from the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he worked from 1985–91 as Senior Scientist, Associate Professor and Professor. During the years 1989–97 he was a Professor at Rutgers University. After having visited the Institute for Advanced Study on several occasions as a Member and Visitor from 1982–95, he joined the Faculty of the School of Natural Sciences in 1997.
In 2012, Seiberg was one of four Institute Faculty members to receive the inaugural Fundamental Physics Prize. He has also received many other awards and honors, including the MacArthur Fellowship, the Oskar Klein Medal and the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics of the American Physical Society and American Institute of Physics. Additionally, Seiberg is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information on this and other lectures at the Institute, visit www.ias.edu/news/public-events.
About the Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities—the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of approximately 30, and it ensures the freedom to undertake research that will make significant contributions in any of the broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities studied at the Institute.
The Institute, founded in 1930, is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and 40 out of 56 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.