Thursday, April 25, 2024, 11am, CEMES (coffee served at 10.30am)

Conference room + Zoom 

by Jan Stark, Director of Research at CNRS and Director of Laboratoire des deux infinis – Toulouse (L2IT)

After a brief review of the history of the Universe, from the big bang to the present day, we will look in detail at two major players in this history: elementary particles, as far as the infinitely small are concerned, and gravitational waves, as far as the infinitely large are concerned.

We will discover how elementary particles are currently studied experimentally at CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics), and how the discovery of a Higgs boson in 2012 gives us a window onto the study of the primordial Universe and the phase transition that would have given rise to matter. Studies of the properties of the Higgs boson, both current and in preparation, will enable us to establish the phase transition mechanism in the primordial Universe.

We will look at the role of elementary particles in the hypothetical emission of gravitational waves during the phase transition in the primordial Universe.

We will look at the role of elementary particles in the hypothetical emission of gravitational waves during the phase transition in the primordial Universe. Gravitational waves, predicted by Einstein in 1916, were observed for the first time in 2015. They provide us with a valuable new tool for studying our Universe. Today’s detectors allow us to study the waves emitted by very massive objects such as black holes and neutron stars. Tomorrow’s detectors, currently under construction or in the study phase, will enable us to observe much more diverse sources of gravitational waves. These detectors could see the gravitational waves emitted in the primordial Universe – true messengers of the big bang and the particles it created.

The two infinities, the infinitely small and the infinitely large, form a single quest. You are cordially invited to join us for a convivial discussion.