Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Solvay Institutes
Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Solvay Institutes
Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Solvay Institutes
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REPORT 2009
REPORT 2009
Ernest <strong>Solvay</strong> regarded science, in its various<br />
forms, as the key that would open<br />
the door to a richer life for man. He had<br />
remarked once: “Among the new paths<br />
of science, I undertook to follow three directions;<br />
three problems which in my view,<br />
form a certain unity. First, a general problem<br />
of physics – the constitution of matter<br />
in time and space; then a problem of<br />
physiology – the mechanism of life from its<br />
most humble manifestations up to the phenomena<br />
of thought processes; and finally,<br />
the third one, a problem complementary<br />
to the first two – the evolution of the individual<br />
and that of social groups.<br />
Jacques <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Opening address<br />
XVIII th <strong>Solvay</strong> Conference on Physics (1982)<br />
I have always regarded the institution<br />
of the <strong>Solvay</strong> Conferences in Physics<br />
and Chemistry as of the highest value to<br />
science…<br />
Ernest Rutherford<br />
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1908)<br />
1 st <strong>Solvay</strong> Conference on Chemistry (1922)
The International <strong>Institutes</strong> for<br />
Physics and Chemistry,<br />
founded by Ernest <strong>Solvay</strong>,<br />
acknowledge with gratitude<br />
the generous support of<br />
the <strong>Solvay</strong> family<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> S.A. - N.V<br />
the “Université Libre<br />
de Bruxelles”<br />
the<br />
“Loterie Nationale”-<br />
“Nationale Loterij”<br />
the “Vrije<br />
Universiteit Brussel”<br />
the “Communauté<br />
Française<br />
de Belgique”<br />
the “Vlaamse<br />
Regering”<br />
the “Fondation<br />
David et Alice<br />
Van Buuren”<br />
the Hotel Metropole<br />
“Politique Scientifique<br />
Fédérale - Federaal<br />
Wetenschapbeleid”
Contents<br />
A word from the Director 10<br />
General Information<br />
o Board of Directors 14<br />
o Scientific Committee for Physics 16<br />
o Scientific Committee for Chemistry 17<br />
o International Advisory Committee 18<br />
o Local Scientific Committee 18<br />
o Honorary Members 19<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Event and <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
Françoise Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong>, 2008 Nobel Laureate in Medicine,<br />
“VIH/SIDA, une aventure scientifique et humaine en réponse<br />
à une épidémie émergente” 35<br />
International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs 45<br />
o <strong>Solvay</strong> Chair in Chemistry: <strong>Professor</strong> Alexander S. Mikhailov<br />
(Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute<br />
of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany) 47<br />
o <strong>Solvay</strong> Chair in Physics: <strong>Professor</strong> Valery Rubakov<br />
(Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy<br />
of Sciences, Moscow, Russia) 57<br />
Workshops and Schools organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong> 63<br />
o Workshop on “Sparsity, learning and computation”<br />
organized by Ingrid Daubechies (VUB & Princeton) and<br />
Christine De Mol (ULB) 75<br />
o Workshop on “Cosmological Frontiers in Fundamental<br />
Physics” organized by Ben Craps (VUB), Thomas Hertog<br />
(Paris 7), Peter Tinyakov (ULB) and Michel Tytgat (ULB) 91<br />
o Workshop on “Chemo-hydrodynamic patterns and<br />
instabilities” organized by Anne De Wit (ULB) 101<br />
o Modave Summer School in Mathematicals Physics 101<br />
Doctoral School 107<br />
8
Contents<br />
Colloquia 113<br />
Institutional Collaborations 123<br />
o Centro de Estudios Científicos (CECS), Chile 124<br />
o Lebedev Physical Institute, Russia 125<br />
Conference sponsored by the <strong>Institutes</strong> 129<br />
o Workshop on “Nonlinear Elliptic PDEs” organized<br />
by the ULB, with support from the <strong>Institutes</strong> 130<br />
5 th Flemish Space Days/ Vijfde Vlaamse Ruimtevaartdagen<br />
organized by the Flemish Space Industries 135<br />
Seminars 139<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology 145<br />
o Researchers 146<br />
o Research Summary 148<br />
o Research Interests of some Members 150<br />
o Appraisals & Prizes - Theses defended in 2009 154<br />
o Invited Talks at Conferences, Seminars and Schools 158<br />
o List of Publications 164<br />
Research carried out in the group of the Deputy Director 169<br />
o Members 170<br />
o Research Summary 170<br />
o Invited Talks at Conferences, Seminars and Schools 172<br />
o List of Pubications 173<br />
Report of the International Advisory Committee 169<br />
Appendix: Outreach 175<br />
o Newspapers and Edition 176<br />
o Colophon 184<br />
9
A word from the Director<br />
This report reviews the activities<br />
organized or supported by the<br />
International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> during<br />
the year 2009. These activities, to<br />
which hundreds of scientists took<br />
part, are detailed in the corresponding<br />
sections. Only the highlights<br />
of the year will be mentioned<br />
in this foreword.<br />
Since 2004, many new programs<br />
have been launched at the <strong>Institutes</strong>:<br />
workshop series, <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs in<br />
Physics and Chemistry, International<br />
Doctoral School in theoretical<br />
physics, Public Lectures, Colloquia.<br />
In addition, the <strong>Solvay</strong> Conferences<br />
resumed their original pace of being<br />
organized every three years<br />
along the unique scientific lines initiated<br />
by Lorentz. After 5 years of<br />
running of these new programs,<br />
it was regarded as healthy and<br />
necessary to have an external<br />
evaluation of our activities by an<br />
International Advisory Committee<br />
(“Visiting Committee”) composed<br />
of outstanding scientists. Their first<br />
visit took place in March of 2009.<br />
The conclusions of the Committee<br />
are extremely positive. Their report<br />
is reproduced in its entirety at the<br />
end of this volume. Its final lines<br />
read: “The overall impression that<br />
the committee has obtained is that<br />
the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> are run in a<br />
most impressive and competent<br />
way. It is remarkable that […] the<br />
<strong>Institutes</strong> have been re-established<br />
as world-leading institutions so<br />
swiftly, and the committee can only<br />
congratulate Belgium and the scientific<br />
communities in physics and<br />
chemistry to this achievement.”<br />
This provides an enormous encouragement<br />
for the future. The report<br />
makes also suggestions for new<br />
scientific directions and for giving a<br />
more stable basis to the funding of<br />
the <strong>Institutes</strong>. The anniversary year<br />
2011 will provide a splendid opportunity<br />
to try to implement these<br />
suggestions and many projects are<br />
already in preparation. We are<br />
grateful to the International Advisory<br />
Committee for the time that they<br />
spent both in the evaluation on-site<br />
of our activities and in the careful<br />
preparation of their report.<br />
The International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs in<br />
Physics and Chemistry, respectively<br />
created in 2006 and 2008, are still<br />
young but have already become a<br />
well-established tradition, which is<br />
much appreciated by the scientific<br />
community.<br />
The 2009 <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Professor</strong> in<br />
Chemistry was <strong>Professor</strong> Alexander<br />
Mikhailov, Director at the Fritz<br />
Haber Institute of the Max Planck<br />
Society in Berlin (Germany). <strong>Professor</strong><br />
Mikhailov is renowned internationally<br />
for his remarkable contributions<br />
to various fields of physical<br />
chemistry. His teaching took place<br />
in the Spring and was included<br />
10
in the master training of Brussels students in<br />
chemistry. He gave a fascinating inaugural<br />
lecture “From Structure to Function: Chemistry<br />
in Transition” in which he developed modern<br />
and original points of view on chemistry.<br />
The 2009 <strong>Solvay</strong> Chair in Physics was<br />
held by <strong>Professor</strong> Valery Rubakov, from the<br />
Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian<br />
Academy of Sciences in Moscow (Russia).<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Rubakov is a leading figure in theoretical<br />
physics and pioneered many new approaches<br />
to cosmology and particle physics.<br />
His inaugural lecture: “Particle physics and<br />
cosmology: towards understanding the<br />
Universe” addressed the current challenges<br />
faced in the field. It was followed by a course<br />
of lectures which was included in the doctoral<br />
training of the international Amsterdam-<br />
Brussels-Paris doctoral school on “Quantum<br />
FieldTheory, Strings and Gravity”.<br />
The International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> have also<br />
organized or sponsored workshops and conferences<br />
on themes ranging from mathematics<br />
to cosmology and physical chemistry.<br />
We have also supported two graduate<br />
schools as training through research is one of<br />
our goals. Finally, our colloquium series has<br />
been ongoing with the same vitality.<br />
The present report describes also the research<br />
carried by the scientists affiliated with<br />
the <strong>Institutes</strong>. The main area of investigation is<br />
the understanding of gravity, which remains<br />
the most mysterious force in the universe.<br />
On the financial side, strict management<br />
practices have enabled us to use part of the<br />
revenues from the endowment to continue reimbursing<br />
our debt from the past. I am grateful<br />
to our treasurer, <strong>Professor</strong> Bingen, for his<br />
efficient support in enforcing these strict rules.<br />
A word General from the Information Director<br />
Another highlight of 2009 was the joint<br />
organization with the <strong>Solvay</strong> Company<br />
of a public event in October. The <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
regard the popularization of science among<br />
the general public as one of their missions.<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Françoise Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong>, 2008<br />
Nobel Laureate in Medecine, gave a captivating<br />
lecture on “VIH/SIDA, une aventure<br />
scientifique et humaine en réponse à une<br />
épidémie émergente”. The lecture, which<br />
enjoyed simultaneous interpretations into<br />
Dutch and English, was attended by many<br />
young people and was a notable success.<br />
The event was coupled with the <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Award Ceremony, delivered by the <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Company to brilliant young researchers in<br />
physics and chemistry.<br />
Finally, I would also like to thank all the sponsors<br />
of the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>. These are the<br />
“Université Libre de Bruxelles”, the “Vrije<br />
Universiteit Brussel”, the <strong>Solvay</strong> Company,<br />
the Belgian National Lottery, the “Communauté<br />
Française de Belgique”, the “Vlaamse<br />
Regering”, the Belgian Science Policy, the<br />
David & Alice Van Buuren Foundation, the<br />
“Hôtel Métropole” and last but not least, the<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> family who is unfailingly supporting<br />
the <strong>Institutes</strong> since their very beginning.<br />
The extraordinary dedication and efficiency<br />
of the entire staff working at the <strong>Institutes</strong> is<br />
also gratefully acknowledged.<br />
Marc Henneaux<br />
11
Stephen Hawking, Harold Kroto and <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
General Information<br />
General Information<br />
13
General Information<br />
Board of Directors<br />
Members<br />
Mr <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Franz Bingen<br />
Emeritus - <strong>Professor</strong> VUB<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Rosette S’Jegers<br />
Dean VUB and <strong>Professor</strong> VUB<br />
President<br />
Vice-President and Treasurer<br />
Secretary<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Françoise Thys-Clément<br />
Honorary Rector and <strong>Professor</strong> ULB<br />
Mr Philippe Busquin<br />
European Deputy and Former European Commissioner<br />
Baron Daniel Janssen<br />
Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors of <strong>Solvay</strong> S.A.<br />
Mr Jean-Marie <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Member of the Board of Directors of <strong>Solvay</strong> S.A.<br />
Mr Eddy Van Gelder<br />
President of the Administrative Board of the VUB<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Jean-Louis Vanherweghem<br />
President of the Administrative Board of the ULB<br />
Honorary Members<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Irina Veretennicoff<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> VUB<br />
Baron Jaumotte<br />
Honorary Rector and Honorary President ULB<br />
Honorary Director<br />
Mr Jean-Marie Piret<br />
Attorney General of the Supreme Court of Appeal<br />
and Honorary Principal Private Secretary to the King<br />
14
Guests<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Marc Henneaux<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> ULB<br />
Director<br />
General Information<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Franklin Lambert<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> VUB<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Anne De Wit<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> ULB<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Alexander Sevrin<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> VUB<br />
Deputy Director<br />
Scientific Secretary of the Committee<br />
for Chemistry<br />
Scientific Secretary of the Committee<br />
for Physics<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Hervé Hasquin<br />
Permanent Secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Niceas Schamp<br />
Permanent Secretary of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts<br />
Management and Staff<br />
Director<br />
Deputy Director<br />
Assistants to the Director<br />
Administrative Assistants<br />
Accountant<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Marc Henneaux (ULB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Franklin Lambert (VUB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Anne De Wit (ULB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Glenn Barnich (ULB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Ben Craps (VUB)<br />
Ms Dominique Bogaerts<br />
Ms Isabelle Juif<br />
Ms Chantal Verrier<br />
Postal address: International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>, Campus Plaine ULB / CP 231, Bd du Triomphe, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium<br />
Delivery address: International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>, Campus Plaine ULB / Access 2, Bd de la Plaine, Building NO, 5 th Floor<br />
Office N105A, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium<br />
Tel: + 32 2 650 54 23 (Ms Juif) or + 32 2 650 55 42 (Ms Bogaerts) Fax: + 32 2 650 50 28<br />
Emails: dobogaer@ulb.ac.be, Isabelle.Juif@ulb.ac.be Website: http://www.solvayinstitutes.be<br />
15
General Information<br />
Scientific Committee for Physics<br />
Members are appointed for a 6-year period term, renewable once.<br />
Chair<br />
Members<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> David GROSS, Nobel Prize 2004, Kavli<br />
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, USA<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Fortunato Tito ARECCHI, Università di Firenze<br />
and INOA, Italy (1 July 2004 - 30 June 2010, Second Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Jocelyn BELL BURNELL, Oxford University, UK<br />
(1 July 2004 - 30 June 2010, First Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Steven CHU, Nobel Prize 1997, Stanford<br />
University, USA (1 January 2008 - 31 December 2013, First Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Claude COHEN-TANNOUDJI, Nobel Prize<br />
1997, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France<br />
(1 July 2004 - 30 June 2010, Second Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Ludwig FADDEEV, V.A Steklov Mathematical<br />
Institute, Saint-Petersburg, Russia<br />
(1 July 2004 - 30 June 2010, Second Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Gerard ’t HOOFT, Nobel Prize 1999,<br />
Spinoza Instituut, Utrecht, the Netherlands<br />
(1 July 2004 - 30 June 2010, Second Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Giorgio PARISI, Università La Sapienza,<br />
Roma, Italy (1 January 2008 - 31 December 2013, First Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Pierre RAMOND, University of Florida,<br />
Gainesville, USA (1 July 2004 - 30 June 2010, First Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Klaus VON KLITZING, Nobel Prize 1985,<br />
Max-Planck-Institut, Stuttgart, Germany<br />
(1 July 2004 - 30 June 2010, First Term)<br />
Scientific Secretary<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Alexander SEVRIN, Vrije Universiteit Brussel,<br />
Belgium<br />
16
Scientific Committee for Chemistry<br />
Members are appointed for a 6-year period term, renewable once.<br />
Chair<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Stuart RICE, University of Chicago, USA<br />
General Information<br />
Members <strong>Professor</strong> Manfred EIGEN, Nobel Prize 1967,<br />
Max-Planck Institut, Göttingen, Germany<br />
(1 June 2005 - 31 May 2011, Second Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Graham FLEMING, University of Berkeley,<br />
USA (1 June 2005 - 31 May 2011, First Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Harold W. KROTO, Nobel Prize 1996, University<br />
of Sussex, Brighton, UK (1 June 2005 - 31 May 2011, First Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Jean-Marie LEHN, Nobel Prize 1987, Collège<br />
de France, Paris, France (1 June 2005 - 31 May 2011, Second Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Henk N.W. LEKKERKERKER, Utrecht Universiteit,<br />
the Netherlands (1 June 2005 - 31 May 2011, First Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Mario J. MOLINA, Nobel Prize 1995,<br />
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,<br />
USA (1 June 2005 - 31 May 2011, Second Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> K.C. NICOLAOU, University of California,<br />
San Diego, USA (1 June 2005 - 31 May 2011, First Term)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Kurt WÜTHRICH, Nobel Prize 2002, Institut für<br />
Molekularbiologie und Biophysik, Zurich, Switzerland<br />
(1 June 2005 - 31 May 2011, First Term)<br />
Scientific Secretary<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Anne DE WIT, Université Libre de<br />
Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
17
General Information<br />
International Advisory Committee<br />
Members are appointed for a 6-year period term, renewable once.<br />
Chair<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Lars BRINK, Chalmers University of Technology,<br />
Göteborg, Sweden (1 June 2008 - 31 may 2014)<br />
Members <strong>Professor</strong> Leticia CUGLIANDOLO, Université Paris 6,<br />
France (1 June 2008 - 31 may 2014)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Hermann NICOLAI, Max-Planck-Institut für<br />
Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut), Potsdam,<br />
Germany (1 June 2008 - 31 may 2014)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Jacques PROST, École Supérieure de Physique<br />
et Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI), Paris, France<br />
(1 June 2008 - 31 may 2014)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Hirosi OOGURI, Caltech, Pasadena, USA and<br />
Tokyo University, Japan (1 June 2008 - 31 may 2014)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Gunnar VON HEIJNE, Stockholm University,<br />
Sweden (1 June 2008 - 31 may 2014)<br />
Local Scientific Committee<br />
Chair<br />
Members<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Marc HENNEAUX (ULB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Ben CRAPS (VUB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Anne DE WIT (ULB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Pierre GASPARD (ULB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Paul GEERLINGS (VUB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Albert GOLDBETER (ULB)<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Alexander SEVRIN (VUB)<br />
18
Honorary Members<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Anatole ABRAGAM, Collège de France, Paris, France<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Robert BROUT, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
General Information<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Claudio BUNSTER, Centro de Estudios Científicos,<br />
Valdivia, Chile<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> François ENGLERT, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Ludwig FADDEEV, V.A. Steklov Mathematical<br />
Institute, St Petersburg, Russia<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Ephraïm KATCHALSKY, Weizmann Institute,<br />
Rehovot, Israel<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> I.M. KHALATNIKOFF, Landau Institute of<br />
Theoretical Physics, Moscow, Russia<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> William LIPSCOMB, Nobel Prize 1976,<br />
Harvard University, Cambridge, USA<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Victor P. MASLOV, Moscow State University, Russia<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Victor A. SADOVNICHY, Moscow State University,<br />
Russia<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Roald SAGDEEV, University of Maryland,<br />
College Park, USA<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> E.C.G. SUDARSHAN, University of Texas,<br />
Austin, USA<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Morikazu TODA, Tokyo University of Education,<br />
Japan<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Chen Ning YANG, Nobel Prize 1957, Chinese<br />
University Hong Kong & Tsingha University, Beijing, China<br />
19
Images from the Quantum World<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Event<br />
&<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
4 October 2009<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Event & <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
21
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Event & <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
SOLVAY PUBLIC LECTURE<br />
Sunday 4 October 2009<br />
FLAGEY - STUDIO 4 at 3:30pm<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Françoise Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong><br />
Institut Pasteur, Paris<br />
2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine<br />
”VIH/SIDA, une aventure scientifique et humaine<br />
en réponse à une épidémie émergente”<br />
During the event, a short <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards ceremony will take place<br />
Simultaanvertaling is voorzien<br />
naar het Nederlands.<br />
Simultaneous interpretation into English.<br />
Free entrance but registration is requested.<br />
Registration, information and programme<br />
on www.solvayinstitutes.be/4oct09.html<br />
© : Institut Pasteur<br />
The event is co-organized with<br />
Sponsors<br />
Avec le soutien de la Ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche scientifique.<br />
Dit project wordt ondersteund binnen het Actieplan Wetenschapscommunicatie, een initiatief van de Vlaamse Regering.<br />
Designe: info@imagedemarc.be<br />
22
Françoise Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong>, 2008 Nobel Laureate in Medicine<br />
“VIH/SIDA, une aventure scientifique et humaine en<br />
réponse à une épidémie émergente”<br />
The 2009 <strong>Solvay</strong> public event took place on<br />
October 4, 2009 at the Flagey Building.<br />
The lecturer was 2008 Nobel Laureate in Medecine<br />
Françoise Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong>, from the Institut<br />
Pasteur in Paris. Her lecture « VIH/SIDA, une<br />
aventure scientifique et humaine en réponse à<br />
une épidémie émergente », was simultaneously<br />
interpreted into Dutch and English.<br />
In this crystal-clear talk, she described the structure<br />
and properties of the VIH virus and<br />
its infection mechanisms, as well as the scientific<br />
challenges for developing a vaccine.<br />
She also addressed the means to fight the<br />
AIDS decease through prevention and treatment.<br />
Page 1 / 3<br />
In the spirit of the <strong>Solvay</strong> public lectures whose<br />
aim is to boost the interest for science, the talk<br />
by <strong>Professor</strong> Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong> was preceded by<br />
a short <strong>Solvay</strong> award ceremony during which<br />
students in physics, chemistry and engineering<br />
at the ULB and the VUB who had been distinguished<br />
for their work were celebrated.<br />
The event was attended by more than 350 persons<br />
who had the opportunity to ask questions<br />
and discuss with the speaker after the lecture.<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Event & <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
PR FORCE NV<br />
INSTITUT SOLVAY<br />
24599<br />
Page 1 / 2<br />
©AuxiPress s.a./n.v.<br />
©AuxiPress s.a./n.v.<br />
23
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Event & <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Lectures:<br />
background<br />
Supporting frontier research at the highest level<br />
in physics and chemistry is the main mission<br />
of the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>. This is not their only<br />
mission. It is also the responsibility of scientists<br />
to inform society on the latest developments in<br />
science. For this reason, the <strong>Institutes</strong> committed<br />
The <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> organize one public lecture<br />
per year. The 2009 Public Event was the 6 th one<br />
in the series. The <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> have been fortunate<br />
each time to greet exceptional scientists<br />
who gave fascinating talks.<br />
Although the research carried at the <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
<strong>Institutes</strong> is focused on physics and chemistry,<br />
the <strong>Solvay</strong> public lectures are organized on<br />
broader subjects covering all fields of sciences.<br />
There are various reasons behind this choice.<br />
One reason is that the frontiers between the<br />
scientific disciplines are not clear cut.<br />
To take an example appropriate to the theme of<br />
the 2009 public lecture, was Pasteur a physicist,<br />
a chemist, a biologist or a physician? He contributed<br />
to crystallography, he understood fermentation<br />
and refuted spontaneous generation, and<br />
he made major contributions to virology and<br />
immunology.<br />
But there is another reason for being broad in<br />
the choice of subjects of the public lectures. It is<br />
to show that the men and women who pursue<br />
themselves in 2004 to periodically organize<br />
public events during which the best researchers<br />
would deliver popular lectures on their recent<br />
work.<br />
Informing the general public about the current<br />
scientific developments and discoveries can also<br />
arouse enthusiasm for science and create new<br />
vocations among the young generations.<br />
Indeed, it is more than ever needed that the<br />
young generations embrace scientific careers to<br />
solve the numerous challenges that our contemporary<br />
society faces. The decrease in the number<br />
of students in faculties of sciences is without<br />
doubt a great source of concern.<br />
scientific research share the same passion,<br />
are driven by the same desire to understand<br />
fundamental questions about Nature, have the<br />
same emotions when making discoveries, be it<br />
in physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology or<br />
medicine.<br />
24
Françoise Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong>, 2008 Nobel Laureate in Medicine<br />
The 2009 <strong>Solvay</strong> Lecturer<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Françoise Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong> started<br />
her career at the Pasteur Institute in Paris<br />
where her research focused on the retroviruses<br />
(a particular group of viruses). She<br />
co-discovered the human immunodeficiency<br />
virus (HIV) in 1983, a discovery for which<br />
she received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in<br />
2008.<br />
She has worked on the impact of the innate<br />
defences of the host in controlling HIV/AIDS<br />
as well as mother-to-child transmission. She currently carries research on the development of<br />
a vaccine against AIDS.<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong> also leads active campaigns against that decease in many developing<br />
countries, where she has initiated multidisciplinary networks dedicated to prevention,<br />
clinical care, and treatment.<br />
She has been elected in 2009 Member of the French Academy of Sciences. In 2010, she<br />
will receive an Honorary Degree from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.<br />
It was a great honor for the International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> that she accepted their invitation to<br />
give the 2009 <strong>Solvay</strong> Public Lecture, in spite of an extremely tight schedule.<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Event & <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
The passion for science, the conviction that its<br />
progress benefits to humanity are without doubt<br />
values that <strong>Professor</strong> Françoise Barré-<strong>Sinoussi</strong><br />
has demonstrated during all her career.<br />
The International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> are extremely<br />
grateful to her for having accepted their invitation.<br />
One of the main goals of the <strong>Solvay</strong> public lectures<br />
is to awake scientific vocations among the<br />
young people and particularly among young<br />
women, who are underrepresented in scientific<br />
disciplines. Let the brilliant career of the 2009<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> lecturer help change this unbalanced<br />
situation!<br />
25
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Event & <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
encouraged by their teachers that trusted in<br />
their qualities and in their knowledge that<br />
have been distinguished.<br />
During those 20 years, technological developments<br />
which were then unimaginable,<br />
are now part of our daily life.<br />
But it is also during the last two decades<br />
that humanity realized that it has to face<br />
new planetary challenges.<br />
The energy consumption, the diminution of<br />
fossil resources, greenhouse gas emissions,<br />
the deep changes of our environment are<br />
consequences of the industrial society but<br />
also of the demographic growth with a<br />
population that needs water, health and sufficient<br />
food.<br />
Speech by Jean-Marie <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Member of the Board of Directors of <strong>Solvay</strong> S.A.<br />
Already twenty years ago, at the behest<br />
of Mr Jacques <strong>Solvay</strong>’s, my father, who is<br />
doing us the honor of being here this afternoon,<br />
the <strong>Solvay</strong> company created the<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Awards, a prize to reward young<br />
graduates from the Université Libre de Bruxelles<br />
and a little bit later from the Vrij Universiteit<br />
Brussel.<br />
Since then, the work and projects of more<br />
than 300 young men and women were<br />
carefully examined by our judges. 162<br />
among them were rewarded, 65 Doctors<br />
of Sciences or Applied Sciences and 97<br />
Masters, and Engineers. In this way, it is<br />
an entire generation of young researchers<br />
On the other hand new natural challenges<br />
have also arisen to test our human society:<br />
Aids, influenza, nosocomial diseases, water<br />
quality of which are only examples.<br />
The chemical industry in particular is ready<br />
to accept today’s challenges but to meet<br />
them, it has to lean on fundamental knowledge,<br />
integrate it and invent technical solutions<br />
and products that will provide a better<br />
life and mitigate environmental changes.<br />
If today, these advanced technological<br />
solutions are ready to be industrialized it is<br />
because intense research and collaboration<br />
between academia and the industrial world<br />
is a reality. This collaboration is rooted in<br />
the sharing of powerful theoretical models,<br />
the analysis of matter and deep knowledge<br />
of its properties.<br />
To succeed and to respond to the needs of<br />
the people and the markets, the 21st century<br />
industry will have to lean on knowledge<br />
26
and competences of a new generation of<br />
researchers familiar with most current developments<br />
of sciences and technologies and<br />
able to work with multidisciplinary teams<br />
animated with an innovative spirit.<br />
It is with this mind that the <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
judges for the 2007 and 2008 years,<br />
and for the first time with the help of the<br />
academic corps of the ULB and VUB have<br />
appointed the laureates.<br />
The task was difficult because each candidate<br />
was highly gifted. Those rewarded<br />
this afternoon have shown themselves to be<br />
capable of projecting their knowledge and<br />
creating solutions for a responsible future<br />
society.<br />
They are with 14 laureates issued from both<br />
universities of the Sciences and Applied Sciences<br />
faculties.<br />
We warmly congratulate them.<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Event & <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards<br />
2007 and 2008 <strong>Solvay</strong> Awards Laureates<br />
Arnaud Boisdenghien (ULB)<br />
Keevin Didriche (ULB)<br />
Tim Fievez (VUB)<br />
Jonathan Ghesquiere (ULB)<br />
Leslie Herman (ULB)<br />
Cedric Meuter (ULB)<br />
Hans Miltner (VUB)<br />
Evelyne Nguyen (ULB)<br />
Julien Niset (ULB)<br />
Bart Rimez (VUB)<br />
Laurence Rongy (ULB)<br />
Ine Schoukens (VUB)<br />
Julien Smeets (ULB)<br />
Benoît Tylleman (ULB)<br />
27
<strong>Professor</strong> Richard J. SAYKALLY<br />
International <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Chairs<br />
International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs<br />
29
International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs<br />
The <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs in Physics started in 2006 and the <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Chairs in Chemistry in 2008. These chairs enable the International<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> to invite in Brussels an eminent scientist<br />
for a period of one to two months in order to give lectures on<br />
her or his research work to researchers in the corresponding<br />
field, not only from the ULB and the VUB, but also from other<br />
Belgian universities and abroad. The course of lectures is preceded<br />
by an inaugural lecture aimed at a broader audience.<br />
The lectures are integrated in the curriculum of students at the<br />
master or doctoral level.<br />
Since its inception, there has been a total of six chairs, four in<br />
physics and two in chemistry.<br />
The 2009 International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs are described in separate<br />
sections.<br />
Past Chairs<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs in Physics<br />
2009 - <strong>Professor</strong> Valery Rubakov (Institute for Nuclear Research<br />
of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia)<br />
2008 - <strong>Professor</strong> David Gross (Kavli Institute for Theoretical<br />
Physics, Santa Barbara, USA)<br />
2007 - <strong>Professor</strong> Sir Michael Berry (University of Bristol,<br />
United Kingdom)<br />
2006 - <strong>Professor</strong> Ludwig Faddeev (Steklov Mathematical<br />
Institute, Saint-Petersburg, Russia)<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs in Chemistry<br />
2009 - <strong>Professor</strong> Alexander Mikhailov (Fritz Haber Institute of<br />
the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany)<br />
2008 - <strong>Professor</strong> Richard J. Saykally (University of Berkeley,<br />
USA)<br />
30
2009 International <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Chair in Chemistry<br />
<strong>Professor</strong><br />
Alexander MIKHAILOV<br />
Fritz Haber Institute<br />
of the Max Planck Society<br />
Berlin, Germany<br />
14 April – 13 June 2009<br />
31
International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chair in Chemistry<br />
The International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> were very<br />
proud that <strong>Professor</strong> Alexander Mikhailov,<br />
director of the department of physical chemistry<br />
at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck<br />
Society, accepted to be the 2009 year chair<br />
holder in chemistry. <strong>Professor</strong> Mikhailov spent<br />
two months in Brussels, from mid-April to mid-<br />
June 2009. He was hosted by the groups of<br />
<strong>Professor</strong>s Anne De Wit and Pierre Gaspard at<br />
ULB. His teaching was integrated in the curriculum<br />
of the master degree in chemistry.<br />
The International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chair in Chemistry has<br />
been been possible thanks to a special grant<br />
from the <strong>Solvay</strong> Company, which is gratefully<br />
acknowledged.<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Alexander Mikhailov got his PhD degree from<br />
the Lomonosov State University of Moscow in 1976.<br />
After helding various positions in Germany and Russia,<br />
he joined the Fritz Haber Institute in 1992, where he<br />
became in 1995 senior staff scientist and then director of<br />
the Complex Systems Group.<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Mikhailov made pioneering contributions<br />
to various fields of physical chemistry, ranging from<br />
pattern formation in nonlinear systems far from equilibrium<br />
(which can be chemical or biological systems), to<br />
nonequilibrium soft matter (Langmuir monolayers, biomembranes),<br />
statistical physics of single biomolecules,<br />
molecular machines and interactions between them, as<br />
well as complex systems and chaos.<br />
He has been invited as distinguished visiting professor or<br />
lecturer in many institutions around the world. He received<br />
also the prestigious Humboldt Research Award in<br />
1993 for his work. He is in addition editor, editor-in-chief<br />
or member of the advisory board of many of the leading<br />
journals in the area.<br />
Programme<br />
Inaugural Lecture (21 April 2009)<br />
“From Structure to Function: Chemistry in Transition”<br />
Traditional physical chemistry has been<br />
focused on explaining structural properties<br />
of individual chemical objects and elementary<br />
reaction events involving them. Today,<br />
we realize that this knowledge is far from<br />
sufficient to understand the known complex<br />
chemical systems. Not only in the realm<br />
of biology, but even for classical reactions<br />
of heterogeneous catalysis, emergence of<br />
coherent collective behavior – often yielding<br />
the ultimate function of a chemical system –<br />
is a process that needs to be understood. In<br />
this lecture, I provide a personal overview<br />
of the developments in studies of chemical<br />
self-organization phenomena in the last<br />
decades and discuss some trends of future<br />
research.<br />
32
Lectures<br />
22 April 2009<br />
Lecture 1<br />
“Rich life on catalytic surfaces”<br />
Reactions involving atoms adsorbed on<br />
metal surfaces are broadly employed in<br />
chemical technology and have a long<br />
history of investigation. But only relatively<br />
recently could one look with an electronic<br />
microscope at what is actually taking<br />
place on a catalytic surface during such a<br />
reaction. It has been a surprise that most<br />
of such reactions do not proceed under<br />
steady kinetic conditions, as often has<br />
been assumed. Instead, a rich repertoire<br />
of complex wave processes and nonequlibrium<br />
self-organized patterns has been<br />
revealed.<br />
29 April 2009<br />
Lecture 2<br />
“Why stainless steel breaks down?”<br />
Stainless steel is naturally protected by oxide<br />
layer that inhibits further oxidation. However,<br />
pitting corrosion – a process which<br />
is responsible for a third of all chemical<br />
plant failures and is crucial for the safety of<br />
nuclear reactors and nuclear waste disposal<br />
– can still set on, breaking the material<br />
down. The sudden onset of pitting corrosion<br />
is explained by autocatalytic reproduction<br />
of metastable corrosion pits and by spreading<br />
of corrosion activation waves, possibly<br />
yielding the most important practical example<br />
of nonequilibrium chemical pattern<br />
formation phenomena.<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Alexander MIKHAILOV<br />
6 May 2009<br />
Lecture 3<br />
“Reactive soft matter: a new challenge”<br />
Soft matter is characterized by presence of<br />
weak energetic cohesion between its constituting<br />
molecules. Because molecular interactions<br />
are weak, such systems are highly<br />
labile and typically possess a range of structural<br />
equilibrium phase transitions. Chemical<br />
reactions and diffusion of reactants interplay<br />
with structural phase transitions, resulting in<br />
the emergence of a variety of nonequilibrium<br />
structures whose characteristic lengths<br />
may well go into the nanoscale domain.<br />
Such structures, which still remain relatively<br />
poorly investigated, play a fundamental role<br />
in the operation of any living cell.<br />
13 May 2009<br />
Lecture 4<br />
“Understanding protein machines”<br />
Mechanical machines, examples of which<br />
can be already seen in beautiful drawings by<br />
Leonardo da Vinci, have formed the basis of<br />
the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. If<br />
we look at biological cells, we find strikingly<br />
similar mechanical devices which however<br />
operate at the nanoscale and in the presence<br />
of strong thermal and environmental<br />
fluctuations. How a protein molecule should<br />
be organized in order to act as a robust<br />
mechano-chemical device? How interactions<br />
between such molecular machines can<br />
produce complex, but yet coherent collective<br />
behavior? Learning this is important not only<br />
to better understand the nature of real living<br />
cells, but also to proceed further with the design<br />
of artificial protein machines and engineering<br />
of their large functional ensembles.<br />
33<br />
International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs
2009 International <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Chair in Physics<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Valery RUBAKOV<br />
Institute for Nuclear Research<br />
of the Russian Academy<br />
of Sciences<br />
Moscow, Russia<br />
15 September – 31 October 2009<br />
35
International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chair in Physics<br />
The International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> were extremely<br />
lucky and grateful that <strong>Professor</strong> Rubakov,<br />
from the Institute for Nuclear Research of<br />
the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow,<br />
accepted to be the 2009 <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Professor</strong> in<br />
Physics.<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Valery Rubakov was the host of the<br />
research groups of <strong>Professor</strong>s Jean-Marie Frère<br />
(ULB), Marc Henneaux (ULB and International<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>) and Alexander Sevrin (VUB<br />
and International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>). He spent<br />
one and a half month in Brussels, from mid-September<br />
through the end of October 2009.<br />
His teaching was included in the training of the<br />
International Doctoral School “Quantum Field<br />
Theory, Strings and Gravity” (Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris).<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Valery Rubakov is one of the prominent Russian theoretical physicists. His interests<br />
cover quantum field theory, high energy physics and cosmology. He got his doctoral degree in<br />
1981 on the ”Vacuum structure in gauge quantum field theories”. Since 1981 until now, he has<br />
been associated with the Institute for Nuclear Research (INR) in Moscow, where he<br />
is currently leading researcher. In 1997 he became full member of the Russian<br />
Academy of Sciences and since 1999 he is also professor (now honorary<br />
professor) at Moscow State University.<br />
He made key advances in quantum field theory by contributing fundamental<br />
understanding of the structure and physical role of nonperturbative solutions:<br />
solitons, monopoles, instantons, which are present in the theory because of<br />
the nonlinearity of the field equations. He wrote a textbook on the subject<br />
which has become a classic. In cosmology, he was the first to suggest<br />
that we live on a brane – the so-called brane world scenario – in a paper<br />
written as early as in 1983. He is currently working on dark matter<br />
and dark energy (but not only), which are some of the most puzzling<br />
challenges in the field.<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Rubakov got many honors and awards, among which the<br />
Golden Medal and Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences for<br />
Young Scientists (1985), the A.A.Fridman Prize of the Russian Academy<br />
of Sciences (1999) and the I.Ya.Pomeranchuk Prize of the Institute of<br />
Theoretical and Experimental Physics (2003) for (and I quote the citation)<br />
“pioneering contribution to developing and novel application of<br />
nonperturbative methods in field theory”. He is regularly invited as<br />
distinguished guest in the world leading scientific institutions.<br />
He is the founder of a scientific school: many of his former students<br />
work successfully in Russia and all over the world.<br />
36
Programme<br />
29 September 2009<br />
Inaugural Lecture<br />
“Particle physics and cosmology: towards<br />
understanding the Universe”<br />
Knowledge gained so far in cosmology is to<br />
a large extent orthogonal to current<br />
knowledge in particle physics. There is matter<br />
and no anti-matter in our Universe,<br />
and we do not have a unique explanation<br />
of this asymmetry. There is dark matter in<br />
the cosmos, and we do not know what the<br />
particles are it consists of. Cosmological<br />
expansion accelerates, and we do not<br />
know the fundamental physics behind this<br />
bizarre behavior. The origin of galaxies must<br />
have roots deep in quantum field theory,<br />
but we still have only a crude idea of what<br />
they are. Amazingly, all these mysteries<br />
will most probably be solved in a reasonably<br />
near future. I review these and other<br />
issues at the interface of particle physics<br />
and cosmology, with an emphasis on future<br />
progress in our understanding of the Universe.<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Valery RUBAKOV<br />
Lectures<br />
”Lectures on Inflation”<br />
Abstract<br />
The lectures will explain the inflationary<br />
cosmological model and its virtues. In<br />
particular, what inflation predicts for density<br />
perturbations and gravity waves, and what<br />
could be alternatives, will be discussed.<br />
5 October 2009 : Lecture 1<br />
6 October 2009 : Lecture 2<br />
7 October 2009 : Lecture 3<br />
8 October 2009 : Lecture 4<br />
International <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs<br />
37
Symposium “The logic of gene regulatory networks”<br />
Workshops<br />
and Schools<br />
organized by<br />
the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
39
Workshop on “Sparsity,<br />
learning and computation”<br />
12 - 14 February 2009<br />
Workshop on<br />
"Sparsity,<br />
learning and computa<br />
Salle <strong>Solvay</strong>, Campus Plaine,<br />
Université Libre de Bruxelles<br />
B r u s s e l s , 1 2 - 1 4 F e b r u a r y<br />
Scientifi c Committee<br />
Ingrid Daubechies (Princeton University, USA)<br />
Michel Defrise (VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Christine De Mol (ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Ignace Loris (VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Organizing Committee<br />
Ingrid Daubechies (Princeton University, USA)<br />
Michel Defrise (VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Christine De Mol (ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Isabelle Juif (<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Ignace Loris (VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Speakers<br />
Richard Baraniuk (Rice Unive<br />
Mario Bertero (Università<br />
Emmanuel Candès (Califor<br />
Pasa<br />
Albert Cohen (Universi<br />
Ingrid Daubechies (Pr<br />
Ron DeVore (Univers<br />
Anna Gilbert (Unive<br />
Rémi Gribonval (U<br />
Gérard Kerkyacha<br />
John Lafferty (C<br />
Robert Nowak<br />
Dominique Pic<br />
Tomaso Pogg<br />
Stephen S<br />
Alessand<br />
Martin<br />
Web site of t he Symposium :<br />
ht p : / / www. solvayinstitutes . be / Activities / Spar<br />
Avec le soutien de la Ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur et d<br />
Dit project wordt ondersteund binnen het Actieplan Wetenschapscommu<br />
41
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
The recent emergence, in different areas in the mathematical sciences, of the concept of “sparsity”<br />
has led to new insights that promise to have profound implications in a wide range of fields. To realize<br />
this promise, important mathematical challenges will have to be met first. The workshop has concentrated<br />
on these challenges, their precise formulation and the progress we are making towards<br />
solving them. It has also highlighted applications in the sciences and in engineering, including (but<br />
not restricted to) imaging and communications.<br />
This workshop has brought together experts from the exact and applied sciences, including pure<br />
and applied mathematicians, statisticians and computer scientists, as well as physicists and engineers<br />
in various subdisciplines.<br />
Scientific Committee<br />
Ingrid Daubechies<br />
(Princeton University, USA)<br />
Michel Defrise<br />
(VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Christine De Mol<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Ignace Loris<br />
(VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Organising Committee<br />
Ingrid Daubechies<br />
(Princeton University, USA)<br />
Michel Defrise<br />
(VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Christine De Mol<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Isabelle Juif<br />
(<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Ignace Loris<br />
(VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
List of Invited Speakers<br />
Richard Baraniuk<br />
(Rice University, Houston, USA)<br />
Mario Bertero<br />
(Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy)<br />
Albert Cohen<br />
(Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France)<br />
Ingrid Daubechies<br />
(Princeton University, USA)<br />
Ron DeVore<br />
(University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA)<br />
Anna Gilbert<br />
(University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA)<br />
Rémi Gribonval<br />
(Université Rennes 1, France)<br />
Gérard Kerkyacharian<br />
(Université Paris VI, France)<br />
John Lafferty<br />
(Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA)<br />
Robert Nowak<br />
(University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)<br />
Dominique Picard<br />
(Université Paris VII, France)<br />
Amit Singer<br />
(Princeton University, USA)<br />
Stephen Smale<br />
(University of California, Berkeley, USA)<br />
Alessandro Verri<br />
(Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy)<br />
Martin Vetterli<br />
(Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,<br />
Switzerland)<br />
42
Workshop on “Sparsity, learning and computation”<br />
Workshop on<br />
"Sparsity,<br />
learning and computation"<br />
Salle <strong>Solvay</strong>, Campus Plaine,<br />
Université Libre de Bruxelles<br />
B r u s s e l s , 1 2 - 1 4 F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9<br />
Scientifi c Committee<br />
Ingrid Daubechies (Princeton University, USA)<br />
Michel Defrise (VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Christine De Mol (ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Ignace Loris (VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Organizing Committee<br />
Ingrid Daubechies (Princeton University, USA)<br />
Michel Defrise (VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Christine De Mol (ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Isabelle Juif (<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Ignace Loris (VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Speakers<br />
Richard Baraniuk (Rice University, Houston, USA)<br />
Mario Bertero (Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy)<br />
Emmanuel Candès (California Institute of Technology,<br />
Pasadena, USA)<br />
Albert Cohen (Université Paris VI, France)<br />
Ingrid Daubechies (Princeton University, USA)<br />
Ron DeVore (University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA)<br />
Anna Gilbert (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA)<br />
Rémi Gribonval (Université Rennes 1, France)<br />
Gérard Kerkyacharian (Université Paris VI, France)<br />
John Lafferty (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA)<br />
Robert Nowak (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)<br />
Dominique Picard (Université Paris VII, France)<br />
Tomaso Poggio (Massachusetts Institute of Technology,<br />
Cambridge, USA)<br />
Stephen Smale (University of California, Berkeley, USA)<br />
Alessandro Verri (Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy)<br />
Martin Vetterli (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,<br />
Switzerland)<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
W e b s i t e o f t h e S y m p o s i u m :<br />
h t t p : / / w w w. s o l v a y i n s t i t u t e s . b e / A c t i v i t i e s / S p a r s i t y / S p a r s i t y. h t m l<br />
Avec le soutien de la Ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche scientifique.<br />
Dit project wordt ondersteund binnen het Actieplan Wetenschapscommunicatie, een initiatief van de Vlaamse Regering.<br />
Graphic Design: info@imagedemarc.be<br />
43
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Scientific Programme<br />
Thursday 12 February 2009<br />
08:30 - 09:15 Registration<br />
09:15 - 09:25 Welcome Address by M. Henneaux, Director<br />
of the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
09:25 - 10:15 M. Bertero (Università degli Studi di Genova)<br />
Gradient projection methods for constrained image denoising and<br />
deblurring<br />
10:15 - 10:45 Coffee Break<br />
10:45 - 11:35 A. Verri (Università degli Studi di Genova)<br />
Learning Sparse Representations in Computational Biology<br />
11:35 - 12:25 R. Gribonval (Université Rennes 1)<br />
How many training samples does it take to learn a dictionary for<br />
sparse representations?<br />
12:25 - 14:10 Lunch<br />
14:10 - 15:00 S. Smale (University of California)<br />
Geometry of Data<br />
15:00 - 15:50 R. DeVore (University of South Carolina)<br />
Capturing a function of few variables in high<br />
dimensions<br />
Friday 13 February 2009<br />
09:00 - 09:50 M. Vetterli (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de<br />
Lausanne)<br />
Sparse Sampling: Variations on a Theme by<br />
Shannon<br />
09:50 - 10:40 D. Picard (Université Paris VII)<br />
Deconvolution methods for estimating sparse<br />
density on the sphere<br />
10:40 - 11:10 Coffee Break<br />
44
Workshop on “Sparsity, learning and computation”<br />
11:10 - 12:00 J. Lafferty (Carnegie Mellon University)<br />
Functional Sparsity: Nonparametric Methods<br />
for High Dimensional Data<br />
12:00 - 14:00 Lunch<br />
14:00 - 14:50 A. Gilbert (University of Michigan)<br />
Sparse matrices, sparse signals, and sparse<br />
algorithms<br />
14:50 - 15:20 Coffee Break<br />
15:20 - 16:10 R. Nowak (University of Wisconsin-Madison)<br />
Can’t learn without you<br />
16:10 - 17:00 R. Baraniuk (Rice University)<br />
Model-based compressive sensing<br />
Saturday 14 February 2009<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
09:00 - 09:50 A. Cohen (Université Pierre et Marie Curie)<br />
Sparse polynomial representations in high dimension and<br />
applications to stochastic PDE’s<br />
09:50 - 10:40 G. Kerkyacharian (Université Paris VI)<br />
Sparsity and Radon Transform: Needlet estimation<br />
10:40 - 11:10 Coffee Break<br />
11:10 - 12:00 A. Singer (Princeton University)<br />
Structure Determination through Eigenvectors of Sparse Operators<br />
12:00 - 12:50 I. Daubechies (Princeton University)<br />
Sparsity without l1-minimization<br />
45
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
List of Participants<br />
First Name Last Name Institution<br />
Jan Aelterman Universiteit Gent, Belgium<br />
Musa Alrefaya Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Borislav Antic University of Novi Sad, Serbia<br />
Jean-Pierre Antoine Université Catholique de Louvain,Belgium<br />
Chris Antonopoulos Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Lennert Appeltant Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Danilo Babin Universiteit Gent, Belgium<br />
Joeri Barbarien Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Vasileios Basios Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Lamiae Bentabet Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Alexander Borghgraef Royal Military Academy, Brussels, Belgium<br />
Vincent Botta Université de Liège, Belgium<br />
Philippe Boulanger Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Philippe Cara Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Carlo Cattani Università degli studi di Salerno, Italy<br />
Chia-Tche Chang Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Catherine Charles Faculté Universitaire des Sciences<br />
Agronomiques de Gembloux, Belgium<br />
Peter Clerinx K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Christophe Cloquet Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Bruno Cornelis Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Jan Cornelis Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Balazs Csaji Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Christine De Mol Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Christophe De Vleeschouwer Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Alex Deckmyn Royal Meteorological Institute, Brussels, Belgium<br />
Michel Defrise Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Nikos Deligiannis Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Veronique Delouille Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium<br />
Thomas Dhollander K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Luca Dimiccoli Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Ann Dooms Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Pierre Dupont Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Tillmann Falck K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Massimo Fornasier Johann Radon Institute for Computational<br />
and Applied Mathematics, Linz, Austria<br />
46
Workshop on “Sparsity, learning and computation”<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
47
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
List of Participants<br />
First Name Last Name Institution<br />
Amir Forouzan K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Kevin Françoisse Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Jean-Marc Freyermuth Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Pierre Geurts Université de Liège, Belgium<br />
Nicolas Gillis Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Bart Goossens Universiteit Gent, Belgium<br />
Jean-Pierre Gossez Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Marc Hallin Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Thibault Helleputte Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Ruben Hillewaere Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Ronny Hoffmann Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Van Anh Huynh-Thu Université de Liège, Belgium<br />
Ernesto Iacucci K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Vedran Jelaca Universiteit Gent, Belgium<br />
Loïc Lecharlier Faculté Universitaire des Sciences<br />
Agronomiques de Gembloux, Belgium<br />
Ignace Loris Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Hiep Luong Universiteit Gent, Belgium<br />
Benoit Macq Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Jean-Marie Mirebeau Université Paris 6, France<br />
Adrian Munteanu Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Juan Pablo Narino Mendoza Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Fabian Ojeda K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Davy Paindaveine Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Aleksandra Pizurica Universiteit Gent, Belgium<br />
Holger Rauhut Universität Bonn, Germany<br />
Simone Righi Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix,<br />
Namur, Belgium<br />
Elizabete Rodrigues Ferreira Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Filip Rooms Universiteit Gent, Belgium<br />
Tijana Ruzic Universiteit Gent, Belgium<br />
Hichem Sahli Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Chafik Samir Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Shahid Satti Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
48
Workshop on “Sparsity, learning and computation”<br />
List of Participants<br />
First Name Last Name Institution<br />
Peter Schelkens Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Marco Signoretto K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Seyfollah Soleimani Universiteit Gent, Belgium<br />
Florent Sureau Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Nizar Touleimat Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Caroline Verhoeven Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Rainer von Sachs Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Rachel Ward Princeton University, USA<br />
Roman Zakharov Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Peyman Zarrineh K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
49
Workshop on<br />
“Cosmological Frontiers<br />
in Fundamental Physics”<br />
13 - 16 May 2009<br />
Workshop on<br />
Cosmological Frontiers<br />
in Fundamental Physics<br />
organized by<br />
International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> (Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Laboratoire APC (Paris, France)<br />
Perimeter Institute (Waterloo, Canada)<br />
Scientific Committee<br />
Pierre Binétruy (APC)<br />
Ben Craps (VUB)<br />
Marc Henneaux (<strong>Solvay</strong> Inst.)<br />
Thomas Hertog (APC)<br />
Gary Horowitz (UCSB)<br />
Shamit Kachru (Stanford)<br />
Justin Khoury (Penn)<br />
Juan Maldacena (IAS)<br />
Valery Rubakov (RAS)<br />
Neil Turok (PI)<br />
Brussels, 13-16 May 2009<br />
www.solvayinstitutes.be/Activities/CosmoFrontiers/CFFP.html<br />
Photo credit: NASA/ESA/<br />
S. Beckwith (STScI)<br />
and The HUDF Team<br />
Invited Speakers<br />
Pierre Binétruy (APC)<br />
Matthias Blau (Bern)<br />
Thibault Damour (IHES)<br />
Gia Dvali (CERN)<br />
Gary Horowitz (UCSB)<br />
Shamit Kachru (Stanford)<br />
Renata Kallosh (Stanford)<br />
Justin Khoury (Penn)<br />
Lev Kofman (Toronto)<br />
Eiichiro Komatsu (UT Austin)<br />
Andrei Linde (Stanford)<br />
Liam McAllister (Cornell)<br />
Viatcheslav Mukhanov (LMU)<br />
Hermann Nicolai (Golm)<br />
Savdeep Sethi (Chicago)<br />
Stephen Shenker (Stanford)<br />
Eva Silverstein (Stanford)<br />
Paul Steinhardt (Princeton)<br />
Leonard Susskind (Stanford)<br />
Sandip Trivedi (Tata Inst.)<br />
Neil Turok (PI)<br />
Gabriele Veneziano (CdF)<br />
Erik Verlinde (Amsterdam)<br />
Benjamin Wandelt (UIUC)<br />
Organizing Committee<br />
Ben Craps (VUB)<br />
Thomas Hertog (APC)<br />
Peter Tinyakov (ULB)<br />
Michel Tytgat (ULB)<br />
Avec le soutien de la Minis<br />
supérieur et de la<br />
Dit project wordt ondersteund binnen het Actieplan Wetenschapscommunicatie, een initiatief v<br />
51
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Jointly with the Perimeter Institute (Waterloo,<br />
Canada) and the APC Institute (Paris), the International<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> organized a workshop<br />
on “Cosmological Frontiers in Fundamental<br />
Physics”, held in Brussels from Wednesday May<br />
13 until Saturday May 16, 2009. Its aim was to<br />
discuss, in an informal setting, recent developments<br />
at the interface of cosmology and fundamental<br />
physics, in particular string theory.<br />
The workshop was part of a series initiated by<br />
PI and APC. The workshops will from now on<br />
rotate between the three places, the next edition<br />
taking place at PI in June 2010. It was also part<br />
of a series of focused workshops organized by<br />
the International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>.<br />
Workshop on<br />
Cosmological Frontiers<br />
in Fundamental Physics<br />
organized by<br />
International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> (Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Laboratoire APC (Paris, France)<br />
Perimeter Institute (Waterloo, Canada)<br />
Brussels, 13-16 May 2009<br />
www.solvayinstitutes.be/Activities/CosmoFrontiers/CFFP.html<br />
Scientific Committee<br />
Pierre Binétruy<br />
(Université Paris VII, France)<br />
Ben Craps<br />
(Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)<br />
Marc Henneaux<br />
(<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Thomas Hertog<br />
(Université Paris VII, France)<br />
Gary Horowitz<br />
(University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)<br />
Shamit Kachru<br />
(Stanford University, USA)<br />
Justin Khoury<br />
(University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA)<br />
Juan Maldacena<br />
(Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA)<br />
Valery Rubakov<br />
(Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia)<br />
Neil Turok<br />
(Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo,<br />
Canada)<br />
Organising Committee<br />
Scientific Committee<br />
Pierre Binétruy (APC)<br />
Ben Craps (VUB)<br />
Marc Henneaux (<strong>Solvay</strong> Inst.)<br />
Thomas Hertog (APC)<br />
Gary Horowitz (UCSB)<br />
Shamit Kachru (Stanford)<br />
Justin Khoury (Penn)<br />
Juan Maldacena (IAS)<br />
Valery Rubakov (RAS)<br />
Neil Turok (PI)<br />
Invited Speakers<br />
Pierre Binétruy (APC)<br />
Matthias Blau (Bern)<br />
Thibault Damour (IHES)<br />
Gia Dvali (CERN)<br />
Gary Horowitz (UCSB)<br />
Shamit Kachru (Stanford)<br />
Renata Kallosh (Stanford)<br />
Justin Khoury (Penn)<br />
Lev Kofman (Toronto)<br />
Eiichiro Komatsu (UT Austin)<br />
Andrei Linde (Stanford)<br />
Liam McAllister (Cornell)<br />
Viatcheslav Mukhanov (LMU)<br />
Hermann Nicolai (Golm)<br />
Savdeep Sethi (Chicago)<br />
Stephen Shenker (Stanford)<br />
Eva Silverstein (Stanford)<br />
Paul Steinhardt (Princeton)<br />
Leonard Susskind (Stanford)<br />
Sandip Trivedi (Tata Inst.)<br />
Neil Turok (PI)<br />
Gabriele Veneziano (CdF)<br />
Erik Verlinde (Amsterdam)<br />
Benjamin Wandelt (UIUC)<br />
Organizing Committee<br />
Ben Craps (VUB)<br />
Thomas Hertog (APC)<br />
Peter Tinyakov (ULB)<br />
Michel Tytgat (ULB)<br />
Ben Craps<br />
(Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)<br />
Thomas Hertog<br />
(Université Paris VII, France)<br />
Peter Tinyakov<br />
(Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)<br />
Michel Tytgat<br />
(Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)<br />
Photo credit: NASA/ESA/<br />
S. Beckwith (STScI)<br />
and The HUDF Team<br />
Avec le soutien de la Ministre de l’Enseignement<br />
supérieur et de la Recherche scientifique.<br />
Dit project wordt ondersteund binnen het Actieplan Wetenschapscommunicatie, een initiatief van de Vlaamse Regering.<br />
52
List of Invited Speakers<br />
Pierre Binétruy<br />
(Université Paris VII, France)<br />
Matthias Blau<br />
(Universität Bern, Switzerland)<br />
Thibault Damour<br />
(IHES, Bures-sur-Yvette, France)<br />
Jan de Boer<br />
(Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands)<br />
Gia Dvali<br />
(CERN, Genève, Switzerland)<br />
Gary Horowitz<br />
(University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)<br />
Renata Kallosh<br />
(Stanford University, USA)<br />
Justin Khoury<br />
(University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA)<br />
Elias Kiritsis<br />
(University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece)<br />
Eiichiro Komatsu<br />
(University of Texas, Austin, USA)<br />
Andrei Linde<br />
(Stanford University, USA)<br />
Workshop on “Cosmological Frontiers in<br />
Fundamental Physics”<br />
Liam McAllister<br />
(Cornell University, Ithaca, USA)<br />
Viatcheslav Mukhanov<br />
(Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München,<br />
Germany)<br />
Hermann Nicolai<br />
(Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik,<br />
Golm, Germany)<br />
Fernando Quevedo<br />
(Cambridge University, UK)<br />
Simon Ross<br />
(Durham University, UK)<br />
Savdeep Sethi<br />
(University of Chicago, USA)<br />
Paul Steinhardt<br />
(Princeton University, USA)<br />
Sandip Trivedi<br />
(Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,<br />
Mumbai, India)<br />
Neil Turok<br />
(Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo,<br />
Canada)<br />
Erik Verlinde<br />
(Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands)<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
53
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Scientific Programme<br />
Wednesday 13 May 2009<br />
09:30 - 10:30 Registration<br />
Chair<br />
B. Craps<br />
10:30 - 10:35 Welcome Address by M. Henneaux, Director of the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
10:35 - 11:20 E. Komatsu (University of Texas)<br />
Non-Gaussianity as a Probe of the Physics of the Primordial Universe<br />
11:20 - 12:05 J. Khoury (University of Pennsylvania)<br />
Rapidly-Varying Sound Speed, Scale-Invariance and<br />
Non-Gaussian Signatures<br />
12:05 - 14:00 Lunch<br />
Chair<br />
M. Tytgat<br />
14:00 - 14:45 P. Binetruy (Université Paris VII)<br />
Dark energy and fundamental physics<br />
14:45 - 15:30 G. Dvali (CERN)<br />
Black holes and origin of species<br />
15:30 - 16:15 Coffee Break<br />
Chair<br />
P. Tinyakov<br />
16:15 - 17:00 T. Damour (IHES)<br />
Supergravity, Cosmo-Billiards and Kac-Moody Algebras<br />
17:00 - 17:45 J. de Boer (Universiteit van Amsterdam)<br />
Macroscopic quantum effects near black holes<br />
Thursday 14 May 2009<br />
Chair<br />
A. Sevrin<br />
09:30 - 10:15 G. Horowitz (University of California)<br />
A New Holographic View of Singularities<br />
54
Scientific Programme<br />
Workshop on “Cosmological Frontiers in<br />
Fundamental Physics”<br />
10:15 - 11:00 M. Blau (Universität Bern)<br />
Penrose limits of Space-Time Singularities and Matrix Big Bang Models<br />
11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break<br />
11:30 - 12:15 N. Turok (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)<br />
Holographic Resolution of Cosmological Singularities<br />
12:15 - 14:00 Lunch<br />
Chair<br />
J. Troost<br />
14:00 - 14:45 S. Trivedi (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research)<br />
Cosmological Singularities and their Field Theory Duals<br />
14:45 - 15:30 E. Verlinde (Universiteit van Amsterdam)<br />
Degenerate Matter and Gravitational Collapse in AdS/CFT<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
15:30 - 16:00 Coffee Break<br />
16:00 - 16:45 P. Steinhardt (Princeton University)<br />
Cosmic Acceleration and Ekpyrosis in Theories with Extra Dimensions<br />
Friday 15 May 2009<br />
Chair<br />
T. Hertog<br />
09:30 - 10:15 A. Linde (Stanford University)<br />
Inflationary Multiverse<br />
10:15 - 11:00 L. McAllister (Cornell University)<br />
Systematics of D-brane inflation<br />
11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break<br />
11:30 - 12:15 H. Nicolai (Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik)<br />
Cosmological singularities, higher order curvature corrections, and E10<br />
12:15 - 14:00 Lunch<br />
55
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Chair<br />
A. Achucarro<br />
14:00 - 14:45 R. Kallosh (Stanford University)<br />
Recent developments in N=8 Supergravity<br />
14:45 - 15:30 S. Sethi (University of Chicago)<br />
Approaches to Time-dependent String Theory<br />
15:30 - 16:00 Coffee Break<br />
16:00 - 16:45 F. Quevedo (Cambridge University)<br />
LARGE volume and cosmology<br />
Saturday 16 May 2009<br />
Chair<br />
M. Henneaux<br />
09:30 - 10:15 V. Mukhanov (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität<br />
München)<br />
Vector dark energy<br />
10:15 - 11:00 E. Kiritsis (University of Crete)<br />
The cosmology of Horava-Lifshitz gravity<br />
11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break<br />
11:30 - 12:15 S. Ross (Durham University)<br />
Holography for non-relativistic CFTs<br />
56
List of Participants<br />
Workshop on “Cosmological Frontiers in<br />
Fundamental Physics”<br />
Last Name First Name Institution<br />
Abou Zeid Mohab University of London, UK<br />
Achucarro Ana Universiteit Leiden, the Netherlands<br />
Argurio Riccardo Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Babichev Eugeny Université Paris VII, France<br />
Bañados Max Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,Santiago, Chile<br />
Barnich Glenn Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Battarra Lorenzo Université Paris VII, France<br />
Bernamonti Alice Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Bigazzi Francesco Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Bohé Alejandro Université Paris VII, France<br />
Bouatta Nazim University of Cambridge, UK<br />
Bucher Martin Université Paris XI, France<br />
Clesse Sebastien Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Closset Cyril Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Cluzel Emeline CEA Saclay, Institut de Physique Théorique, France<br />
Cotrone Aldo K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Craps Ben Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
D’Hondt Jorgen Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
De Roo Frederik Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Dehouck Francois Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Deruelle Nathalie Université Paris VII, France<br />
Dymarsky Anatoly Stanford University, USA<br />
Englert Francois Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Evnin Oleg Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Ferrari Frank Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Galli Federico Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Henneaux Marc Université Libre de Bruxelles & <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
<strong>Institutes</strong>, Brussels, Belgium<br />
Hertog Thomas Université Paris VII, France<br />
Honecker Gabriele K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Houart Laurent Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Jackson Mark Universiteit Leiden, the Netherlands<br />
Jamsin Ella Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Joukovskaya Liudmila University of Cambridge, UK<br />
Kim Sung-Soo Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
57<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong>
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
List of Participants<br />
Last Name First Name Institution<br />
Kleinschmidt Axel Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Konduru Rakesh Teja Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India<br />
Koshelev Alexey Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Krishnan Chethan International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>, Brussels, Belgium<br />
Kuperstein Stanislav Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Lehners Jean-Luc Princeton University, USA<br />
Lindman Hornlund Josef Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Maccaferri Carlo Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Maharana Jnanadeva Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India<br />
McFadden Paul Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands<br />
Meerburg Daniel Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands<br />
Montañez Sergio Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Nitti Francesco Université Paris VII, France<br />
Parikh Maulik The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics,<br />
Pune, India<br />
Perz Jan K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Renaux-Petel Sebastien Université Paris VII, France<br />
Ribassin Julien Université Paris VII, France<br />
Ribeiro Raquel University of Cambridge, UK<br />
Ringeval Christiophe Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium<br />
Schalm Koenraad Universiteit Leiden, the Netherlands<br />
Schoots Leo Independent researcher<br />
Sevrin Alexander Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Skordis Constantinos Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada<br />
Spindel Philippe Université de Mons, Belgium<br />
Staessens Wieland Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Steer Daniele Université Paris VII, France<br />
Stein Maren University of Cambridge, UK<br />
Tinyakov Peter Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Troost Jan Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France<br />
Tytgat Michel Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
van der Schaar Jan Pieter Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands<br />
Van Proeyen Antoine K.U.Leuven, Belgium<br />
Vikman Alexander New York University, USA<br />
Virmani Amitabh Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
58
List of Participants<br />
Workshop on “Cosmological Frontiers in<br />
Fundamental Physics”<br />
Last Name First Name Institution<br />
Wesley Daniel University of Cambridge, UK<br />
Youssef Ahmed Université Paris VII, France<br />
Zenaïdi Naïm Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Ziour Riad Université Paris VII, France<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
59
Workshop on<br />
“Chemo-hydrodynamic<br />
patterns and instabilities”<br />
28 - 30 October 2009<br />
Organizing Committee<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Workshop<br />
Chemo-Hydrodynamic<br />
Patter ns and Instabiliti<br />
P. Colinet (Université Libre de Bruxelles)<br />
P.C. Dauby (Université de Liège)<br />
Y. De Decker (Université Libre de Bruxelles)<br />
A. De Wit (Université Libre de Bruxelles)<br />
I. Juif (<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> & Université Libre de Bruxelles)<br />
Dit project wordt ondersteund<br />
binnen het Actieplan Wetenschapscommunicatie,<br />
een initiatief<br />
van de Vlaamse Regering.<br />
Université Libre de Bruxelles<br />
Brussels, 28 - 30 October 2009<br />
Campus Plaine - Salle <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Confirmed Invited Speakers<br />
M.A. Bees (University of Glasgow, UK)<br />
G. Desmet (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)<br />
A. D’Onofrio (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)<br />
K. Eckert (Technische Universität Dresden, Germany)<br />
J.M. Garcia Ruiz (Universidad de Granada, Spain)<br />
M. Hauser (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Germany)<br />
S. Morris (University of Toronto, Canada)<br />
Z. Neufeld (University College Dublin, Ireland)<br />
D. Quéré (Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France)<br />
M. Quintard (Institut de Mécanique des Fluides, Toulouse, France<br />
T. Solomon (Bucknell University, Lewisburg, USA)<br />
P. Tabeling (École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrie<br />
N. Vladimirova (University of Chicago, USA)<br />
Scientific Committee<br />
A. De Wit (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bel<br />
K. Eckert (Technische Universität Dresden<br />
G.M. Homsy (University of California, Sa<br />
S. Kalliadasis (Imperial College, London<br />
V. Pimienta (Université Paul Sabatier, T<br />
A. Pocheau (IRPHE, Marseille, France)<br />
U. Thiele (Loughborough University,<br />
A. Zebib (Rutgers University, Piscataw<br />
Contributed papers and posters are invited. Pl<br />
for more details of the conference and instruct<br />
www.solvayinstitutes.be/Activities/Che<br />
ITN<br />
Multiflow<br />
Avec le soutien de la Minis<br />
de l’Enseignement supér<br />
et de la Recherche sci<br />
fique.<br />
61
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Organizing Committee<br />
The workshop focused on discussing spatio-temporal<br />
patterns and instabilities that appear when<br />
chemical species are advected by complex<br />
flows or when chemical reactions are able to<br />
modify or trigger hydrodynamic flows by changing<br />
a physical property (density, viscosity or<br />
surface tension) of the fluid at hand. The various<br />
topics addressed were typically convective<br />
flows around chemical fronts, Marangoni flows<br />
in reactive drops or films, chemical reactions in<br />
porous media or complex flows, microfluidic and<br />
biological applications of chemo-hydrodynamic<br />
coupling.<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Workshop<br />
Chemo-Hydrodynamic<br />
Patter ns and Instabilities<br />
P. Colinet (Université Libre de Bruxelles)<br />
P.C. Dauby (Université de Liège)<br />
Y. De Decker (Université Libre de Bruxelles)<br />
A. De Wit (Université Libre de Bruxelles)<br />
I. Juif (<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> & Université Libre de Bruxelles)<br />
Université Libre de Bruxelles<br />
Brussels, 28 - 30 October 2009<br />
Campus Plaine - Salle <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
Confirmed Invited Speakers<br />
M.A. Bees (University of Glasgow, UK)<br />
G. Desmet (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)<br />
A. D’Onofrio (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)<br />
K. Eckert (Technische Universität Dresden, Germany)<br />
J.M. Garcia Ruiz (Universidad de Granada, Spain)<br />
M. Hauser (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Germany)<br />
S. Morris (University of Toronto, Canada)<br />
Z. Neufeld (University College Dublin, Ireland)<br />
D. Quéré (Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France)<br />
M. Quintard (Institut de Mécanique des Fluides, Toulouse, France)<br />
T. Solomon (Bucknell University, Lewisburg, USA)<br />
P. Tabeling (École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, Paris, France)<br />
N. Vladimirova (University of Chicago, USA)<br />
Scientific Committee<br />
A. De Wit (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)<br />
K. Eckert (Technische Universität Dresden, Germany)<br />
G.M. Homsy (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)<br />
S. Kalliadasis (Imperial College, London, UK)<br />
V. Pimienta (Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France)<br />
A. Pocheau (IRPHE, Marseille, France)<br />
U. Thiele (Loughborough University, UK)<br />
A. Zebib (Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA)<br />
Contributed papers and posters are invited. Please see the workshop website<br />
for more details of the conference and instructions for submitting applications.<br />
www.solvayinstitutes.be/Activities/ChemoHydro/ChemoHydro.html<br />
Scientific Committee<br />
A. De Wit<br />
(Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)<br />
K. Eckert<br />
(Technische Universität Dresden, Germany)<br />
G.M. Homsy<br />
(University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)<br />
S. Kalliadasis<br />
(Imperial College, London, UK)<br />
V. Pimienta<br />
(Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France)<br />
A. Pocheau<br />
(IRPHE, Marseille, France)<br />
U. Thiele<br />
(Loughborough University, UK)<br />
A. Zebib<br />
(Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA)<br />
Organising Committee<br />
P. Colinet<br />
(Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)<br />
P. Dauby<br />
(Université de Liège, Belgium)<br />
Y. De Decker<br />
(Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)<br />
A. De Wit<br />
(Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)<br />
I. Juif<br />
(<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> & Université Libre de Bruxelles,<br />
Belgium)<br />
ITN<br />
Multiflow<br />
Dit project wordt ondersteund<br />
Avec le soutien de la Ministre<br />
binnen het Actieplan Wetenschapscommunicatie,<br />
een initiatief<br />
et de la Recherche scienti-<br />
de l’Enseignement supérieur<br />
van de Vlaamse Regering.<br />
fique.<br />
62
Workshop on<br />
“Chemo-hydrodynamic patterns and instabilities”<br />
List of Invited Speakers<br />
M.A. Bees<br />
(University of Glasgow, UK)<br />
G. Desmet<br />
(Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)<br />
A. D’Onofrio<br />
(Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)<br />
K. Eckert<br />
(Technische Universität Dresden, Germany)<br />
J.M. Garcia Ruiz<br />
(Universidad de Granada, Spain)<br />
M. Hauser<br />
(Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg,<br />
Germany)<br />
S. Morris<br />
(University of Toronto, Canada)<br />
Z. Neufeld<br />
(University College Dublin, Ireland)<br />
D. Quéré<br />
(Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France)<br />
M. Quintard<br />
(Institut de Mécanique des Fluides, Toulouse,<br />
France)<br />
T. Solomon<br />
(Bucknell University, Lewisburg, USA)<br />
P. Tabeling<br />
(École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie<br />
Industrielles, Paris, France)<br />
N. Vladimirova<br />
(University of Chicago, USA)<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
63
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
List of posters<br />
M. Al-Ghoul: Precipitation Pulse Propagation in the Ni(OH)2/NH3 System<br />
C. Almarcha: Experimental study of hydrodynamic instabilities of A+B →> C reaction fronts in vertically<br />
oriented Hele-Shaw cell.<br />
V. Basios, Th. Dumont: Pattern formation in presence of phase transition: some computational challenges<br />
G. Boffetta: Statistics of Rayleigh-Taylor turbulence<br />
H. Rose and M. Britton: Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Viscous Fingering<br />
G. Dumazer: Forbidden interval of propagation speed for exothermic chemical<br />
fronts: from perfect gas to van der<br />
L. Frastia, A.J. Archer, and U. Thiele: Thin film model for the formation of ring-like<br />
deposits during the dewetting of suspensions<br />
T. Gérard: Influence of heat losses through the walls of the reactor on Rayleigh-<br />
Taylor fingering of exothermic autocatalytic fronts<br />
F. Glaab: Hydroxide ion diffusion processes in modified silica garden systems<br />
C. Herman: Inter-dependence between the microstructures in highly concentrated suspensions and<br />
the micro-scale<br />
N. Jarrige: Autocatalytic reaction flow in heterogeneous media using lattice BGK simulations<br />
R. Maes: Experimental study of chemically-driven viscous fingering in a Hele-Shaw cell<br />
E. Melero-García, J.M. García-Ruiz, M. Kellermeier: Silica biomorphs: an aqueous precipitating<br />
system “independent” of transport hydrodynamics<br />
M. Mishra: Miscible viscous fingering of finite slices in three component systems<br />
A. Puisto, M. Mohtaschemi, and M. J. Alava: Rheology changes in aggregating suspensions<br />
M. Rogers: Heads and tails: The evolution of autocatalytic plumes and balls<br />
B. Scheid: Surface-viscosity-induced thickening in liquid film coating<br />
D. Sileri: Mathematical modelling of immiscible two-fluid flows in the presence of<br />
phase changes, applied to He…<br />
B. Thompson: Chemical Pattern Formation in Taylor-Couette Flow<br />
P. Trevelyan: Viscous fingering of a miscible reactive A+B- > C interface: a linear stability analysis<br />
C. Wylock: Experimental study of chemo-hydrodynamical instabilities during CO2 absorption in<br />
basic solutions<br />
64
Workshop on<br />
“Chemo-hydrodynamic patterns and instabilities”<br />
Scientific Programme<br />
Wednesday 28 October 2009<br />
08:15 - 09:00 Registration<br />
Chemical reactions in complex flows<br />
Chair : A. Pocheau (IRPHE)<br />
09:00 - 09:10 Welcoming Address by A. De Wit<br />
09:10 - 09:50 T. Solomon (Bucknell University)<br />
Experimental studies of front propagation and pattern formation<br />
in advection-reaction-diffusion systems<br />
09:50 - 10:30 Z. Neufeld (University College Dublin)<br />
Chemical and biological dynamics in prescribed chaotic<br />
and turbulent flows<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee Break<br />
11:00 - 11:20 A. Tzella (Ecole Normale Supérieure)<br />
Spatial structures of chaotically advected scalars: the role<br />
of a delay time<br />
11:20 - 11:40 H. Hastings (Hofstra University)<br />
Mixing effects in the ferroin-catalyzed BZ:<br />
reaction – physics versus chemistry<br />
11:40 - 12:00 A. Munuzuri (Santiago de Compostela)<br />
External convective forcings effects on patterning in reactiondiffusion<br />
systems: experiments and theoretical studies<br />
12:00 - 14:00 Lunch<br />
Biological and microfluidic applications<br />
Chair: S. Kalliadasis (Imperial College)<br />
14:00 - 14:40 P. Tabeling (ESPCI, Paris)<br />
Microfluidic droplet stories<br />
14:40 - 15:20 J.-M. Garcia Ruiz (Universidad de Granada)<br />
The role of fluid dynamics in protein crystallization<br />
65
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Scientific Programme<br />
15:20 - 15:50 Coffee Break<br />
15:50 - 16:30 M. Bees (University of Glasgow)<br />
Bioconvection: instability and Taylor dispersion in a tube<br />
16:30 - 16:50 J. Bois (Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems)<br />
Polarity establishment in the one-cell C. elegans embryo as an<br />
active reaction-diffusion-advection process<br />
16:50 - 17:10 G. Guria (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology)<br />
Pattern Formation in Intensive Blood Flow<br />
Thursday 29 October 2009<br />
Convection around chemical fronts I<br />
Chair: K. Eckert (Technische Universität Dresden)<br />
09:00 - 09:40 S. Morris (University of Toronto)<br />
Autocatalytic plumes<br />
09:40 - 10:20 M. Hauser (Otto-von-Guericke- Universität Magdeburg)<br />
Chemo-hydrodynamic convection in a system with an open surfaceP<br />
10:20 - 10:50 Coffee Break<br />
10:50 - 11:10 J. Merkin (Leeds University)<br />
The interaction between buoyancy and diffusion- driven instabilities<br />
of a propagating autocatalytic reaction front<br />
11:10 - 11:30 A. Toth (University of Szeged)<br />
Density fingering in horizontally propagating reaction fronts<br />
11:30 - 12:10 N. Vladimirova (University of New Mexico)<br />
Reactive Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in the Boussinesq Buoyancy<br />
approximation<br />
12:10 - 14:00 Lunch<br />
66
Workshop on<br />
“Chemo-hydrodynamic patterns and instabilities”<br />
Convection around chemical fronts II<br />
Chair: V. Pimienta (Université Paul Sabatier)<br />
14:00 - 14:40 A. D’Onofrio (Universidad de Buenos Aires)<br />
Buoyancy-driven instabilities of miscible reactions fronts with<br />
double diffusion<br />
14:40 - 15:00 A. Taylor (Leeds University)<br />
Convection in pH fronts in reverse micelle systems<br />
15:00 - 15:20 M. Sheintuch (Technion)<br />
Transversal patterns in moving or oscillatory fronts of<br />
advection-reaction-diffusion systems<br />
15:30 - 17:30 Poster session<br />
19:30 Banquet<br />
Friday 30 October 2009<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Marangoni effects and reactive drops<br />
Chair: U. Thiele (Loughborough University)<br />
09:00 - 09:40 D. Quéré (Ecole Polytechnique Palaiseau)<br />
On capillary propulsion<br />
09:40 - 10:00 T. Ban (Doshisha University)<br />
Chemical control of droplet motion<br />
10:00 - 10:20 Y. Sumino (University of Tokyo)<br />
Bebbling instability of oil droplet induced by growth/collapse<br />
of elastic complex<br />
10:20 - 10:50 Coffee Break<br />
10:50 - 11:30 K. Eckert (Technische Universität Dresden)<br />
Marangoni cells in interaction with chemical reactions in<br />
liquid-liquid systems<br />
67
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Scientific Programme<br />
11:30 - 11:50 V. Pimienta (Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse)<br />
Reactive autocatalytic transfer of surfactant leading<br />
to Marangoni instability<br />
11:50 - 12:10 J. Pojman (Louisiana State University)<br />
Buoyancy-driven and interfacial-tension-driven convection<br />
caused by polymerization<br />
12:10 - 14:00 Lunch<br />
Chemical réactions, fingering and instabilities in porous media and<br />
Hele-Shaw cells<br />
Chair: A. De Wit (ULB)<br />
14:00 - 14:40 G. Desmet (VUB, Brussels)<br />
Visualization and quantification of the onset and the extent of<br />
viscous fingering in micro-pillar array columns for liquid<br />
chromatography<br />
14:40 - 15:00 Y. Nagatsu (Nagoya Institute of Technology)<br />
Experiments on viscous fingering involving viscosity changes<br />
due to chemical reactions<br />
15:00 - 15:20 M. Kawaguchi (Mie University)<br />
Path instabilities of bubbles in aqueous solutions in a Hele-Shaw cell<br />
15:20 - 15:50 Coffee Break<br />
15:50 - 16:30 M. Quintard (IMFT, Toulouse)<br />
Reactive transport in porous media: multiple-scale analysis<br />
and dissolution instabilities<br />
16:30 - 16:50 D. Salin (FAST, Paris)<br />
Autocatalytic reaction front: an active tracer for flow in fractures<br />
68
Workshop on<br />
“Chemo-hydrodynamic patterns and instabilities”<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
69
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
List of Participants<br />
Last Name First Name Institution<br />
Adami Nicolas Université de Liège, Belgium<br />
Al-Ghoul Mazen American University of Beirut, Lebanon<br />
Almarcha Christophe Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Ban Takahiko Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan<br />
Basios Vasileios Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Beauvier Edouard Université d’Aix-Marseille, France<br />
Boffetta Guido Università di Torino, Italy<br />
Bois Justin Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer<br />
Systeme and Max-Planck-Institut für<br />
Molekulare Zellbiologie und Genetik, Dresden, Germany<br />
Boon Jean Pierre Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Britton Melanie Birmingham University, UK<br />
Bronfort Ariane Université de Liège, Belgium<br />
Bullara Domenico Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
de Buyl Pierre Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Debenest Gérald Institut National Polytechnique de<br />
Toulouse/IMFT, France<br />
Dehaeck Sam Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Delil<br />
Ad<br />
Dorbolo Stéphane Université de Liège, Belgium<br />
Dumazer Guillaume Universite Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6, France<br />
Esposito Massimiliano Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Frastia Lubor Loughborough University, UK<br />
Ganzevles<br />
Frank<br />
Gaponenko Yury Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Gilbert Thomas Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Glaab Fabian Universität Regensburg, Germany<br />
Guria Georgy Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology<br />
& National Reseach Center for Hematology, Russia<br />
Hastings Harold Hofstra University, Moscow, Russia<br />
Hennenberg Marcel Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Herman Christelle Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Homble Fabrice Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Jarrige Nolwenn Universite Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6, France<br />
Kamrak Juthamas Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Kawaguchi Masami Mie University, Japan<br />
Larcy Aurélie Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
70
Workshop on<br />
“Chemo-hydrodynamic patterns and instabilities”<br />
List of Participants<br />
Last Name First Name Institution<br />
Maes Renaud Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Maes Dominique Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium<br />
Melero-Garcia Emilio Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalograficos (LEC), Armilla, Spain<br />
Melnikov Denis Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Merkin John University of Leeds, UK<br />
Mialdun Alexander Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Mikhailov Alexander Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck- Gesellschaft,<br />
Berlin, Germany<br />
Mishra Manoranjan Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Mocak Miroslav Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Munuzuri Alberto Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain<br />
Nagatsu Yuichiro Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan<br />
Perfetti Claire Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Pojman John Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA<br />
Pópity-Tóth Éva University of Szeged, Hungary<br />
Puisto Antti Helsinki University of Technology, Finland<br />
Pushkin Dmitri Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Rahal Naim Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Rogers Michael University of Toronto, Canada<br />
Salin Dominique Universite Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6, France<br />
Scheid Benoit Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Sheintuch Moshe Technion, Haifa, Israel<br />
Shevtsova Valentina Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Siess Lionel Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Sileri Daniele Imperial College of London, UK<br />
Sonnino Giorgio Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Sumino Yutaka University of Tokyo, Japan<br />
Taylor Annette University of Leeds, UK<br />
Thomas Gérard Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Thompson Barnaby University of Leeds, UK<br />
Toth Agota University of Szeged, Hungary<br />
Trevelyan Philip Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Tzella Alexandra Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France<br />
Vantieghem Stijn Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Vetrano Maria Rosaria Von Karman Institute of Fluid Dynamics, R.-St-Genèse, Belgium<br />
Viré Axelle Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
Wylock Christophe Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium<br />
71<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong>
Modave Summer School<br />
17 - 21 August 2009<br />
73
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
The fifth edition of the Modave Summer School<br />
in Mathematical Physics took place from the<br />
17 th to the 21 st of August 2009.<br />
The main goal of the school was to study mathematical<br />
tools useful for research in theoretical<br />
physics of fundamental interactions, generally<br />
supposed to be known but too seldom explained<br />
in details.<br />
Organising Committee<br />
Alice Bernamonti (VUB),<br />
Cyril Closset (ULB),<br />
Térence Delsate (UMH),<br />
Ella Jamsin (ULB),<br />
Wieland Staessens (VUB),<br />
Walter Van Herck (K.U.Leuven),<br />
Bert Vercnocke (K.U.Leuven).<br />
Participants<br />
Benichou Raphael<br />
(ENS, Paris, France)<br />
Bernamonti Alice<br />
(VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Closset Cyril<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
De Baetselier Iwein<br />
(K.U.Leuven, Belgium)<br />
De Rydt Jan<br />
(K.U.Leuven, Belgium)<br />
Dehouck François<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Delsate Térence<br />
(UMH, Mons, Belgium)<br />
Galli Federico<br />
(VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Göteman Malin Wilhelmine<br />
(Uppsala Universitet, Sweden)<br />
Jamsin Ella<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Kašpar Petr<br />
(Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic)<br />
Kim Sung-Soo<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Lee Seung-Joo<br />
(Oxford University, UK)<br />
Lindman Hörnlund Josef<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Mariotti Alberto<br />
(VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Montañez Naz Sergio<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Palmkvist Jakob<br />
(AEI, Potsdam, Germany)<br />
Puhm Andrea<br />
(Universität Wien, Austria)<br />
Ruef Clement<br />
(IPhT, Gif-sur-Yvette, France)<br />
Staessens Wieland<br />
(VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Troessart Cédric<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Van Herck Walter<br />
(K.U.Leuven, Belgium)<br />
Vercnocke Bert<br />
(K.U.Leuven, Belgium)<br />
Virmani Amitabh<br />
(ULB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Wijns Alex<br />
(Nordita Institute, Stockholm, Sweden)<br />
Zingg Tobias<br />
(Nordita Institute, Stockholm, Sweden)<br />
74
Modave Summer School<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
75
Workshops and Schools<br />
organized by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Proposed lectures<br />
o<br />
o<br />
o<br />
o<br />
o<br />
o<br />
Classification of fiber bundles, gauge theory and D-branes, Alex Wijns (6h)<br />
Lie and Kac-Moody algebras, Jakob Palmkvist and Ella Jamsin (6h)<br />
Black Holes: theorems, folklore, conjectures, and confusions, Amitabh Virmani (5h)<br />
Two-dimensional conformal field theory and perturbative string theory, Raphaël Benichou (4h)<br />
Aspects of supersymmetry breaking, Alberto Mariotti (4h)<br />
Scattering amplitudes in string theory, Bert Vercnocke and Wieland Staessens (3h)<br />
Modave 2009 was a complete success for me for multiple<br />
reasons. First of all, and most important, is the fact<br />
that this school is made “by students” and “for students”.<br />
Indeed, the level of the seminars and their subjects is not<br />
completely fixed by the organizers (as in other conferences)<br />
but also discussed with the participants. Secondly,<br />
the relatively small number of participants (about<br />
30) makes it a wonderful place for discussions, elaboration<br />
of future projects, interaction between participants<br />
and speakers during and after the seminars. This school<br />
is also interesting for us, students, because it gives the<br />
opportunity to be lecturer and receive feedbacks from<br />
other students. Finally, it is a week to learn from students<br />
of about the same level, coming from all around<br />
Belgium and abroad, about their current research in<br />
theoretical physics.<br />
François Dehouck,<br />
PhD student, ULB, Belgium.<br />
Organized by young researchers for young researchers,<br />
the Modave summer school in mathematical<br />
physics provides a venue where advanced, interesting<br />
topics in theoretical physics and mathematics can be<br />
discussed in an informal and pedagogical way.<br />
This was what I found most appealing about the school,<br />
when I first heard about it. Add to this, that the school is<br />
situated in a picturesque village in the beautiful mountains<br />
in the south of Belgium, and that it gives an opportunity<br />
to get to know other young researchers in the field<br />
– I realized I definitely had to go there.<br />
And the school did by far meet up to my expectations.<br />
The relaxed atmosphere, the excellent lectures and the<br />
nice participants made it a great experience. Also, the<br />
nearby castle and the local pub were well worth a visit<br />
when a break from physics and maths was needed. If<br />
I get the chance, I will participate in the school every<br />
summer from now on!<br />
Malin Göteman, PhD student,<br />
Upsalla University, Sweden.<br />
76
Modave Summer School<br />
Workshops and Schools organised by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
77
“Quantum Field Theory, Strings and Gravity”<br />
The International<br />
Doctoral School<br />
“Quantum Field<br />
Theory, Strings<br />
and Gravity”<br />
21 September - 9 October 2009<br />
The International Doctoral School<br />
79
The International Doctoral School<br />
This school was organized for the fourth consecutive year in the fall of 2009 by the International<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> and the Service de Physique Théorique et Mathématique at U.L.B., the Theoretical<br />
Particle Physics group at V.U.B, the Laboratoire de Physique Théorique at École Normale Supérieure<br />
in Paris and the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Amsterdam. Each of the organizing sites<br />
(Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam) welcomed the students for intense three-week sessions separated<br />
by one-week breaks.<br />
The participants were all beginning graduate students, from the organizing nodes and also from various<br />
other institutions in France, the Netherlands and Belgium. All the students followed more than<br />
250 hours of lectures organized in various courses. The main goals were to strengthen their training<br />
in quantum field theory and string theory and to introduce them to cutting-edge research problems<br />
in the field. In Brussels, the programme was made up of an Advanced Quantum Field Theory course<br />
by Prof. Adel Bilal (30 h), an introduction to String Theory by Prof. Elias Kiritsis (24 h), classes on<br />
General Relativity, Cosmology and Black holes by Prof. Veronika Hubeny (24 h) and a series of<br />
lectures by Prof. Valery Rubakov on Cosmology and the theory of inflation (9 h).<br />
This programme is unique in Europe. It provides a great opportunity for the students to be introduced,<br />
at an unusually early stage in their training, to the “Big Picture” of a highly technical field<br />
that covers large areas of Physics and Mathematics. The possibility to meet leading experts in an<br />
informal setting and to share research interests and insights with fellow graduate students from other<br />
countries, which may become long-term collaborators after their PhD study, is also a great asset of<br />
the School.<br />
In Brussels, the School greatly benefits from the assistance of the International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>.<br />
Beyond a sizeable financial support, the lectures delivered by the holder of the <strong>Solvay</strong> Chair in<br />
Physics (Prof. Rubakov in 2009) are included into the curriculum.<br />
The School has now reached maturity, with an excellent organization, thoroughly chosen topics<br />
and a smooth transition between the trainings offered at the different nodes. All the participants<br />
seem extremely enthusiastic about this programme and we are looking forward to welcoming the<br />
students next year.<br />
Frank Ferrari<br />
80
“Quantum Field Theory, Strings and Gravity”<br />
The Brussels Organising<br />
Committee<br />
Scientists<br />
Riccardo Argurio (ULB)<br />
Ben Craps (VUB)<br />
Frank Ferrari (ULB)<br />
Logistics support<br />
Isabelle Juif (ULB & <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>)<br />
Topics covered in 2009<br />
Programme Brussels 2009<br />
o String Theory - Elias Kiritsis (Crete)<br />
o Advanced Quantum Field Theory - Adel Bilal<br />
(ENS)<br />
o General Relativity, Cosmology and Black<br />
Holes - Veronika Hubeny (Durham)<br />
o Cosmology and Theory of Inflation - Valery Rubakov<br />
(Institute for Nuclear Research, Moscow)<br />
The International Doctoral School<br />
In Brussels: String theory - Advanced Quantum<br />
Field Theory - General Relativity, Cosmology<br />
and Black Holes - Inflation<br />
In Paris: Effective field theories in the standard<br />
model and beyond - Beyond the standard<br />
model physics - Introduction to supersymmetry<br />
- Introduction to AdS/CFT - Introduction to<br />
Supergravity<br />
In Amsterdam: String cosmology - Advanced<br />
string theory - Supersymmetric gauge theory<br />
- Advanced GR & Black holes in string theory -<br />
Gauge/gravity duality<br />
Participating Institutions<br />
Institute for theoretical physics - Universiteit van<br />
Amsterdam - the Netherlands<br />
Laboratoire de physique théorique - Ecole<br />
Normale Supérieure (Paris) - France<br />
Physique théorique et mathématique, ULB /<br />
Theoretical particle physics, VUB (Brussels) -<br />
Belgium<br />
81
The International Doctoral School<br />
The opinion of a student (by Antonin Rovai,<br />
PhD student at ULB)<br />
This school gave me a good opportunity to<br />
complement my knowledge of various fundamental<br />
topics and also to discover entire fields<br />
of research: string theory, beyond the standard<br />
model physics, supergravity theories, cosmology,<br />
etc…<br />
It was also an excellent opportunity to meet<br />
other first year PhD students from all across<br />
Europe.<br />
Some lectures had some overlap with my<br />
previous training, like in Quantum Field<br />
Theory, String Theory or General Relativity, but<br />
were nevertheless very instructive thanks to the<br />
in-depth treatments of the subjects and/or the<br />
original points of view of the lecturers.<br />
Other lectures covered topics that were completely<br />
new to me (e.g. AdS/CFT, supergravity,<br />
string cosmology). These lectures were the<br />
hardest to follow, since a large background of<br />
knowledge was often assumed, and generally<br />
lecture notes were not available. In some<br />
cases we only got a broad overview of the<br />
subject. Sometimes, the lecturers were also<br />
organising very useful exercise and discussion<br />
sessions. These also prompted the students<br />
to work together, which was a very positive<br />
experience.<br />
Another enjoyable aspect of the school was<br />
the ability to visit new Physics departments and<br />
discover new research areas. In Amsterdam,<br />
we were also able to attend a one-day conference<br />
with several research seminars, which<br />
was a new and interesting experience.<br />
82
Participants<br />
“Quantum Field Theory, Strings and Gravity”<br />
Baggio Marco<br />
(Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands)<br />
Bzowski Adam<br />
(Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands)<br />
Coomans Frederik<br />
(K.U.Leuven, Belgium)<br />
Coutant Antonin<br />
(ENS Lyon, France)<br />
de Aquino Priscila<br />
(K.U.Leuven & U.C.Louvain, Belgium)<br />
Farmer Benjamin<br />
(Monash University, Australia)<br />
Hardeman Sjoerd<br />
(Universiteit Leiden, the Netherlands)<br />
Hatefi Ehsan<br />
(Ferdowsi University of Mashad, Iran)<br />
Hristov Kiril<br />
(Utrecht Universiteit, the Netherlands)<br />
Meunier Elisa<br />
(Université François Rabelais, Tours, France)<br />
Ohlsson Fredrik<br />
(Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)<br />
Peng Zongren<br />
(Université Paris 6, France)<br />
Rovai Antonin<br />
(Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)<br />
Tempo José David<br />
(Universidad de Concepcion, Chile and Université<br />
Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)<br />
Van de Rijt Nicolas<br />
(Institut de Physique Théorique, CEA, Saclay,<br />
France)<br />
Van der Veken Frederik<br />
(VUB, Brussels, Belgium)<br />
van Tongeren Stijn<br />
(Utrecht Universiteit, the Netherlands)<br />
Wouters Bram<br />
(University of Cambridge, UK)<br />
The International Doctoral School<br />
83
Colloquia<br />
Colloquia<br />
85
Colloquia<br />
Graphene: Magic of Flat Carbon<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Andre GEIM<br />
University of Manchester, UK<br />
27 January 2009<br />
Abstract<br />
Graphene is a free-standing atomic-scale<br />
chicken wire made from carbon. It is one<br />
atom thick and the first truly two dimensional<br />
crystal. Found only five years ago, it has<br />
rapidly become one of the brightest stars<br />
on the horizon of materials science and<br />
condensed matter physics, signifying a new<br />
paradigm of two dimensional materials that<br />
are now available for fundamental studies<br />
and development of novel technologies.<br />
Graphene has already revealed a cornucopia<br />
of new physics and, in addition,<br />
promises many applications that start looking<br />
increasingly realistic. I will overview our<br />
experimental work on graphene concentrating<br />
on its fascinating electronic and optical<br />
properties and speculate about future applications.<br />
86
Colloquia<br />
Organic semiconductors: a new generation<br />
of materials for opto-electronic devices<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Jean-Luc BRÉDAS<br />
Georgia Institute of Technology, USA<br />
17 March 2009<br />
Abstract<br />
Conjugated organic oligomer and polymer<br />
materials are being increasingly considered<br />
for incorporation as active semiconductor<br />
elements in devices such as photo-voltaic<br />
(solar) cells, light-emitting diodes, or fieldeffects<br />
transistors.<br />
In this presentation, we first illustrate some<br />
of the most promising applications of conjugated<br />
organic materials. We then describe<br />
the basic operation of a device such as an<br />
organic solar cell or light-emitting diode. In<br />
the last part, based on a molecular/microscopic<br />
standpoint, we discuss the various<br />
parameters that impact charge separation or<br />
harge-carrier mobilities in such devices and<br />
highlight the contributions of computational<br />
chemistry in the design of more efficient<br />
materials.<br />
87
Colloquia<br />
From structure to function: Chemistry in transition<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Alexander S. MIKHAILOV<br />
Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft,<br />
Berlin, Germany<br />
21 April 2009<br />
Abstract<br />
Traditional physical chemistry has been<br />
focused on explaining structural properties<br />
of individual chemical objects and elementary<br />
reaction events involving them. Today,<br />
we realize that this knowledge is far from<br />
sufficient to understand the known complex<br />
chemical systems. Not only in the realm<br />
of biology, but even for classical reactions<br />
of heterogeneous catalysis, emergence of<br />
coherent collective behavior – often yielding<br />
the ultimate function of a chemical system –<br />
is a process that needs to be understood. In<br />
this lecture, I provide a personal overview<br />
of the developments in studies of chemical<br />
self-organization phenomena in the last<br />
decades and discuss some trends of future<br />
research.<br />
88
Colloquia<br />
The cosmic microwave background as a probe<br />
of the very early universe<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Eiichiro KOMATSU<br />
University of Texas at Austin, USA<br />
12 May 2009<br />
Abstract<br />
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB),<br />
the fossil light of the Big Bang is the oldest<br />
light that one can ever hope to observe in<br />
our Universe. The CMB provides us with a<br />
direct image of the Universe when it was<br />
still an “infant” - 380,000 years old and<br />
has enabled us to obtain a wealth of<br />
cosmological information, such as the<br />
composition, age, geometry, and history<br />
of the Universe. Yet, can we go further and<br />
learn about the primordial universe, when<br />
it was much younger than 380,000 years<br />
old, perhaps as young as a tiny fraction<br />
of a second? If so, this gives us a hope to<br />
test competing theories about the origin of<br />
the Universe at ultra high energies. In this<br />
talk I review the present status and future<br />
prospects on our quest to probe the physical<br />
condition of the very early Universe.<br />
89
Colloquia<br />
Particle physics and cosmology:<br />
towards understanding the universe<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Valery RUBAKOV<br />
Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian<br />
Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia<br />
29 September 2009<br />
Abstract<br />
Knowledge gained so far in cosmology<br />
is to a large extent orthogonal to current<br />
knowledge in particle physics. There is<br />
matter and no anti-matter in our Universe,<br />
and we do not have a unique explanation<br />
of this asymmetry. There is dark matter<br />
in the cosmos, and we do not know what<br />
the particles are it consists of. Cosmological<br />
expansion accelerates, and we do not<br />
know the fundamental physics behind this<br />
bizarre behavior. The origin of galaxies must<br />
have roots deep in quantum field theory, but<br />
we still have only a crude idea of what they<br />
are. Amazingly, all these mysteries will most<br />
probably be solved in a reasonably near<br />
future. I review these and other issues at the<br />
interface of particle physics and cosmology,<br />
with an emphasis on future progress in our<br />
understanding of the Universe.<br />
90
Colloquia<br />
Quantum phase transitions: from antiferromagnets<br />
and superconductors to black holes<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Subir SACHDEV<br />
Harvard University, Cambridge, USA<br />
27 October 2009<br />
Abstract<br />
I will describe basic features of the theory<br />
of quantum phase transitions, and discuss its<br />
application to recent experiments on insulating<br />
antiferromagnets and on the cuprate<br />
superconductors. I will also note the remarkable<br />
connections between these theories<br />
and the quantum theory of black holes.<br />
91
Colloquia<br />
Dark matters<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Joe SILK<br />
University of Oxford, UK<br />
24 November 2009<br />
Abstract<br />
One of the greatest mysteries in the cosmos<br />
is that it is mostly dark. That is, not only is<br />
the night sky dark, but also most of the matter<br />
in the universe is dark. For every atom<br />
visible in planets, stars and galaxies today<br />
there exists at least five or six times as much<br />
``Dark Matter’’ in the universe. Astronomers<br />
and particle physicists today are seeking<br />
to unravel the nature of this mysterious, but<br />
pervasive dark matter which has profoundly<br />
influenced the formation of structure in the<br />
universe. I will review various attempts to<br />
measure dark matter by direct and indirect<br />
means.<br />
92
Colloquia<br />
Exploring the interface between<br />
heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis<br />
Sir John Meurig THOMAS<br />
University of Cambridge, UK<br />
15 December 2009<br />
Abstract<br />
Recent advances in structural characterization<br />
have prompted many students of catalysis<br />
to argue that the distinctions between heterogeneous<br />
and homogeneous catalysts are<br />
becoming increasingly burred. The situation<br />
has further prompted certain investigators to<br />
enunciate the following statements, each of<br />
which will be adumbrated during the course<br />
of the talk:<br />
1 - The scope for introducing multifunctional<br />
catalysis is greater with heterogeneous than<br />
with homogeneous catalysts.<br />
2 - The nature of active sites in homogeneous<br />
and heterogeneous catalysts is very<br />
different.<br />
3 - Certain chemical transformations can be<br />
effected efficiently only with heterogeneous<br />
catalysts.<br />
4 - Many homogeneous catalysts may be<br />
immobilized at the surfaces of, or intercalated<br />
within, solids and often yield superior<br />
performance.<br />
5 - Spatially isolated and readily accessible<br />
single-sites on nanoporous supports unite the<br />
advantages of heterogeneous and homogeneous<br />
catalysts.<br />
93
Institutional<br />
Collaborations<br />
Institutional Collaborations<br />
95
Institutional Collaborations<br />
In 2004, the International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> signed collaboration agreement with the Centro de Estudios<br />
Científicos (Valdivia, Chile) and in 2005 with the Lebedev Physical Institute (Moscow, Russia).<br />
These collaborations favor scientific exchange of visitors between Belgium and Chile or Russia of<br />
scientists affiliated with the signing institutions or with neighboring ones and working in similar areas.<br />
Both collaborations were very active in 2009.<br />
Cooperation with the Centro de Estudios<br />
Científicos (Valdivia, Chile)<br />
Visits of Belgian Scientists to Chile<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Glenn Barnich<br />
26 January - 4 February 2009<br />
François Dehouck<br />
7-11 December 2009 (Summer School in Frutillar)<br />
11-16 December 2009<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Marc Henneaux<br />
7-21 January 2009; 4-14 August 2009;<br />
7-24 December 2009<br />
Visits of Chilean Scientists to Belgium<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Max Bañados<br />
11-17 May 2009; 9-13 November 2009<br />
Joint publications<br />
C. Bachas, C. Bunster and M. Henneaux,<br />
“Dynamics of Charged Events,” Phys. Rev. Lett.<br />
103 (2009) 091602 [arXiv:0906.4048 [hep-th]].<br />
M. Henneaux, C. Martinez and R. Troncoso,<br />
“Asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes in<br />
topologically massive gravity,” Phys. Rev. D 79<br />
(2009) 081502 [arXiv:0901.2874 [hep-th]].<br />
M. Henneaux and J. Zanelli editors of<br />
“Quantum Mechanics of Fundamental Systems:<br />
The Quest for Beauty and Simplicity”, Springer<br />
(New York: 2009).<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Claudio Bunster<br />
22-28 August 2009<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Andrés Gomberoff<br />
1-14 July 2009<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Cristián Martínez<br />
19-30 April 2009<br />
M. David Tempo<br />
15 September - 8 December 2009<br />
(“these en co-tutelle” with the ULB).<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Riccardo Troncoso<br />
19-30 April 2009<br />
96
Cooperation with the Lebedev Physical Institute<br />
(Moscow, Russia)<br />
Visits of Belgian Scientists to Russia<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Glenn Barnich<br />
18 May - 23 May 2009<br />
Visits of Russian Scientists to Belgium<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Igor Batalin<br />
29 November - 18 December 2009<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> A. Belavin<br />
March 2009<br />
Joint publications<br />
G. Barnich and M. Grigoriev<br />
“A Poincare lemma for sigma models of<br />
AKSZ type,” arXiv:0905.0547 [math-ph].<br />
Xavier Bekaert and Maxim Grigoriev<br />
“Manifestly conformal descriptions and<br />
higher symmetries of bosonic singletons”,<br />
arXiv:0907.3195v2 [hep-th] 6 Nov 2009.<br />
Institutional Collaborations<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Maxim Grigoriev<br />
25 May - 10 June 2009<br />
29 November - 18 December 2009<br />
<strong>Professor</strong> Valéry Rubakov<br />
15 September - 31 October 2009<br />
97
Noncommutative Structures in Mathematics and Physics,<br />
A satellite Conference to the Fifth European Congress<br />
of Mathematics<br />
Conference<br />
sponsored<br />
by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
2 - 4 September 2009<br />
Conference sponsored by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
99
Conference sponsored by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
Lecturers<br />
Henri Berestycki<br />
(Paris)<br />
Djairo G. de Figueiredo<br />
(Campinas)<br />
Francois de Thélin<br />
(Toulouse)<br />
Pavel Drabek<br />
(Pilsen)<br />
Jesús Hernández<br />
(Madrid)<br />
Bernd Kawohl<br />
(Köln)<br />
Pierre-Louis Lions<br />
(Paris)<br />
Jean Mawhin<br />
(Louvain-la-Neuve)<br />
Petru Mironescu<br />
(Lyon)<br />
Mark Peletier<br />
(Eindhoven)<br />
Frederic Robert<br />
(Nice)<br />
Julio Daniel Rossi<br />
(Buenos Aires)<br />
Bernhard Ruf<br />
(Milano)<br />
Michael Struwe<br />
(Zürich)<br />
Charles Stuart<br />
(Lausanne)<br />
Juan Luis Vazquez<br />
(Madrid)<br />
Session Organizers<br />
o Geometry and PDEs<br />
A. Ponce (UCL) and J. Van Schaftingen<br />
(UCL)<br />
o On the Fucik spectrum<br />
M. Arias (UGR), J. Campos (UGR) and<br />
M. Cuesta (ULCO)<br />
o On the p-Laplacian with 1 < p ≤ ∞<br />
J. Fleckinger-Pellé (UT1), F. de Thelin (UT1)<br />
and P. Takac (uni-rostock)<br />
Committees<br />
Local board<br />
Denis Bonheure (ULB)<br />
Ann Derlet (ULB)<br />
Paul Godin (ULB)<br />
Enrique Lami Dozo (ULB)<br />
Pieter de Groen (VUB)<br />
Christophe Troestler (UMH)<br />
Advisory board<br />
Margarita Arias (UGR)<br />
Juan Campos (UGR)<br />
Mabel Cuesta (ULCO)<br />
Jacqueline Fleckinger-Pellé (UT1)<br />
Augusto Ponce (UCL)<br />
Peter Takác (Univ. Rostock)<br />
Jean Van Schaftingen (UCL)<br />
Michel Willem (UCL)<br />
100
Workshop in Nonlinear Elliptic PDEs<br />
A celebration of Jean-Pierre Gossez’s 65th birthday<br />
Conference sponsored by the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
101
102
Noncommutative Structures in Mathematics and Physics,<br />
A satellite Conference to the Fifth European Congress<br />
of Mathematics<br />
5 th Flemish Space Days<br />
5 th Flemish<br />
Space Days<br />
Vijfde Vlaamse<br />
Ruimtevaartdagen<br />
8 - 10 May 2009<br />
103
5 th Flemish Space Days<br />
Vijfde Vlaamse Ruimtevaartdagen<br />
The contribution of the research group ”Astrophysics”<br />
from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel<br />
was made in collaboration with Franz Bingen.<br />
He composed the posters in connection to the<br />
famous <strong>Solvay</strong> Conferences where all the giants<br />
of physics (Albert Einstein and many others)<br />
presented their theories to the world.<br />
The three posters from the research group<br />
”Astrophysics” were made by Walter van Rensbergen<br />
in collaboration with Nicky Mennekens<br />
and Jean-Pierre de Greve. One poster showed<br />
that astronomical observations made out of the<br />
earth atmosphere have opened an entirely new<br />
view on the universe. The images being much<br />
more precise and the entry into wavelengths<br />
which are absorbed by the earth atmosphere.<br />
The second poster explained the detection of<br />
gamma ray bursters by techniques which are<br />
available by space research only. The most<br />
energetic phenomena known to mankind would<br />
have been obscured without the use of space<br />
research. The third poster focussed on the efforts<br />
of the European Space Agency (ESA) to contribute<br />
to the advancement of knowledge. With<br />
”GAIA” distances up 25.000 parsec will be<br />
determined. This means that ”GAIA” will be able<br />
to measure an angle as small as one second of<br />
arc divided by 25.000. ”DARWIN” will search<br />
for habitable planets in our milky way.<br />
104
105<br />
5 th Flemish Space Days
5 th Flemish Space Days<br />
Vijfde Vlaamse Ruimtevaartdagen<br />
106
107<br />
5 th Flemish Space Days
108
Seminars
Seminars<br />
Gravity and hydrodynamics, Mukund<br />
Rangamani (University of Durham, UK) –<br />
4 February 2009.<br />
Brownian motion in AdS/CFT, Mukund<br />
Rangamani (University of Durham, UK) –<br />
4 February 2009.<br />
Contrasting confinement in superconductors and<br />
superQCD, Jarah Evslin (SISSA, Trieste, Italy) –<br />
6 February 2009.<br />
Astrophysical probes of fundamental physics:<br />
from alpha to omega, Carlos Martins<br />
(U Porto, Portugal) – 6 February 2009.<br />
3D gravity theories, exact string backgrounds<br />
and applications, Stéphane Detournay<br />
(UCSB, Santa Barbara, USA) –<br />
16 February 2009.<br />
Adding massive dynamical quarks to the gauge/<br />
string correspondence, Francesco Bigazzi<br />
(ULB, Belgium) – 18 February 2009.<br />
The return of the phoenix universe, Jean-Luc<br />
Lehners (Princeton University, USA) –<br />
18 February 2009.<br />
Holographic gluon plasma from 5d dilatongravity,<br />
Liuba Mazzanti (Università di Milano-<br />
Bicocca, Italy and Ecole Polytechnique,<br />
Palaiseau, France) – 25 February 2009.<br />
Deformed gauge theories and their string duals,<br />
Emiliano Imeroni (ULB, Belgium) – 4 March 2009.<br />
Conformal current algebra in two dimensions,<br />
Raphaël Benichou (ENS, Paris, France) –<br />
4 March 2009.<br />
2-Dimensional Minimal Gravity in Matrix<br />
Model and Liouville approaches, A. Belavin<br />
(Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Russia)<br />
– 6 March 2009.<br />
Cosmological perturbations in non-local SFT<br />
cosmological models, Alexey Koshelev (VUB,<br />
Belgium) – 11 March 2009.<br />
Quantizing N=2 Multicenter Solutions,<br />
Sheer El-Showk (Universiteit van Amsterdam,<br />
the Netherlands) – 11 March 2009.<br />
N=1 supergravity with Chern-Simons terms and<br />
anomaly cancellation, Jan De Rydt (K.U.Leuven,<br />
Belgium) – 18 March 2009.<br />
Orientiholes: black hole technology applied to<br />
flux vacua, Mboyo Esole (Harvard University,<br />
USA) – 18 March 2009.<br />
Top anomalous couplings in single top production,<br />
Priscila De Aquino (K.U.Leuven, Belgium)<br />
– 25 March 2009.<br />
Galois symmetries in Super Yang-Mills Theories,<br />
Frank Ferrari (ULB, Belgium) – 25 March 2009.<br />
Gravitational instantons, Ricci flows and<br />
integrable structures, Marios Petropoulos<br />
(CPHT-Polytechnique, France) – 1 April 2009<br />
.<br />
110
Seminars<br />
Simplicity in the Structure of N=8 Supergravity<br />
Amplitudes, Pierre Vanhove (CEA-Saclay and<br />
IHES, France) – 1 April 2009.<br />
Canonical Transformations and the Algebra<br />
of Physical Observables in Nonlinearly<br />
Realized Gauge Theories, Andrea Quadri<br />
(Milano, Italy) – 14 April 2009.<br />
Conformally supersymmetric Wilson loops in<br />
N=4 super Yang-Mills, Vasily Pestun (Harvard<br />
University, USA) – 22 April 2009.<br />
Large D-instanton effects in string theory, Stefan<br />
Vandoren (Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands)<br />
– 22 April 2009.<br />
Localization in the N=2 and N=4 super Yang-<br />
Mills gauge theory and Wilson loops, Vasily<br />
Pestun (Harvard, USA) – 23 April 2009.<br />
Hidden symmetries as a black hole solution<br />
generating technique, Ella Jamsin (ULB,<br />
Belgium) – 29 April 2009.<br />
D-brane Inflation in String Theory,<br />
Anatoly Dymarsky (Stanford University, USA) –<br />
29 April 2009.<br />
Three dimensional massive gravity,<br />
Gaston Giribet (University of Buenos Aires &<br />
CONICET, Argentina) – 5 May 2009.<br />
On-shell methods in gauge theory and gravity,<br />
Andreas Brandhuber (Queen Mary, UK) –<br />
6 May 2009.<br />
Hidden structures in gauge theory and gravity,<br />
Andreas Brandhuber (Queen Mary, UK) – 6<br />
May 2009.<br />
Dark matter interpretation of the Pamela<br />
and Fermi results: theoretical trends, Thomas<br />
Hambye (ULB, Belgium) – 20 May 2009.<br />
Lattice simulation of thermal D0-branes,<br />
Toby Wiseman (Imperial College, UK) –<br />
20 May 2009.<br />
Donaldson-Thomas partitions and refined bound<br />
state indices, Walter Van Herck (K.U.Leuven,<br />
Belgium) – 27 May 2009.<br />
Susy and the brane: A σ model story, Wieland<br />
Staessens (VUB, Belgium) – 27 May 2009.<br />
Local Conformal Symmetry and its Violation<br />
at Quantum Level, Ilya L. Shapiro (Universidade<br />
Federal de Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil) –<br />
2 June 2009.<br />
Black Holes and the Structure of Spacetime,<br />
Maulik Parikh (IUCAA, India) – 3 June 2009.<br />
Testing String Theory with Cosmological Observations,<br />
Robert Brandenberger<br />
(McGill University, Canada) – 3 June 2009.<br />
Modular Differential Equations and Null<br />
Vectors in RCFTs, Anindya Dey<br />
(University of Texas, Austin, USA) –<br />
29 June 2009.<br />
111
Seminars<br />
Renormalization group in Lifshitz-type theories,<br />
Marco Serone (SISSA, Italy) –<br />
7 October 2009.<br />
Why not a NUT story?,François Dehouck<br />
(ULB, Belgium) – 7 October 2009.<br />
Universal Phenomena in Strongly Coupled<br />
Gauge Theories and Gravity,<br />
Ayan Mukhopadhyay (Harish-Chandra<br />
Research Institute, India) – 9 October 2009.<br />
Half BPS Supergravity Solutions and<br />
Superalgebras, Darya Krym (K.U.Leuven, Belgium)<br />
– 14 October 2009.<br />
M2-branes, triple systems and superalgebras,<br />
Jakob Palmkvist (ULB, Belgium) – 14 October<br />
2009.<br />
N=8 supergravity: back to the future,<br />
Hermann Nicolai (Albert Einstein Institute,<br />
Germany) – 15 October 2009.<br />
Comments on Supersymmetry and Inflation, Luis<br />
Alvarez-Gaumé (CERN, Switzerland) –<br />
21 October 2009.<br />
Topology of gauge fields and anomalous<br />
baryon number non-conservation, Valery<br />
Rubakov (Institute for Nuclear Research, Moscow,<br />
Russia) – 21 October 2009.<br />
Strong coupling problems in condensed matter<br />
and the AdS/CFT correspondence, Subir Sachdev<br />
(Harvard, USA) – 26 October 2009.<br />
Multi-Trace Deformations of AdS/CFT and<br />
Spherical D-Branes, Alice Bernamonti<br />
(VUB, Belgium) – 28 October 2009.<br />
Tensor Hierarchies and Supergravities,<br />
Jelle Hartong (Universität Bern , Switzerland) –<br />
28 October 2009.<br />
Spontaneous partial supersymmetry breaking in<br />
supergravity, Paul Smyth (Hamburg, Germany) –<br />
4 November 2009.<br />
Moduli fixing in asymmetric heterotic orbifold,<br />
Cristina Timirgaziu (Liverpool, UK) – 4 November<br />
2009.<br />
Massive gravity in 3d and 4d. Bigravity formulations<br />
and some applications, Max Bañados<br />
(Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) –<br />
10 November 2009.<br />
Bound States of M-theory, Paul P. Cook (King’s<br />
College London, UK) – 12 November 2009.<br />
Phase diagram for non-axisymmetric plasma<br />
balls, Jorge Rocha (Instituto Superior Técnico,<br />
Lisbon, Portugal) – 17 November 2009.<br />
Instabilities and new phases of higher-dimensional<br />
rotating black holes, Pau Figueras (University<br />
of Durham, UK) – 18 November 2009.<br />
N=2 Chern-Simons matter theories: RG flows<br />
and IR behavior, Silvia Penati (Università di<br />
Milano-Bicocca , Italy) – 18 November 2009.<br />
112
Seminars<br />
A flavour superconductor from string theory,<br />
Johanna Erdmenger (MPI München, Germany)<br />
– 25 November 2009.<br />
Stringy instaton calculus,Marco Billò (Università<br />
di Torino, Italy) – 25 November 2009.<br />
Large N duality beyond the genus expansion,<br />
Sara Pasquetti (CERN, Switzerland) –<br />
2 December 2009.<br />
Holographic Flavor Transport, Andy O’Bannon<br />
(MPI München, Germany) –<br />
2 December 2009.<br />
A light scalar from walking solutions in gaugestring<br />
duality, Daniel Elander (Swansea University,<br />
UK) – 9 December 2009.<br />
M5-branes wrapped on Riemann surfaces,<br />
Francesco Benini (Princeton, USA) –<br />
16 December 2009.<br />
Non-Gaussian constraints on excited states in<br />
effective field theories of inflation, Jan Pieter<br />
van der Schaar (UvA, the Netherlands) –<br />
16 December 2009.<br />
Quantum aspects of black holes, Joan Simon<br />
(University of Edinburgh, UK) –<br />
9 December 2009.<br />
113
114
Research Interests of some Members<br />
Research on<br />
Gravitation,<br />
Strings and<br />
Cosmology<br />
Groups of <strong>Professor</strong>s<br />
Marc Henneaux (ULB)<br />
and Alexander Sevrin (VUB)<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
115
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
Permanent Members<br />
Riccardo Argurio<br />
(ULB)<br />
Glenn Barnich<br />
(ULB)<br />
Ben Craps<br />
(VUB)<br />
Frank Ferrari<br />
(ULB)<br />
Marc Henneaux<br />
(ULB)<br />
Thomas Hertog<br />
(APC Paris)<br />
Laurent Houart<br />
(ULB)<br />
Axel Kleinschmidt<br />
(ULB)<br />
Alexander Sevrin<br />
(VUB)<br />
Postdoctoral Members<br />
Raphael Benichou<br />
(VUB)<br />
Francesco Bigazzi<br />
(ULB)<br />
Neil Copland<br />
(VUB)<br />
Oleg Evnin<br />
(VUB)<br />
Emiliano Imeroni<br />
(ULB)<br />
Sung-Soo Kim<br />
(ULB)<br />
Semyon Klevtsov<br />
(ULB)<br />
Alexey Koshelev<br />
(VUB)<br />
Chethan Krishnan<br />
(ULB)<br />
Stanislav Kuperstein<br />
(VUB)<br />
Carlo Maccaferri<br />
(ULB)<br />
Alberto Mariotti<br />
(VUB)<br />
Sergio Montañez<br />
(ULB)<br />
Jakob Palmkvist<br />
(ULB)<br />
Amitabh Virmani<br />
(ULB)<br />
116
Graduate Students<br />
Alice Bernamonti<br />
(VUB)<br />
Cyril Closset<br />
(ULB)<br />
François Dehouck<br />
(ULB)<br />
Frederik De Roo<br />
(VUB)<br />
Federico Galli<br />
(VUB)<br />
Ella Jamsin<br />
(ULB)<br />
Josef Lindman Hörnlund<br />
(ULB)<br />
Daniel Persson<br />
(ULB)<br />
Antonin Rovai<br />
(ULB)<br />
Wieland Staessens<br />
(VUB)<br />
Nassiba Tabti<br />
(ULB)<br />
Dimitri Terryn<br />
(VUB)<br />
Cedric Troessaert<br />
(ULB)<br />
Vincent Wens<br />
(ULB)<br />
Researchers<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
117
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
Research Summary<br />
Of all the fundamental forces (electromagnetism,<br />
gravitation, weak and strong nuclear forces),<br />
gravity remains the most mysterious. In spite<br />
of its remarkable successes, Einstein’s general<br />
theory of relativity, which has led to an unprecedented<br />
geometrization of physics, is an unfinished<br />
revolution. The group has a long-standing<br />
interest in quantum gravity, quantum field theory,<br />
string theory and M-theory, black holes, cosmology,<br />
the cosmological constant problem (“dark<br />
energy”) and the novel mathematical structures<br />
underlying these questions.<br />
A central thread in the study of gravity and the<br />
fundamental interactions is the concept of symmetry<br />
(global and local). Some of the general<br />
background is given below.<br />
General framework<br />
The standard model of particle physics is based<br />
on quantum field theory, a framework that<br />
reconciles Poincaré invariance with quantum<br />
mechanics and allows one to understand the<br />
electromagnetic and the two types of nuclear<br />
interactions. The fourth fundamental interaction,<br />
gravitation, is described by Einstein’s theory of<br />
general relativity. Experiments as well as theoretical<br />
arguments indicate that neither the standard<br />
model, nor general relativity can be complete.<br />
Purely theoretical attempts at generalizations<br />
are constrained, of course, by mathematical<br />
consistency and the need to incorporate the previous<br />
theories in the domains where they have<br />
been successful. Additional guiding principles<br />
are needed, though. Symmetry is such a principle<br />
and pervades most of the research carried<br />
out in theoretical high energy physics.<br />
The Yang-Mills type theories for the three microscopic<br />
forces of elementary particle physics are<br />
invariant under Poincaré symmetries, the symmetry<br />
group of flat space-time. These theories admit<br />
in addition certain internal symmetries known as<br />
gauge symmetries. In general relativity, gravitation<br />
arises when going from a flat to a curved<br />
spacetime, and Poincaré symmetries become<br />
part of the gauge group of diffeomorphisms.<br />
In models that go beyond the existing theories,<br />
other symmetries come to the front.<br />
118
Supersymmetry<br />
Supersymmetry is a natural extension of Poincaré<br />
symmetry in the presence of fermionic<br />
matter fields. Supersymmetric extensions of the<br />
standard model will be tested at the experiments<br />
planned in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN<br />
in Geneva.<br />
Supersymmetry is also an important ingredient<br />
of string theory, a model for unification of the<br />
four fundamental interactions and for a microscopic<br />
formulation of gravity. At low energy,<br />
higher dimensional theories of gravitation<br />
emerge that include supersymmetry as part of<br />
their gauge group together with supersymmetric<br />
extensions of Yang-Mills gauge theories.<br />
Hidden symmetries<br />
Hidden symmetries in gravity and string theory<br />
arise in compactifications of supergravity theories<br />
and among the string duality groups. The<br />
algebraic structure of these symmetries is related<br />
to infinite-dimensional Lorentzian Kac-Moody<br />
algebras, in particular those of E 10<br />
and E 11<br />
.<br />
Research carried out in 2008<br />
Research Summary<br />
We have continued our research along the<br />
general directions outlined above. This has led<br />
to 70 published papers and preprints submitted<br />
for publication. These are listed below. Specific<br />
achievements by some researchers from the<br />
group are also described in the subsequent<br />
pages.<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
Dualities<br />
One of the first theoretical extensions of Maxwell’s<br />
theory of electromagnetism has been the<br />
inclusion of magnetic sources. The introduction<br />
of such sources is motivated by the desire to<br />
preserve invariance under duality rotations, a<br />
symmetry of the source-free equations. The solution<br />
that is dual to the Coulomb solution describing<br />
a static point-particle electron is a magnetic<br />
monopole. In some sense, black hole solutions<br />
in gravitational theories are the analog of the<br />
Coulomb solution to Maxwell’s theory.<br />
In nonlinear theories like Yang-Mills theories,<br />
dualities relate a strongly coupled regime to one<br />
at weak coupling, where standard perturbative<br />
computations may be performed. In supersymmetric<br />
situations, these dualities become tractable.<br />
Finally, dualities between different string<br />
theories as well as holographic duality between<br />
gauge and gravity theories feature prominently<br />
in most of the recent developments in string<br />
theory.<br />
119
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
Glenn Barnich (ULB)<br />
Research Director, Fund for Scientific<br />
Research-FNRS (Belgium)<br />
Independently of the question whether string<br />
theory in its current form is ultimately viable as<br />
a realistic model for quantum aspects of the<br />
gravitational interaction and as a theory capable<br />
of unifying the fundamental interactions,<br />
it seems legitimate to try to use the wealth of<br />
ideas, techniques and mathematical results that<br />
have been developed in more minimalistic and<br />
well tested theories.<br />
In this sense, a major aim of my current research<br />
is a better understanding of the role<br />
played by improper gauge degrees of freedom<br />
in the context of black hole thermodynamics,<br />
gravitational dualities and holography.<br />
Surface charges and the Kerr/CFT correspondence<br />
Motivated by the use that had been made<br />
by Strominger of the Brown-Henneaux central<br />
charge in asymptotically anti-de Sitter gravity<br />
in three dimensions – he argued for a microscopic<br />
explanation of the Bekenstein-Hawking<br />
entropy of the BTZ black hole – we had<br />
elaborated a covariant theory for surfaces<br />
charges, their algebra and central extensions<br />
in collaboration with Friedemann Brandt in<br />
2001.Consequences and applications of this<br />
approach have then been studied in a series of<br />
subsequent papers with Geoffrey Compère in<br />
particular.<br />
This development has now gone full circle<br />
since Strominger and coworkers have used<br />
our formalism to give similar arguments for the<br />
entropy of an extreme four dimensional black<br />
hole which is potentially of direct astrophysical<br />
interest..<br />
Dualities in linearized gravity and higher<br />
spin gauge theories<br />
Together with Andrés Gomberoff, we have<br />
improved the manifestly duality invariant<br />
for- mulation of electromagnetism in the presence<br />
of electric and magnetic sources through<br />
additional gauge degrees of freedom. In the<br />
new formulation, the spectrum of standard<br />
electromagnetism, which contains besides the<br />
physical degrees of freedom a non phys- ical<br />
quartet consisting of temporal and longitudinal<br />
photons with their ghost partners, is extended<br />
by another non physical quartet. As a consequence<br />
electric and magnetic fields no longer<br />
have Dirac-type string singularities and a static<br />
dyon is described by Coulomb-type potentials.<br />
By coupling this version of electromagnetism<br />
to gravity, the thermodynamics of black hole<br />
dyons has been shown to follow from standard<br />
arguments and electric-magnetic back<br />
hole duality is manifest in the grand canonical<br />
ensemble.<br />
When extending this construction to spin 2<br />
fields with Cédric Troessaert, an unexpected<br />
new result has emerged: it turns out that in<br />
linearized gravity with enhanced gauge<br />
invariance, there is both an electric and a<br />
magnetic copy of surface charges that transform<br />
under global Poincaré transformations.<br />
The natural question to ask is then whether<br />
there are also two copies of Poincaré symmetries.<br />
This would mean two time translations<br />
and thus two Hamiltonians. We were able to<br />
answer this question in the following sense:<br />
in the reduced phase space description, electromagnetism,<br />
linearized gravity and massless<br />
higher spin fields are all bi-Hamiltonian<br />
systems, the duality generator playing the role<br />
of the second Hamiltonian generator for the<br />
same Hamiltonian flow in a new, simplified<br />
120
Research Interests of some Members<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
Poisson bracket structure. This intriguing result<br />
hints to connections with integrable sys- tems.<br />
The major drawback of our current understanding<br />
is that it holds merely for the linearized<br />
theories. To make it really interesting one<br />
would need to find interactions that preserve<br />
this structure.<br />
Three dimensional gravity and the quantum<br />
mechanics of improper gauge degrees of<br />
freedom<br />
Due to the absence of bulk degrees of freedom,<br />
gravity in three dimensions is made up<br />
exclusively of improper gauge degrees of<br />
freedom, i.e., gauge degrees of freedom that<br />
cease to be pure gauge because of non-trivial<br />
boundary conditions, topology or sources.<br />
£The quantum mechanics of these degrees of<br />
freedom is still not completely understood.<br />
From a mathematical perspective, energy and<br />
momentum in general relativity play a role<br />
similar to electric charge in electromagnetism.<br />
My approach consists first of all in developing<br />
a better understanding in quantum electrodynamics<br />
of the relation between improper<br />
gauge degrees of freedom, boundary conditions<br />
and electric charge at the mi- croscopic<br />
level. On the one hand I have shown that, in<br />
the presence of a static electric point-particle<br />
source, the quantum state that corresponds<br />
to the Coulomb solution is a co- herent state<br />
of longitudinal and temporal photons. On the<br />
other hand, I hope to be able touse old results<br />
obtained in the context of the quantization of<br />
monopôles, where boundary conditions have<br />
been introduced as new dynamical gauge variables,<br />
in order to under- stand and compute the<br />
partition function for a non vanishing electric<br />
potential. The last step would be to translate<br />
121
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
these results to the Chern-Simons formulation of<br />
gravity in 2+1 dimensions, the gauge structure<br />
of which is similar to the one of electromagnetism.<br />
In this context, the role of the Coulomb<br />
solution is played by the BTZ black hole.<br />
Gravitational radiation and the BMS/CFT<br />
correspondence<br />
The problem of symmetries in asymptotically<br />
flat 4 dimensional spacetimes at null infinity<br />
goes back to the study of gravitational waves<br />
in the early sixties. During the current academic<br />
year, in collaboration with Cédric Toessaert,<br />
we have been able to make arguably<br />
significant progress in this context. What has<br />
been largely overlooked so far is that, when<br />
one follows the paradigm of two dimensional<br />
quantum conformal field theories and focuses<br />
on infinitesimal transformations without requiring<br />
the associate finite transformations to be<br />
globally well-defined, the so-called BMS algebra<br />
naturally turns into an infinite-dimensional<br />
extension of the Poincaré algebra. This extension<br />
has both the Virasoro and the Poincaré<br />
algebra as subalgebras and possesses a semidirect<br />
structure similiar to that of the Poincaré<br />
algebra itself.<br />
Our result means for instance that there is no<br />
longer a problem with angular momentum in<br />
general relativity since the factor algebra of<br />
bms4 modulo the abelian ideal of infinitesimal<br />
supertranslations is now the infinite-dimensional<br />
Virasoro algebra rather than the Lorentz algebra.<br />
As another consequence, one gains almost<br />
as much control on the physically relevant<br />
problem of general relativity in 4 spacetime<br />
dimensions as one has for the well studied case<br />
of three dimensional asymptotically anti-de<br />
Sitter gravity. In particular, we have started<br />
by working out the details of how the bms4<br />
algebra on solution space. We believe that our<br />
understanding of the symmetry structure and its<br />
action on solution space goes some way in getting<br />
quantitative control on “structure X”, i.e., on<br />
a holographic description of gravity with zero<br />
cosmological constant.<br />
122
Alice Bernamonti (VUB)<br />
Third year PhD student of Professsor<br />
Alexander Sevrin.<br />
String Theory successfully provides a quantum<br />
theory of gravity and is, at the same time, the<br />
main candidate for the realization of force<br />
unification.<br />
Although String Theory cannot yet be tested<br />
experimentally, it provides already important<br />
results. For example, it offers a microscopic<br />
insight in the quantum structure of black holes<br />
and it realizes concretely the holographic<br />
principle in the form of the gauge/gravity<br />
duality, better known as the AdS/CFT correspondence.<br />
Such a correspondence relates<br />
different regimes of a gravity theory formulated<br />
in an Anti de Sitter (AdS) space-time to the ones<br />
of an ordinary conformal field theory in a fixed<br />
background. It offers the possibility of studying<br />
non-perturbative aspects of ordinary gauge field<br />
theories and provides a description of the quantum<br />
regime of String Theory, which is otherwise<br />
lacking in a complete and independent form.<br />
Cosmology is another area where String Theory<br />
might be used to elucidate certain aspects<br />
and in which it might even be confronted with<br />
observations. In 2009, my work has addressed<br />
mainly two lines of research: the study of cosmological<br />
models in String Theory and of the thermalization<br />
of strongly coupled plasmas through<br />
holographic methods.<br />
Holographic Cosmology<br />
The present models for the first post Big Bang<br />
moments, e.g. the well-known inflation theory,<br />
do not answer many fundamental questions.<br />
In the case of inflation, it is not clear how the initial<br />
conditions allowing inflation arose. Inflationary<br />
models also contain a singularity in the past,<br />
making the theory incomplete. On the other<br />
Research Interests of some Members<br />
hand, inflationary models predict a spectrum<br />
of the primordial density perturbations in agreement<br />
with recent observations of the microwave<br />
background radiation. Alternative models<br />
predict a similar spectrum for a contracting universe<br />
that might be connected to our expanding<br />
universe through a cosmological singularity.<br />
This observation leads to the question of whether<br />
Big Crunch/Big Bang transitions are physically<br />
feasible and whether the spectra remain<br />
the same after such a transition. Clearly, these<br />
questions cannot be answered in the context of<br />
General Relativity, whose description becomes<br />
invalid in the neighbourhood of singularities.<br />
In the last few years several String Theory models<br />
have been formulated to study this issue. It<br />
has been shown that specific choices of boundary<br />
conditions in an AdS space-time allow nonsingular<br />
initial conditions to evolve into a Big<br />
Crunch in a finite global time. To study this class<br />
of cosmological singularities one can make use<br />
of the gauge/gravity duality and turn to the dual<br />
quantum field theory description, where, quite<br />
generally, the singularity is manifested in the<br />
presence of a potential unbounded from below<br />
for a particular operator of the theory. Between<br />
2007 and 2009, B. Craps, T. Hertog and<br />
123<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
Figure 1 A virtual scalar particle is emitted by a<br />
D3-brane and interacts an arbitrary number of times<br />
with the AdS boundary before reabsorption. This<br />
graph represents the leading contribution to the<br />
unstable potential in the brane picture<br />
infinite size in finite global time. Being domain<br />
walls, every spherical brane that is nucleated<br />
and stretched to infinity leaves behind a spacetime<br />
with one less unit of flux, which is thus more<br />
strongly curved than the original AdS. In a<br />
gravity approximation of such a process, the<br />
result is a Big Crunch singularity. The issue of<br />
the possibility of a Big Crunch/Big Bang transition<br />
translates in this language in specifying<br />
what happens to these branes when they reach<br />
the boundary of AdS in finite time and it<br />
is still under study.<br />
N. Turok have investigated the possibility of a<br />
Big Crunch/Big Bang transition in such models.<br />
Due to the difficulties encountered in keeping<br />
the models under good computational control,<br />
it is however not clear yet whether the transition<br />
through the singularity occurs and how natural<br />
is the prescription used to define evolution<br />
beyond the singularity.<br />
To get a better understanding of the system,<br />
I have studied with B. Craps how the dynamics<br />
described above can be rephrased in terms of<br />
configurations of branes, extended objects that<br />
appear in String Theory. The instability that is<br />
produced by the boundary conditions, both in<br />
the AdS bulk and in the dual field theory, manifests<br />
itself into a negative unbounded potential<br />
for spherical branes, which are domain walls<br />
in AdS.<br />
As a consequence, AdS can nucleate spherical<br />
branes that are subsequently stretched to<br />
This description seems likely to turn useful also<br />
to model simpler systems that are closely related<br />
to cosmological space-times. These are hairy<br />
black hole solutions, which are dual to stable<br />
multi-trace deformations of the boundary field<br />
theory, and were studied by T. Hertog and G. T.<br />
Horowitz. This class of solutions corresponds,<br />
in the brane picture, to spherical branes that<br />
nucleate in AdS and stabilize at a finite radius.<br />
Strongly Coupled Plasmas<br />
Another line of research I have been interested<br />
in since June 2009 is the study of the thermalization<br />
of strongly coupled plasmas through<br />
holographic methods.<br />
Heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy<br />
Ion Collider (RHIC) are believed to produce<br />
a deconfined, strongly coupled quark-gluon<br />
plasma (QGP). In the initial stages of the collision,<br />
when the QGP is produced, the system<br />
is far from equilibrium; however, a near-ideal<br />
124
hydrodynamic treatment becomes applicable<br />
rather quickly after the collision event. The<br />
understanding of the dynamics responsible for<br />
such a rapid approach to local equilibrium is<br />
not accessible through conventional tools, but<br />
can be addressed in the framework of the AdS/<br />
CFT correspondence. The duality has already<br />
proved to be successful in describing the near<br />
to equilibrium phase of the field theory, where a<br />
thermal state in the boundary theory is dual to a<br />
black hole metric in the bulk, suggesting it might<br />
turn useful in describing also the approach to<br />
thermal equilibrium of the system. The natural<br />
dual description is thus in terms of gravitational<br />
collapse in AdS leading to black hole formation.<br />
Research Interests of some Members<br />
I am now collaborating with colleagues from<br />
VUB, as well as leading international experts in<br />
the fields of String Theory and of QGP, and currently<br />
exploring various directions in the investigation<br />
of the thermalization dynamics. Phenomenologically,<br />
the interesting setup to consider<br />
is a five-dimensional bulk and boost invariant<br />
configurations. This is because the central rapidity<br />
region of a high-energy collision turns out<br />
experimentally to be boost invariant to a good<br />
approximation and because a four-dimensional<br />
dual field theory is more likely to be related to<br />
the real physics of QGP.<br />
The final aim of these studies is extracting a lesson<br />
on QGP and making contact with the<br />
experimental physics performed at the<br />
Brookhaven National Laboratory and at LHC.<br />
Using the computational tools of the AdS/CFT<br />
correspondence, however, we are restricted<br />
for the moment to deal with highly simplified<br />
theories, here N=4 SYM, and it is still hard to<br />
find a direct link with QCD. Hopefully, however,<br />
this line of research will allow reaching results<br />
that are robust enough to be extended to real<br />
world QGP.<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
125
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
Francesco Bigazzi (ULB)<br />
Postdoctoral Member<br />
String theory is a fascinating subject. Initially<br />
inspired by the phenomenology of strong interactions,<br />
this relativistic quantum theory of one<br />
dimensional constituents has been proposed<br />
as a candidate for a unifying picture of all the<br />
fundamental interactions including quantum<br />
gravity. Putting this proposal on solid grounds is<br />
requiring incredible efforts and, at the same time,<br />
is producing exciting theoretical discoveries and<br />
revealing unexpected connections between<br />
different branches of mathematics and physics.<br />
One of the most remarkable achievements of<br />
the theory, based on a fundamental duality<br />
between open and closed strings, is a proposed<br />
equivalence map between quantum gauge<br />
theories and higher dimensional string models<br />
on curved backgrounds. An astonishing corollary<br />
is a weak/strong coupling duality relation<br />
between these two classes of theories. Thus, in<br />
particular, a suitably defined strong coupling regime<br />
of a quantum field theory can be described<br />
by the low energy, weak coupling limit of the<br />
corresponding string model: a classical theory<br />
of (super)gravity. The correspondence is holographic<br />
as the field theory lives on the boundary<br />
of the dual higher dimensional background.<br />
This correspondence provides a relatively<br />
simple computational framework to address non<br />
perturbative field theory problems both at zero<br />
and at finite temperature and densities. Differently<br />
from other approaches, the gauge/gravity duality<br />
is well suited to study not only equilibrium<br />
physics but also real-time processes, phases with<br />
non zero fermionic densities, transport coeffcients<br />
and response to perturbations. Moreover it offers<br />
clear geometrical pictures of otherwise inaccessible<br />
dynamical processes at strong coupling.<br />
Many relevant systems are described by strongly<br />
coupled field theories. In the realm of particle<br />
physics the prototypical example is quantum<br />
chromodynamics (QCD) which, due<br />
to asymptotic freedom, is strongly coupled at<br />
low energies. Gravity alone is not enough to<br />
provide a dual picture of QCD: for example<br />
it cannot account for glueball and hadronic<br />
resonances with arbitrary spins. Of course string<br />
theory could, but a precise string model for<br />
QCD is still missing. Despite this fact, the holo-<br />
126
graphic approach has provided urprisingly new<br />
perspectives into quantum chromodynamics,<br />
for example into the properties of the strongly<br />
coupled quark-gluon plasma discovered at the<br />
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Brookhaven<br />
(USA).<br />
My recent research works deal with the construction<br />
of string theory duals to strongly<br />
coupled non abelian gauge theories sharing<br />
with QCD the crucial feature of being coupled<br />
with dynamical matter fields which, like the<br />
quarks, transform in the fundamental representation<br />
of the gauge group. The aim has been<br />
to study otherwise inaccessible aspects of<br />
flavor physics. In lattice QCD, due to technical<br />
constraints, the quarks are usually treated as<br />
external, non-dynamical fields, neglecting their<br />
vacuum polarization effects: it is the so-called<br />
quenched approximation. In string theory, both<br />
the quenched and the unquenched regimes can<br />
be explored. My interest on the latter arises from<br />
a series of reasons. Vacuum polarization effects<br />
due to the quarks crucially affect the behavior<br />
of QCD: for example they cause QCD to be a<br />
screened theory (chromoelectric flux tubes can<br />
break due to quark-antiquark pair creation)<br />
instead than a purely confining one. Dynamical<br />
flavors affect the phase diagram of the theory, its<br />
low energy spectra, its transport properties and<br />
interaction with external probes. Moreover, in<br />
supersymmetric versions of QCD, they play a<br />
crucial role in non perturbative dualities (like<br />
the Seiberg duality) as well as in mechanisms of<br />
dynamical supersymmetry breaking.<br />
Research Interests of some Members<br />
In 2009, in collaboration with researchers from<br />
different European institutions (U.Barcelona, U.<br />
Santiago de Compostela, Spain; U. Utrecht,<br />
Netherlands; U. Swansea, UK; K.U. Leuven,<br />
Belgium), we have provided novel supergravity<br />
solutions dual to various classes of supersymmetric<br />
unquenched QCD-like theories. The models<br />
we have focused on have at least one characteristic<br />
scale: this can either be a diagonal<br />
mass term for the fundamental matter fields or<br />
the temperature (in which case the dual gravity<br />
solutions contain a black hole). In addition there<br />
could be a dynamically generated infra-red<br />
scale, much like in QCD.<br />
A nice feature of the supergravity solutions we<br />
have found is that they are regular when the<br />
corresponding gauge theories are at low energy.<br />
Regularity has enabled us to explore<br />
the vacuum polarization effects due to the<br />
fundamemtal matter fields on the infrared<br />
gauge theory dynamics, for example on the<br />
meson mass spectrum. Moreover, our analysis<br />
has shown the occurrence of novel quantum<br />
phase transitions in the static quark- antiquark<br />
potential for gauge theories with two distinct<br />
physical scales. The transitions are discontinuous<br />
changes in the slope of the potential when<br />
the ratio of the scales is below a certain critical<br />
value. At the critical point the transition becomes<br />
second order and above that it is perfectly<br />
smooth. The critical exponents are universal for<br />
gauge theories having a dual gravity description<br />
and take the classical mean field values.<br />
The black-hole solutions we have found are the<br />
first examples of gravity duals to 3+1 dimensional<br />
strongly coupled non abelian plasmas<br />
interacting with dynamical fundamental matter<br />
fields. These solutions allow a detailed analytical<br />
study of the thermodynamical properties<br />
as well as of the hydrodynamical regime of the<br />
dual plasmas. Moreover they allow analyzing<br />
their interactions with external probes, showing<br />
how the flavors enhance the jet quenching at<br />
strong coupling.<br />
127<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
Alberto Mariotti (VUB)<br />
Postdoctoral Member<br />
In 2009, my work has mainly centered around<br />
supersymmetry breaking, concerning both<br />
String Theory engineering and phenomenological<br />
properties. Here, I will discuss a project<br />
focused on the study of semi-direct gauge<br />
mediation, which combines both directions of<br />
research. Other topics I addressed in the last<br />
year are the dark matter realization in quiver<br />
gauge theories and the electric-magnetic duality<br />
in three dimensional N=2 Chern-Simons<br />
matter theories.<br />
Supersymmetry breaking and its mediation<br />
to the MSSM<br />
A main challenge in theoretical physics is the<br />
quest for a unified description of all fundamental<br />
forces. The Standard Model of fundamental<br />
interactions provides a unified description of<br />
strong and electroweak forces as quantum field<br />
theories with gauge symmetries. On the other<br />
hand, a unified description with Einstein General<br />
Relativity is still lacking. Nowadays, the<br />
main candidate for force unification is String<br />
Theory. For this theory to be consistent, supersymmetry<br />
(a new symmetry that maps bosons<br />
into fermions and vice-versa) is required.<br />
Besides String Theory, supersymmetry has<br />
relevant phenomenological implications for<br />
particle physics. In the minimal supersymmetric<br />
version of the Standard Model (MSSM), for<br />
every ordinary particle exists also a superpartner<br />
with the same mass and quantum numbers<br />
but with a spin differing by 1/2. The MSSM<br />
(contrary to the non supersymmetric Standard<br />
Model) shows a precise unification of the<br />
coupling constants at high energy (GUT scale),<br />
solves the hierarchy problem, and provides<br />
a candidate for dark matter. In addition to<br />
discovering the Brout-Englert-Higgs boson, discovering<br />
physics beyond the Standard Model<br />
is a major aim for the LHC at CERN, and the<br />
MSSM is an important candidate for such new<br />
physics.<br />
However, if supersymmetry is realized in nature,<br />
it must be broken, and masses for all unobserved<br />
particles should be generated. The way<br />
supersymmetry is broken gives distinct patterns<br />
for the masses of the superpartners and for<br />
their interactions with ordinary particles. These<br />
patterns can be experimentally probed at the<br />
weak scale, and also provide important information<br />
about the physics at much higher scale.<br />
The usual scenario for breaking supersymmetry<br />
in the MSSM consists of a hidden sector where<br />
supersymmetry is broken and a mediation<br />
mechanism that transmits this breaking to the<br />
visible sector. Roughly speaking, the mediation<br />
mechanism generates in the MSSM Lagrangian<br />
the supersymmetry breaking terms (the so<br />
called soft terms).<br />
A first possibility is that this mechanism is<br />
gravitational, i.e. it is associated to general<br />
relativity and to new physics that enters at the<br />
Planck scale. In the simplest version of this<br />
gravity mediated scenario, the hidden sector<br />
and the visible sector are coupled through nonrenormalizable<br />
operators (suppressed by the<br />
Plank scale) in the effective Lagrangian. The<br />
main difficulty with this scenario is that it involves<br />
flavor changing neutral currents that are<br />
typically generated when quantum corrections<br />
to (super)gravity are taken into account. These<br />
flavor-breaking contributions to the soft terms<br />
are very dangerous, since the experimental<br />
constraints on flavor changing neutral currents<br />
are very stringent.<br />
Another possibility is that the forces responsible<br />
to the mediation of supersymmetry breaking<br />
128
are the ordinary gauge interactions of the standard<br />
model. In this gauge mediated scenario<br />
there are typically messengers fields which<br />
interacts with the supersymmetry breaking sector<br />
and which are charged under the standard<br />
model gauge groups. Loops of messengers<br />
and gauge fields generates the soft terms in the<br />
MSSM Lagrangian. Gauge mediation is one<br />
of the most attractive possibility. First, gauge<br />
interactions are flavor blind, hence there are<br />
not additional flavor breaking contributions<br />
with respect to the usual one in the standard<br />
model (the yukawa couplings). Moreover this<br />
mechanism is highly predictive for the large<br />
amount of free parameters of the MSSM, and<br />
has a natural dark matter candidate,<br />
Research Interests of some Members<br />
the gravitino, which is the<br />
LSP (lightest supersymmetric<br />
particle).<br />
Semi Direct Gauge<br />
Mediation<br />
In the last year, in collaboration<br />
with Riccardo Argurio,<br />
Matteo Bertolini and Gabriele<br />
Ferretti, we studied a<br />
large subclass of gauge mediated<br />
models, the so called<br />
semi direct gauge mediation<br />
(SDGM). In SDGM the visible<br />
sector is connected to<br />
some messenger fields via<br />
the standard model gauge<br />
interactions. The messenger<br />
fields are also charged<br />
under an additional gauge<br />
group G_m which connects<br />
them with the supersymmetry<br />
breaking sector. This<br />
scheme is reported in figure.<br />
The central feature is that the<br />
messengers communicates<br />
with the supersymmetry<br />
breaking sector only through the gauge interactions<br />
G_m. The supersymmetry breaking is<br />
communicated through loops of gauge fields of<br />
G_m, messenger fields and gauge fields of the<br />
standard model, hence generating masses for<br />
the superpartners.<br />
Observe that the messenger fields should also<br />
have a tree level mass term, which should be<br />
larger than the electroweak scale but also<br />
smaller than the cut off scale (typically the GUT<br />
scale), in order to give a sizeable contribution<br />
to the sparticle masses. The natural origin of<br />
this intermediate scale is an issue to be explained<br />
in such semi direct gauge mediated<br />
models.<br />
129<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
SUSY breaking<br />
sector<br />
Messengers<br />
SSM<br />
sector<br />
Non−SM gauge<br />
interactions,<br />
G m<br />
In the first work on this subject, we investigated<br />
the embedding of such models in String<br />
Theory. The very symmetric structure of semi<br />
direct gauge mediation, with messenger fields<br />
in between two gauge groups linked to the<br />
visible and the supersymmetry breaking sector<br />
respectively, renders them particularly suitable<br />
for an embedding in quiver gauge theories.<br />
Quiver gauge theories arise in Type IIB string<br />
theory as the world volume of D3 branes probing<br />
Calabi Yau singularities. We have shown<br />
how to embed the semi direct gauge mediation<br />
scenario in different quiver gauge theories,<br />
chiral and non chiral, describing the dynamics<br />
of D3 branes. A very interesting feature of our<br />
set up is that the messenger mass is dynamical<br />
generated and hence naturally of the required<br />
energy scale.<br />
In the next project on SDGM, we instead concentrated<br />
on the phenomenological signatures<br />
specific of this class of models. We performed<br />
a general analysis, which is independent on<br />
the detailed structure of the supersymmetry<br />
breaking sector. The only assumption we made<br />
is that the mediation mechanism is SDGM, as<br />
in figure. The supersymmetry breaking sector is<br />
parametrized by the supercurrent that couples<br />
to the gauge fields of G_m. The supersymmetry<br />
breaking is encoded in the two point functions<br />
of this supercurrent. We obtained the resulting<br />
visible superpartner spectrum, by computing<br />
quantum corrections at three and four loops.<br />
We have found that the gaugino mass is exactly<br />
vanishing at three loop level and that the<br />
first non trivial contribution arises at five loops.<br />
The sfermion masses arise at four loop level,<br />
and we have found a closed formula for them.<br />
The superpartner spectrum of SDGM, regardless<br />
of the supersymmetry breaking sector, is<br />
then characterized by suppressed gaugino<br />
masses compared to sfermion masses. We then<br />
proposed to combine SDGM with other mediation<br />
mechanism, such as anomaly mediation, to<br />
obtain a more balanced phenomenology.<br />
130
Appraisals and Prizes<br />
Marc Henneaux:<br />
Glenn Barnich:<br />
Ben Craps:<br />
Research Interests of some Members<br />
Theses defended in 2009<br />
June 14, 2009: Daniel Persson, Arithmetic<br />
and Hyperbolic Structures in String Theory,<br />
Public PhD defense - Université libre de<br />
Bruxelles, Belgium.<br />
September : Nassiba Tatbi, Time is flying..........,<br />
Public PhD defense - Université libre de<br />
Bruxelles, Belgium.<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
131
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
January 7, 2009: Ben Craps, Cosmological<br />
singularities and self-adjoint extensions, String<br />
theory seminar - DESY, Hamburg, Germany.<br />
January 8, 2009: Stanislav Kuperstein, A New<br />
Holographic Model of Chiral Symmetry Breaking,<br />
String Theory Group Seminar - LPTHE, Jussieu,<br />
Paris, France.<br />
January 21, 2009: Francesco Bigazzi, The Klebanov-Strassler<br />
model with massive dynamical<br />
quarks, High Energy Sector Seminars - SISSA,<br />
Trieste, Italy.<br />
January 22, 2009: Alberto Mariotti, Aspects<br />
of supersymmetry breaking, IUAP meeting -<br />
Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-<br />
Neuve, Belgium.<br />
January 25, 2009: Alexey Koshelev, Non-local<br />
tachyon in cosmology, SIGRAV school on cosmology<br />
- Galileo Galilei Institute, Firenze, Italy.<br />
January 27, 2009: Thomas Hertog, Darwinism<br />
in a Biophylic Universe, Public Lecture - de<br />
Monty, Antwerp, Belgium.<br />
January 28, 2009: Glenn Barnich, Dyons with<br />
potentials/Asymptotic symmetries and central<br />
extensions - Centro de Estudios Científicos,<br />
Valdivia, Chile<br />
.<br />
February 10, 2009: Frank Ferrari, On the<br />
microscopic formalism for N=1 super Yang-Mills<br />
theories, Invited seminar - Bonn Universität,<br />
Germany.<br />
February 10, 2009: Daniel Persson, Partition<br />
Functions for Three-Dimensional Gravity, CERN<br />
Winter School on Supergravity, Strings and<br />
Gauge Theories - CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.<br />
February 10, 2009: Alexander Sevrin, Op zoek<br />
naar het allerkleinste, Lecture for His Majesty<br />
King Albert II of Belgium - Royal Palace Laeken,<br />
Brussels, Belgium.<br />
February 14, 2009: Thomas Hertog, Cosmology<br />
from the top down, Seminar - New York<br />
University, USA.<br />
February 23, 2009: Marc Henneaux, Hidden<br />
Symmetries of Gravity and Cosmology - Toyota<br />
Technological Institute, Tokyo, Japan.<br />
February 24, 2009: Marc Henneaux, International<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>: Past, Present and Future,<br />
GRI Symposium II on Cluster Science - Nagoya,<br />
Japan.<br />
March 11, 2009: Marc Henneaux, Infinitedimensional<br />
symmetries: the key to understanding<br />
gravity? - Max-Planck Institut, Potsdam,<br />
Germany.<br />
March 18, 2009: Francesco Bigazzi, Massive<br />
Dynamical Quarks and screening effects from<br />
holography, String Theory seminar - Universidad<br />
de Santiago de Compostela, Spain.<br />
March 26, 2009: Amitabh Virmani, G2 Dualities<br />
In 5d Minimal Supergravity, Theoretical Physics<br />
Seminar - Universidad de Barcelona, Spain.<br />
April 2, 2009: Amitabh Virmani, G2 Dualities<br />
In 5d Minimal Supergravity, Theoretical Physics<br />
Seminar - CENTRA, Instituto Superior Técnico,<br />
Lisbon, Portugal.<br />
April 8, 2009: Ben Craps, Holographic models<br />
of cosmological singularities, “New perspectives<br />
in string theory” Opening conference -<br />
Galileo Galilei Institute, Firenze, Italy.<br />
April 12, 2009: Alexey Koshelev, Bridging SFT<br />
and Dark Energy, International conference on<br />
SFT and related aspects - Steklov Mathematical<br />
Institute, Moscow, Russia.<br />
132
Invited Talks at Conferences, Seminars and Schools<br />
April 12, 2009: Chethan Krishnan, Black holes<br />
and CFTs, SISSA seminar - SISSA, Trieste, Italy.<br />
April 14, 2009: Marc Henneaux, Conserved<br />
Charges in Gravitational Theory: the Hamilonian<br />
Approach - Erwin Schrödinger Internaional<br />
Institute for Mathematical Physics, Vienna, Austria.<br />
April 14, 2009: Thomas Hertog, Singularity<br />
resolution in quantum cosmology, Gravity Workshop<br />
- Texas A&M, College Station, USA.<br />
April 14, 2009: Carlo Maccaferri, On the ghost<br />
sector of OSFT, Second International Conference<br />
on String Field Theory and Related Aspects<br />
- Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow,<br />
Russia.<br />
April 22, 2009: Cyril Closset, The N=2 cascade<br />
and branes at non-isolated singularities, Seminar<br />
- Swansea University, United Kingdom.<br />
April 23, 2009: Riccardo Argurio, Gauge/<br />
Gravity Duality in Supersymmetric and Non-<br />
Supersymmetric Vacua, International workshop<br />
on supersymmetry and supersymmetry breaking<br />
- Durham University, UK.<br />
April 28, 2009: Alberto Mariotti, Two loop R<br />
symmetry breaking, Invited talk - University of<br />
California San Diego, USA.<br />
April 30, 2009: Marc Henneaux, Algebraic<br />
Methods in local field theory 1 and 2 - University<br />
of Cracow, Poland.<br />
May 18, 2009: Ella Jamsin, Hidden symmetries<br />
as a black hole solution generating technique,<br />
SU/Nordita High Energy and Gravity Seminar<br />
- Stockholm University/Nordita institute, Stockholm,<br />
Sweden.<br />
May 22, 2009: Glenn Barnich, New aspects of<br />
duality for electromagnetism, linearized gravity<br />
and massless higher spin gauge fields, 4th<br />
International Sakharov Conference - Lebedev<br />
Physical Institute, Moscow, Russia.<br />
May 27, 2009: Marc Henneaux, Algebraic<br />
Methods in local field theory 1 and 2 - University<br />
of Cracow, Poland.<br />
May 27, 2009: Alexander Sevrin, Generalized<br />
lagrangian and coisotropic branes, Group<br />
seminar - ETH Zürich, Switzerland.<br />
June 1, 2009: Alexey Koshelev, SFT as the<br />
source for new cosmological models, Theory<br />
Group Seminar - Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität,<br />
Munich, Germany.<br />
June 9, 2009: Alexander Sevrin, A la recherche<br />
de l’infime, Talk at the invitation of Prince T. de<br />
Merode and Bu!ld - Castle of Westerlo, Belgium.<br />
June 10, 2009: Stanislav Kuperstein, Chiral<br />
Symmetry Breaking with non-SUSY D7-branes in<br />
ISD backgrounds, Theory Group High Energy<br />
Seminar - Swansea University, UK.<br />
June 15, 2009: Alexander Sevrin, A worldsheet<br />
appoach for supersymmetric D-branes, Theory<br />
Group Seminar - Imperial College, London, UK.<br />
June 16, 2009: Thomas Hertog, Non-Gaussianity<br />
in quantum cosmology, Workshop on Eternal<br />
Inflation - ICTP, Trieste, Italy.<br />
June 17, 2009: Daniel Persson, Arithmetic and<br />
Hyperbolic Structures in String Theory, PhD thesis<br />
presentation - Chalmers University of Technology,<br />
Gothenburg, Sweden.<br />
June 22, 2009: Laurent Houart, Aspects of N=2<br />
D=4 supergravity I, Seminar - CECS, Valdivia, Chile.<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
June 23, 2009: Laurent Houart, Aspects of N=2<br />
D=4 supergravity II, Seminar - CECS, Valdivia, Chile.<br />
133
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
June 25, 2009: Axel Kleinschmidt, Symmetries<br />
and Constraints, Strings 2009 - Rome, Italy.<br />
June 29, 2009: Alexey Koshelev, Nonlocal<br />
cosmological models: solutions and perturbations,<br />
Invisible Universe 2009 - Paris,<br />
France.<br />
June 30, 2009: Glenn Barnich, Local BRST cohomology<br />
of AKSZ-type sigma models - Scuola<br />
Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy.<br />
June 30, 2009: Frank Ferrari, On localization<br />
and some of its applications in supersymmetric<br />
gauge theories: lecture I, Keynote lecture IST<br />
String Fest - Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon,<br />
Portugal.<br />
July 1, 2009: Frank Ferrari, On localization<br />
and some of its applications in supersymmetric<br />
gauge theories: lecture II, Keynote lecture IST<br />
String Fest - Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon,<br />
Portugal.<br />
July 6, 2009: Alexey Koshelev, SFT solutions in<br />
cosmology, PASCOS 2009 - DESY, Hamburg,<br />
Germany.<br />
July 9, 2009: Alice Bernamonti, Multi-Trace Deformations<br />
of AdS/CFT and Spherical D-branes,<br />
Holographic cosmology conference - Perimeter<br />
Institute, Waterloo, Canada.<br />
July 13, 2009: Alexey Koshelev, Perturbation<br />
analysis in non-local cosmological models, 12th<br />
Marcel Grossman meeting - Paris, France.<br />
July 15, 2009: Ben Craps, Holographic resolution<br />
of cosmological singularities, Holographic<br />
cosmology conference - Perimeter Institute,<br />
Waterloo, Canada.<br />
July 17, 2009: Thomas Hertog, Eternal inflation<br />
in the no-boundary state, Workshop on Holographic<br />
Cosmology - Perimeter Institute, Waterloo,<br />
Canada.<br />
July 22, 2009: Axel Kleinschmidt, Instanton corrections<br />
to the universal hypermultiplet and the<br />
Picard modular group, Quantum Theories and<br />
Symmetries VI - University of Kentucky, Lexington,<br />
USA.<br />
August 1, 2009: Alexey Koshelev, Recent<br />
progress with non-local cosmological models,<br />
SQS’09 - JINR, Dubna, Russia.<br />
August 17, 2009: Ben Craps, Holographic<br />
models of cosmological singularities, Invited<br />
talk - Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris,<br />
France.<br />
August 19, 2009: Frank Ferrari, On the microscopic<br />
approach to N=1 super Yang-Mills<br />
theories, XXXIXème Institut d’été du Laboratoire<br />
de Physique Théorique de l’École Normale Supérieure:<br />
AdS, Théorie des champs conformes<br />
et problèmes apparentées - École Normale<br />
Supérieure, Paris, France.<br />
August 20, 2009: Marc Henneaux, E11,<br />
Borcherds Algebras and Maximal Supergravity,<br />
33rd Johns Hopkins Workshop “Maximal<br />
Supersymmetry” - Göteborg, Sweden.<br />
August 20, 2009: Axel Kleinschmidt, Supersymmetric<br />
Quantum Cosmological Billards, 33rd<br />
Johns Hopkins Workshop “Maximal Supersymmetry”<br />
- Chalmers Technical University, Gothenburg,<br />
Sweden.<br />
August 21, 2009: Alexey Koshelev, Stable<br />
modified DGP brane-world models, Internatinal<br />
Bogolyubov conference 2009 - JINR, Dubna,<br />
Russia.<br />
August 28, 2009: Alberto Mariotti, Semi-direct<br />
gauge mediation and D-branes at singularities,<br />
134
Invited Talks at Conferences, Seminars and Schools<br />
Invited talk - Chalmers University, Gotheborg,<br />
Sweden.<br />
September 3, 2009: Thomas Hertog, Inhomogeneities<br />
in the no-boundary state, Challenges<br />
in Theoretical Cosmology - Tufts University, Talloires,<br />
France.<br />
September 7, 2009: Alexey Koshelev, SFT nonlocality<br />
in cosmology: solutions, perturbations<br />
and observational evidences, COSMO’09 -<br />
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.<br />
September 7, 2009: Wieland Staessens, Susy<br />
and the brane: a sigma-model story, 15-th European<br />
Workshop on String Theory - ETH Zürich,<br />
Switzerland.<br />
September 8, 2009: Frederik De Roo, p-branes<br />
on the waves, 15-th European Workshop on<br />
String Theory - ETH Zürich, Switzerland.<br />
September 8, 2009: Francois Dehouck, Gravitational<br />
Duality: a NUT story, 15th European<br />
Workshop on String Theory - ETH Zürich, Switzerland.<br />
September 11, 2009: Francesco Bigazzi, Gravity<br />
Duals of Unquenched Quark-Gluon Plasmas,<br />
15th European Workshop on String Theory -<br />
Zurich, Switzerland.<br />
September 11, 2009: Thomas Hertog, The<br />
no-boundary measure in the regime of eternal<br />
inflation, Seminar - CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.<br />
September 14, 2009: Ben Craps, Holographic<br />
resolution of cosmological singularities, High energy<br />
theory seminar - University of Pennsylvania,<br />
Philadelphia, USA.<br />
September 16, 2009: Ben Craps, Holographic<br />
resolution of cosmological singularities, Informal<br />
seminar - Princeton University, USA.<br />
September 19, 2009: Glenn Barnich, Asymptotically<br />
flat spacetimes revisited, 2nd School and<br />
Workshop on Quantum Gravity and Quantum<br />
Geometry - Corfu Summer Institute, Greece.<br />
September 22, 2009: Stanislav Kuperstein,<br />
ABJ(M) and Fractional M2’s with Fractional<br />
M2 Charge, A new year of string theory -<br />
Tel-Aviv University, Israel.<br />
October 23, 2009: Daniel Persson, Automorphic<br />
Forms and Instanton Effects in String Theory,<br />
MP2 Workshop on Physics and<br />
Developments in Modern Algebra - Chalmers<br />
University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.<br />
October 29, 2009: Marc Henneaux, Infinitedimensional<br />
symmetries: the key to understanding<br />
gravity? - Jagiellonian University, Cracow,<br />
Poland.<br />
November 5, 2009: Alexander Sevrin, Supersymmetric<br />
D-branes from a worldsheet point of<br />
view, Theoretical High Energy Seminar - Niels<br />
Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark.<br />
November 18, 2009: Francesco Bigazzi, D3-<br />
D7 Quark-Gluon Plasmas, String Theory seminar<br />
- Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands.<br />
November 18, 2009: Ben Craps, Een hologram<br />
van de oerknal? Snaartheoriemodellen voor<br />
het zeer vroege heelal, Lecture as the recipient<br />
of the 2009 Frans Van Cauwelaert prize -<br />
Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België<br />
voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten, Brussels,<br />
Belgium.<br />
November 23, 2009: Marc Henneaux, Comments<br />
on Horava-Lifshitz gravity - Institute of<br />
Physics, Cracow, Poland.<br />
December 1, 2009: Ben Craps, The cosmological<br />
singularity problem, The nineteenth work-<br />
135<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
shop on general relativity and gravitation in<br />
Japan - Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan.<br />
December 7, 2009: Marc Henneaux, Lorentzian<br />
Kac-Moody algebras, Borcherds superalgebras<br />
and maximal supergravity - Institute of<br />
Mathematics, Cracow, Poland.<br />
December 8, 2009: Carlo Maccaferri, The<br />
ghost sector of OSFT: Analysis and Applications,<br />
APCTP Focus Program on Current Trends<br />
in String Field Theory - APCTP Headquarters,<br />
Pohang, South Korea.<br />
December 10, 2009: Marc Henneaux, Asymptotic<br />
behaviour of gravity in three dimensions -<br />
Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.<br />
December 15, 2009: Francois Dehouck, Gravitational<br />
Duality: a NUT story, Seminars - Centro<br />
de Estudios Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile.<br />
December 21, 2009: Alberto Mariotti, Supersymmetry<br />
breaking, Avogadro meeting - SISSA,<br />
Trieste, Italy.<br />
136
1. Antonio Amariti, Luciano Girardello, Alberto<br />
Mariotti, “Stringy instantons from Seiberg duality”<br />
- Published in Nucl.Phys.Proc.Suppl. 192-<br />
193:161-162,2009.<br />
2. A. Amariti, L. Girardello, A. Mariotti, “Stringy<br />
instantons from Seiberg duality” - Published in<br />
Fortsch.Phys.57:478-484,2009.<br />
3. Antonio Amariti, Alberto Mariotti, “Two Loop<br />
R-Symmetry Breaking” - Published in JHEP<br />
0907:071,2009 e-Print: arXiv:0812.3633<br />
[hep-th].<br />
4. R. Argurio, M. Bertolini, G. Ferretti and A. Mariotti,<br />
“Natural semi- direct gauge mediation<br />
and D-branes at singularities” - Phys. Rev. D<br />
80<br />
(2009) 045001 [arXiv:0906.0727 [hep-th]].<br />
Publications 2009<br />
10. F. Benini, M. Bertolini, C. Closset and S.<br />
Cremonesi, “The N=2 cascade revisited and the<br />
enhancon bearings” - Phys. Rev. D 79 (2009)<br />
066012 [arXiv:0811.2207 [hep-th]].<br />
11. E. A. Bergshoeff, O. Hohm, A. Kleinschmidt,<br />
H. Nicolai, T. A. Nutma and J. Palmkvist, “E10<br />
and Gauged Maximal Supergravity” - JHEP<br />
0901 (2009) 020 [arXiv:0810.5767 [hep-th]].<br />
12. E. A. Bergshoeff, M. de Roo, S. F. Kerstan,<br />
A. Kleinschmidt and F. Riccioni, “Dual Gravity<br />
and Matter” - Gen. Rel. Grav. 41 (2009) 39<br />
[arXiv:0803.1963 [hep-th]].<br />
13. Alice Bernamonti, Ben Craps, “D-Brane Potentials<br />
from Multi-Trace Deformations in AdS/<br />
CFT” - Published in JHEP 0908:112,2009<br />
e-Print: arXiv:0907.0889 [hep-th].<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
5. R. Argurio, F. Dehouck and L. Houart, “Boosting<br />
Taub-NUT to a BPS NUT-wave” - JHEP<br />
0901 (2009) 045 [arXiv:0811.0538 [hep-th]].<br />
6. R. Argurio, F. Dehouck and L. Houart, “Supersymmetry<br />
and Gravita- tional Duality” - Phys.<br />
Rev. D 79 (2009) 125001 [arXiv:0810.4999<br />
[hep- th]].<br />
7. C. Bachas, C. Bunster and M. Henneaux,<br />
“Dynamics of Charged Events” - Phys. Rev.<br />
Lett. 103 (2009) 091602 [arXiv:0906.4048<br />
[hep-th]].<br />
8. G. Barnich and C. Troessaert, “Duality and<br />
integrability: Elec-tromagnetism, linearized<br />
gravity and massless higher spin gauge fields<br />
as bi-Hamiltonian systems” - J. Math. Phys. 50<br />
(2009) 042301 [arXiv:0812.4668 [hep-th]].<br />
14. F. Bigazzi, A. L. Cotrone, A. Paredes and A.<br />
V. Ramallo, “Screening effects on meson masses<br />
from holography” - JHEP 0905 (2009) 034<br />
[arXiv:0903.4747 [hep-th]].<br />
15. F. Bigazzi, A. L. Cotrone, A. Paredes and A.<br />
V. Ramallo, “The Klebanov-Strassler model with<br />
massive dynamical flavors” - JHEP 0903<br />
(2009) 153 [arXiv:0812.3399 [hep-th]].<br />
16. F. Bigazzi, A. L. Cotrone, A. Paredes and A.<br />
Ramallo, “Non chiral dy- namical flavors and<br />
screening on the conifold” - Fortsch. Phys. 57<br />
(2009) 514 [arXiv:0810.5220 [hep-th]].<br />
17. F. Bigazzi, A. L. Cotrone and A. Paredes,<br />
“Phase transitions in large N(c) heavy quark potentials”<br />
- Nucl. Phys. Proc. Suppl. 192-193<br />
(2009) 134 [arXiv:0810.4018 [hep-th]].<br />
9. G. Barnich and C. Troessaert, “Manifest spin<br />
2 duality with electric and magnetic sources” -<br />
JHEP 0901 (2009) 030 [arXiv:0812.0552<br />
[hep-th]].<br />
18. F. Bigazzi, A. L. Cotrone, J. Mas, A. Paredes,<br />
A. V. Ramallo and J. Tarrio, “D3-D7 Quark-<br />
Gluon Plasmas” - JHEP 0911 (2009) 117<br />
[arXiv:0909.2865 [hep-th].]<br />
137
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
19. P. Binetruy, A. Bohe, T. Hertog and D. A.<br />
Steer, “Gravitational Wave Bursts from Cosmic<br />
Superstrings with Y-junctions” - Phys. Rev. D<br />
80, 123510 (2009) [arXiv:0907.4522<br />
[hep-th]].<br />
20. L. Bonora, C. Maccaferri, R. J. Scherer<br />
Santos and D. D. Tolla, “Ghost story. II. The midpoint<br />
ghost vertex” - JHEP 0911 (2009) 075<br />
arXiv:0908.0055 [hep-th].<br />
21. L. Bonora, C. Maccaferri and D. D. Tolla,<br />
“Ghost story. III. Back to ghost number zero” -<br />
JHEP 0911 (2009) 086 arXiv:0908.0056<br />
[hep-th].<br />
22. L. Brink, S. S. Kim and P. Ramond, “E7<br />
(7) on the Light Cone” - AIP Conf. Proc. 1078<br />
(2009) 447 [JHEP 0806 (2008) 034]<br />
[arXiv:0801.2993 [hep-th]].<br />
23. G. Compère, S. de Buyl, E. Jamsin and A.<br />
Virmani, “G2 Dualities in D=5 Supergravity<br />
and Black Strings” - Class. Quant. Grav. 26<br />
(2009) 125016 [arXiv:0903.1645 [hep-th]].<br />
24. Ben Craps, Frederik De Roo, Oleg Evnin,<br />
Federico Galli, “p-branes on the waves” - Published<br />
in JHEP 0907:058,2009 e-Print:<br />
arXiv:0905.1843 [hep-th].<br />
25. Ben Craps, Thomas Hertog, Neil Turok,<br />
“A Multitrace deformation of ABJM theory” -<br />
Published in Phys.Rev.D80:086007,2009<br />
e-Print: arXiv:0905.0709 [hep-th].<br />
26. Ben Craps, Frederik De Roo, Oleg Evnin,<br />
“Free string evolution across plane wave singularities”<br />
- Published in Fortsch.Phys.57: 666-<br />
671,2009 e-Print: rXiv:0901.1989 [hep-th].<br />
27. Ben Craps, Frederik De Roo, Oleg Evnin,<br />
“Can free strings propagate across plane<br />
wave singularities?” - Published in JHEP<br />
0903:105,2009 e-Print: arXiv:0812.2900<br />
[hep-th].<br />
28. Anatoly Dymarsky, Stanislav Kuperstein, Jacob<br />
Sonnenschein, “Chiral Symmetry Breaking<br />
with non-SUSY D7-branes in ISD backgrounds”<br />
- Published in JHEP 0908:005,2009 e-Print:<br />
arXiv:0904.0988 [hep-th].<br />
29. F. Englert and L. Houart, “The emergence<br />
of fermions and the E11content” in “Quantum<br />
Mechanics of Fundamental Systems: The Quest<br />
for Beauty and Simplicity”, M. Henneaux and J.<br />
Zanelli eds., pp. 125-146, Springer (New<br />
York: 2009), arXiv:0806.4780 [hep-th].<br />
30. Jarah Evslin, Stanislav Kuperstein, “ABJ(M)<br />
and Fractional M2’s with Fractional M2<br />
Charge” - Published in JHEP 0912:016,2009<br />
e-Print: arXiv:0906.2703 [hep-th].<br />
31. Jarah Evslin, Stanislav Kuperstein, “Which<br />
BPS Baryons Minimize Volume?” - Published<br />
in Phys.Rev.D79:046007,2009 e-Print:<br />
arXiv:0809.4594 [hep-th].<br />
32. A. J. Feingold, A. Kleinschmidt and H.<br />
Nicolai, “Hyperbolic Weyl groups and the four<br />
normed division algebras” - J.Algebra 322<br />
(2009) 1295-1339 [arXiv:0805.3018 [math.RT]].<br />
33. F. Ferrari and V. Wens, “Flavors in the<br />
microscopic approach to N=1 gauge theories”<br />
- JHEP 0905 (2009) 124 [arXiv:0904.0559<br />
[hep-th]].<br />
34. F. Ferrari, “Galois symmetries in Super<br />
Yang-Mills Theories” - JHEP 0903 (2009) 128<br />
[arXiv:0901.4079 [hep-th]].<br />
35. F. Ferrari, “On the Geometry of Super<br />
Yang-Mills Theories: Phases and Irreducible<br />
Polynomials” - JHEP 0901 (2009) 026<br />
[arXiv:0810.0816 [hep-th]].<br />
138
36. J. Hartle and T. Hertog, “Replication Regulates<br />
Volume Weighting in Quantum Cosmology”<br />
- Phys. Rev. D 80, 063531 (2009)<br />
[arXiv:0905.3877 [hep-th]].<br />
37. M. Henneaux, E. Jamsin, A. Kleinschmidt<br />
and D. Persson, “Mas- sive Type IIA Supergravity<br />
and E10” - Fortsch. Phys. 57 (2009) 580<br />
[arXiv:0901.4848 [hep-th]].<br />
38. M. Henneaux, C. Martinez and R. Troncoso,<br />
“Asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes in topologically<br />
massive gravity” - Phys. Rev. D 79<br />
(2009) 081502 [arXiv:0901.2874 [hep-th]].<br />
39. M. Henneaux, E. Jamsin, A. Kleinschmidt<br />
and D. Persson, “On the E10/Massive Type IIA<br />
Supergravity Correspondence” - Phys. Rev. D<br />
79 (2009) 045008 [arXiv:0811.4358 [hepth]].<br />
40. M. Henneaux, “Kac-Moody algebras and<br />
the structure of cosmological singularities: a<br />
new light on the Belinskii-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz<br />
analysis,” in “Quantum Mechanics of Fundamental<br />
Systems: The Quest for Beauty and<br />
Simplicity”, M. Henneaux and J. Zanelli eds.,<br />
pp. 155-166, Springer (New York: 2009),<br />
arXiv:0806.4670 [hep-th].<br />
Publications 2009<br />
44. A. Kleinschmidt, M. Koehn and H. Nicolai,<br />
“Supersymmetric quantum cosmological<br />
billiards” - Phys. Rev. D 80 (2009) 061701<br />
[arXiv:0907.3048 [gr-qc]].<br />
45. A. Koshelev, “Tachyon condensation as<br />
a cosmological model” - Published in Fortsch.<br />
Phys.57:618-624,2009.<br />
46. C. Krishnan and S. Kuperstein, “A Comment<br />
on Kerr-CFT and Wald Entropy” - Phys. Lett. B<br />
677 (2009) 326 [arXiv:0903.2169 [hep-th]].<br />
47. C. Krishnan, C. Maccaferri and H. Singh,<br />
“M2-brane Flows and the Chern-Simons Level”<br />
- JHEP 0905 (2009) 114 [arXiv:0902.0290<br />
[hep- th]].<br />
48. C. Krishnan and C. Maccaferri, “Membranes,<br />
Strings and Integrability” -Fortsch.<br />
Phys. 57 (2009) 632 [arXiv:0810.3825<br />
[hep-th]].<br />
49. Alexander Sevrin, Wieland Staessens,<br />
Alexander Wijns, “An N=2 worldsheet approach<br />
to D-branes in bihermitian geometries:<br />
II. The General case” - Published in JHEP<br />
0909:105,2009 e-Print: arXiv:0908.2756<br />
[hep-th].<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
41. L. Houart, A. Kleinschmidt, J. Lindman<br />
Hornlund, D. Persson and N. Tabti, “Finite and<br />
infinite-dimensional symmetries of pure N=2 supergravity<br />
in D=4” - JHEP 0908 (2009) 098<br />
[arXiv:0905.4651 [hep-th]].<br />
42. E. Imeroni and A. Sinha, “Non-relativistic<br />
metrics with extremal limits” -JHEP 0909<br />
(2009) 096 [arXiv:0907.1892 [hep-th]].<br />
43. S. S. Kim, T. Kim and Y. Kim, “Surplus Solid<br />
Angle: Toward As- trophysical Test of Horava-<br />
Lifshitz Gravity” - Phys. Rev. D 80 (2009)<br />
124002 [arXiv:0907.3093 [hep-th]].<br />
50. Alexander Sevrin, Wieland Staessens,<br />
Alexander Wijns, “N=2 world-sheet approach<br />
to D-branes on generalized Kahler<br />
geometries. II. Dualities” - Published in<br />
Fortsch.Phys.57:691-697,2009 e-Print:<br />
arXiv:0901.4250 [hep-th].<br />
51. Alexander Sevrin, Wieland Staessens,<br />
Alexander Wijns, “N = 2 world-sheet approach<br />
to D-branes on generalized Kaehler<br />
geometries. I. General formalism” - Published<br />
in Fortsch.Phys.57:684-690,2009 e-Print:<br />
arXiv:0810.5355 [hep-th].<br />
139
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
Preprints<br />
52. Antonio Amariti, Luciano Girardello,<br />
Alberto Mariotti, “Pseudomoduli Dark Matter<br />
and Quiver Gauge Theories” - e-Print: arXiv:<br />
0910.3615 [hep-th].<br />
53. Antonio Amariti, Davide Forcella,<br />
Luciano Girardello, Alberto Mariotti, “3D<br />
Seiberg-like Dualities and M2 Branes” - e-Print:<br />
arXiv:0903.3222 [hep-th].<br />
54. R. Argurio and F. Dehouck, “Why not a<br />
di-NUT? or Gravitational du- ality and rotating<br />
solutions” - arXiv:0909.0542 [hep-th].<br />
55. Riccardo Argurio, Matteo Bertolini,<br />
Gabriele Ferretti, Alberto Mariotti, “Patterns of<br />
Soft Masses from General Semi-Direct Gauge<br />
Mediation” - e-Print: arXiv:0912.0743 [hep-ph].<br />
56. L. Bao, A. Kleinschmidt, B. E. W. Nilsson, D.<br />
Persson and B. Pioline, “Instanton Corrections to<br />
the Universal Hypermultiplet and Automor- phic<br />
Forms on SU(2,1)” - arXiv:0909.4299 [hep-th].<br />
57. G. Barnich and C. Troessaert, “Symmetries<br />
of asymptotically flat 4 dimensional spacetimes<br />
at null infinity revisited” - arXiv:0909.2617 [grqc].<br />
58. G. Barnich and M. Grigoriev, “A Poincare<br />
lemma for sigma models of AKSZ type”-<br />
arXiv:0905.0547 [math-ph].<br />
59. F. Benini, C. Closset and S. Cremonesi,<br />
“Chiral flavors and M2-branes<br />
at toric CY4 singularities” - arXiv:0911.4127<br />
[hep-th].<br />
60. F. Bigazzi, A. L. Cotrone and J. Tarrio,<br />
“Hydrodynamics of fundamental matter” -<br />
arXiv:0912.3256 [hep-th]].<br />
61. C. Closset, “Toric geometry and local<br />
Calabi-Yau varieties: An intro- duction to toric<br />
geometry (for physicists)” - arXiv:0901.3695<br />
[hep-th].<br />
62. T. Damour, A. Kleinschmidt and H. Nicolai,<br />
“Sugawara-type constraints in hyperbolic coset<br />
models” - arXiv:0912.3491 [hep-th].<br />
63. M. Henneaux, A. Kleinschmidt and G. L.<br />
Gomez, “A dynamical incon- sistency of Horava<br />
gravity” - arXiv:0912.0399 [hep-th].<br />
64. L. Houart, A. Kleinschmidt and J. L. Hornlund,<br />
“Some Algebraic As- pects of Half-BPS<br />
Bound States in M-Theory” - arXiv:0911.5141<br />
[hep-th].<br />
65. A. Kleinschmidt and H. Nicolai, “Cosmological<br />
quantum billiards” - arXiv:0912.0854<br />
[gr-qc].<br />
66. Alexey S. Koshelev, “SFT non-locality in<br />
cosmology: solutions, perturbations and observational<br />
evidences” - e-Print: arXiv:0912.5457<br />
[hep-th].<br />
67. Alexey S. Koshelev, Sergey Yu. Vernov,<br />
“Cosmological perturbations in SFT inspired<br />
non-local scalar field models” - e-Print:<br />
arXiv:0903.5176 [hep-th].<br />
68. C. Krishnan, “Tomograms of Spinning Black<br />
Holes” - arXiv:0911.0597 [hep-th].<br />
69. B. Pioline and D. Persson, “The automorphic<br />
NS5-brane” - arXiv:0902.3274 [hep-th].<br />
70. N. Tabti, “Kac-Moody algebraic structures<br />
in supergravity theories” - arXiv:0910.1444<br />
[hep-th].<br />
140
TROUVER IMAGE ??<br />
Publications 2009<br />
Research on Gravitation, Strings and Cosmology<br />
141
142
Invited Talks at Conferences, Seminars and Schools<br />
Research carried out<br />
in the group of<br />
the Deputy<br />
Director<br />
Research carried out in the Group of the Deputy Director<br />
143
Research carried out in the group<br />
of the Deputy Director<br />
Members<br />
J. Bijtebier<br />
F. Lambert (head of the group)<br />
M. Musette<br />
Z. Suchanecki<br />
A. Volkov<br />
Postdoctoral Members<br />
T. Durt<br />
(TONA-VUB)<br />
I. Loris<br />
(VUB)<br />
C. Verhoeven<br />
(BIRA-VUB)<br />
R. Willox<br />
(University of Tokyo)<br />
Visitors<br />
o<br />
o<br />
6 December 2009: <strong>Professor</strong> Ludwig<br />
Faddeev (Steklov Mathematical Institute,<br />
St Petersburg, Russia and member of the<br />
Scientific Committee for Physics of the<br />
International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>).<br />
5-12 December 2009: <strong>Professor</strong> Robert<br />
Conte (CEA and ENS-Cachan, France) –<br />
11 December 2009: Seminar “All the<br />
elliptic solutions of a given algebraic<br />
nonlinear ordinary differential equation”.<br />
Research Summary<br />
Solitons, integrable systems and beyond<br />
As indicated in previous reports, the study of<br />
particle like excitations (solitons) which appear<br />
as explicit solutions to a remarkable collection<br />
of classical nonlinear wave equations (soliton<br />
equations) has been a long term endeavour of a<br />
VUB-group associated with the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>,<br />
and represented by three senior members (M.<br />
Musette, F. Lambert and R. Willox (*)).<br />
From the physical point of view, solitons play an<br />
important role in a variety of areas (nonlinear<br />
optics, plasmaphysics, condensed matter physics<br />
and particle physics). From the mathematical<br />
point of view, the soliton equations are related<br />
to a well-known chapter of mechanics: the<br />
theory of integrable systems. However, solitons<br />
are non- perturbative solutions of nonlinear<br />
equations which must be viewed as integrable<br />
dynamical systems with infinitely many degrees<br />
of freedom. These systems can be continuous<br />
(represented by nonlinear partial differential<br />
equations), discrete (nonlinear lattices) or even<br />
“ultra discrete” (cellular automata). Discrete<br />
integrable systems (DIS) are believed to be<br />
more fundamental than their continuous, or<br />
semi-continuous, counterparts, for the continuous<br />
systems can be obtained from the DIS (and<br />
not the other way round). The study of DIS, and<br />
of their applicability, has therefore become a<br />
major research activity.<br />
The group’s research in this domain is conducted<br />
in collaboration with members of the<br />
University of Glasgow, the Université de Paris<br />
(Diderot-Paris-7), the Ecole Polytechnique of<br />
Paris, the University of Tokyo, Rikkyo University<br />
and Aoyama Gakuin University (Japan).<br />
(*) R. Willox is a member of the International <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
for Physics and Chemistry, who is since several years active in<br />
Japan, as a <strong>Professor</strong> at the University of Tokyo.<br />
144
The activities in 2009 can be summarized as<br />
follows:<br />
o Investigations into the systematic construction<br />
of DIS and into their relationship with Yang-Baxter<br />
maps (set-theoretical solutions of the Yang-<br />
Baxter equation) which, in the ultra-discrete limit,<br />
give rise to integrable cellular automata. Study<br />
of the symmetries of such a Yang-Baxter maps,<br />
and of their relation to geometric crystals associated<br />
with various affine Lie algebras (collaboration<br />
with University of Glasgow and Rikkyo<br />
University).<br />
o Study of different discretizations of 1+1<br />
dimensional integrable systems, with the aim of<br />
clarifying their relationships (e.g. in the form of<br />
discrete Miura transformations); a collaboration<br />
with Université Paris 7 and Ecole Polytechnique.<br />
o Development of discretization techniques for<br />
a systematic construction of cellular automaton<br />
models with applications in population dynamics,<br />
epidemiology and ecology (collaboration<br />
with Université Paris-7 and Ecole Polytechnique).<br />
o Analysis of the initial value problem for the ultradiscrete<br />
KdV equation, defined over integers.<br />
This remarkable cellular automaton exhibits<br />
multi-soliton interactions of KdV-type (collaboration<br />
with Université Paris-7, Ecole Polytechnique<br />
and Aoyama Gakuin University).<br />
Members and Research Summary<br />
The study of elementary solutions of integrable<br />
NLPDE’s, and of corresponding ordinary differential<br />
equations has awakaned our interest<br />
in “nonlinear special functions”. Among these,<br />
the elliptic function is the most elementary. By<br />
combining two classical theorems of Briot and<br />
Bouquet with an algorithm of Poincaré we built<br />
a novel algorithm which produces closed forms<br />
expressions for the elliptic or degenerate elliptic<br />
(i.e. rational in one exponential, or rational)<br />
solutions of any given algebraic ordinary differential<br />
equation. Physically, these solutions are related<br />
to s.c. “cnoïdal waves, fronts and pulses…)<br />
Regularization of ill-posed inverse problems<br />
Inverse problems deal with the reconstruction,<br />
from measured effects, of the “source” which<br />
causes these effects (e.g. reconstruction in scattering<br />
theory of the potential from scattering<br />
data). Physically, the interest of solving such a<br />
problem can be pretty obvious (a historical example<br />
is the determination of Newton’s force of<br />
gravity from the shape of the planetary orbits).<br />
In practice however, inverse problems are, as<br />
such, almost intractable as a result of their illposed<br />
character. They require an appropriate<br />
regularization.<br />
The research carried out in this context in 2009<br />
is a continuation of Dr I. Loris’s activity in 2008,<br />
which aimed at developing efficient regularization<br />
tools. A recent method of regularization<br />
consists of imposing a sparsity-promoting<br />
penalty on a least squares functional (such a<br />
penalty consists of the 1-norm of the model<br />
coefficients in particular basis). Under the right<br />
conditions, such a penalty strategy may yield<br />
better reconstructions than those obtained with<br />
the traditional 2-norm penalization. A drawback<br />
of the method is that the algorithms used for the<br />
minimization of the least squares functional with<br />
a 1-norm penalty term are less efficient than the<br />
traditional ones.<br />
This problem has been addressed: the method<br />
was improved by means of a novel algorithm,<br />
obtained in collaboration with applied mathematics<br />
teams of the ULB and the University of<br />
Genoa and Modena-Regio Emilia.<br />
The regularization techniques have been implemented<br />
for use in seismic tomography reconstructions<br />
(collaboration with applied mathematics<br />
and geo-science departments of Princeton<br />
145<br />
Research carried out in the Group of the Deputy Director
Research carried out in the group<br />
of the Deputy Director<br />
University and University of Nice). The effectiveness<br />
of sparsity-promoting penalties was tested<br />
in the case of severely ill-conditioned and noisy<br />
problems (measurement data are often incomplete<br />
and contaminated with noise).<br />
Application of our regularization method to<br />
finance was considered in connection with Markowitz<br />
portfolio theory (collaboration with ULB<br />
and University of Princeton). The wide applicability<br />
of sparsity-promoting techniques motivated<br />
the organization of a <strong>Solvay</strong> Workshop, in<br />
collaboration with <strong>Professor</strong> Ingrid Daubechies<br />
from Princeton University. This Workshop on<br />
“Sparsity, Learning and Computation” took<br />
place in Brussels from 12 to 14 February 2009.<br />
Invited speakers included John Lafferty (Carnegie<br />
Mellon University), Robert Novak (University<br />
of Wisconsin, Madison) and Stephen Smale<br />
(University of California, Berkeley).<br />
Fundamental aspects of time and information<br />
in quantum theory<br />
Elaborating further on the time operator and<br />
(super)time operator proposed by <strong>Professor</strong><br />
Prigogine and co-workers, we showed that fundamental<br />
aspects of time in quantum theory can<br />
be brought to the realm of experimental physics.<br />
In addition to the experiments which can be realized<br />
with kaons or B and D mesons, we conceived<br />
crucial experiments that may be realized<br />
with entangled pairs of mesons prepared in Bell<br />
states (collaboration with Université Paris7).<br />
We continued our investigations in quantum<br />
information theory, which are carried out in the<br />
framework of a Brussels Impulse Program (the<br />
Cryptase project). The idea is to encode a secret<br />
and confidential cryptographic key into metastable<br />
nuclei. We studied the statistical properties<br />
of a Quantum Random Generator based<br />
on quantum stochastic processes, which was<br />
developed at the ULB (Cryptase and SeQur<br />
projects).<br />
Our research regarding the application of<br />
Galois theory to quantum information science<br />
has been concluded with the preparation of a<br />
comprehensive review paper (collaboration<br />
with the National University of Singapore).<br />
146
Invited Talks at Conferences, Seminars and Schools<br />
3 April 2009: R. Willox, Geometric Aspects of Discrete and Ultra-Discrete Integrable Systems, University<br />
of Glasgow, Scotland, UK<br />
April, 2009: T. Durt, Wigner tomography of two qubit states and quantum cryptography, Belgian<br />
Physical Society Annual Congress, Hasselt.<br />
29 May 2009: I. Loris, Algorithms and Penalizing Strategies, at the Workshop on Tomography with<br />
Wavelets, Institut Océanologique, Villefranche-sur-mer, France.<br />
11 June 2009: I. Loris, Sparse and stable Markowitz portfolios, at the First European Conference of<br />
the Society for Financial Econometrics, Geneva, Switzerland.<br />
22 July 2009: I. Loris, On the convergence rate of iterative L1-minimization algorithms, at a Conference<br />
on Applied Inverse Problems, Vienna, Austria.<br />
24 July 2009: I. Loris, Novel regularization techniques for seismic tomography, Conference on Applied<br />
Inverse Problems, Vienna, Austria.<br />
15 November 2009: T. Durt, Applications of Galois fields in quantum information theory, Expository<br />
Quantum Lectures, Series 3, EQuaLS 3, Putra Jaja, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.<br />
Research carried out in the Group of the Deputy Director<br />
8 December 2009: T. Durt, Quantum Coherence in Biology : Myth or Reality ? Internal Seminar,<br />
Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.<br />
147
Research carried out in the group<br />
of the Deputy Director<br />
Publications<br />
J. Brodie, I. Daubechies, C. De Mol, D. Giannone<br />
and I. Loris, “Sparse and stable Markowitz<br />
portfolios” – Proc. Nat. Acad. of Sciences of the<br />
USA 106 (2009), 122671 2272.<br />
R. Conte and M. Musette, “Elliptic general<br />
analytic solutions” – Stud. In Appl. Math. 123<br />
(2009), 63-81.<br />
J. Corbett and T. Durt, “Collimation processes in<br />
quantum mechanics interpreted in quantum real<br />
numbers” – Stud. Hist. and Phil. of Mod. Phys.<br />
40 (2009), 68.<br />
S. Kakei, J.J.C. Nimmo and R. Willox, “Yang-<br />
Baxter maps and the discrete KP hierarchy” –<br />
Glasgow Math. Journ. 51A (2009), 107-119.<br />
S. Kakei, J.J.C. Nimmo and R. Willox, “Yang-<br />
Baxter maps and the discrete KP hierarchy” –<br />
RIMS Kokyuroku 1650 (2009), 162-172.<br />
I. Loris, M. Bertero, C. De Mol, R. Zanella and<br />
L. Zanni, “Accelerating gradient projection<br />
methods for L1-constrained signal recovery by<br />
steplength selection rules” – Appl. and Comp.<br />
Harmonic Anal. 27 (2009), 247254.<br />
I. Loris, “On the performance of algorithms for<br />
minimization of L1-penalized functionals” – Inverse<br />
Probl. 25 (2009), 035008.<br />
I. Loris, H. Douma, G. Nolet, I. Daubechies<br />
and C. Regone, “Nonlinear regularization<br />
techniques for seismic tomography” – Journ. of<br />
Comp. phys. 229 (2009), 890905.<br />
A. Ramani, B Grammaticos and R. Willox, “Contiguity<br />
relations for discrete and ultra-discrete<br />
Painlevé equations” – Journ. Nonl. Math. Phys.<br />
15 (2009), 353-364.<br />
A. Ramani, B. Grammaticos, J. Satsuma and R.<br />
Willox, “On two (not so) new integrable partial<br />
differential equations” – Journ. Phys. A, Math.<br />
Theor. 42 (2009) 282002 (6pp).<br />
R. Willox, A. Ramani and B. Grammaticos, “A<br />
discrete-time model for cryptic oscillations in<br />
predator-prey systems” – Physics D 238 (2009),<br />
2238-2245.<br />
R. Willox, “Integrable systems and equations:<br />
soliton and Painlevé equations” – Mathematical<br />
Sciences 557 (2009), 12-17.<br />
148
Preprints<br />
J.C. Corbett and T. Durt, “An intuitionistic model<br />
of electron single interference” – Studia Logica,<br />
accepted for publication.<br />
M. Courbage, T. Durt and M. Saberi, “Dissipative<br />
dynamics of the Kaon decay process” – Comm.<br />
in Nonl. Sciences and Num. Comp., accepted<br />
for publication.<br />
M. Courbage, T. Durt and S.M. Saberi Fathi,<br />
“A wave-function model for CP-violation in mesons”<br />
– arxiv: quant-ph/0903.4143v1 (2009).<br />
F. Daerden, J.A. Whiteway, R. Davy, C. Verhoeven,<br />
L. Komguen, C. Dickinson, P.A. Taylor and N.<br />
Larsen, “Simulating observed boundary layer<br />
clouds on Mars” – Geophys. Res. Lett., accepted<br />
for publication.<br />
T. Durt, “Anthropomorphic quantum Darwinism<br />
as an explanation for classicality” – Foundat. of<br />
Science, accepted for publications, http://arxiv.<br />
org/abs/0912.5508.<br />
Publications & Preprints<br />
T. Durt, “Experimental proposal for testing the<br />
emergence of environment induced classical<br />
selection rules in biological systems” – Studio<br />
Logica, accepted for publication.<br />
T. Durt and A. Hermanne, “Cryptographic<br />
encryption scheme for solving the trusted courier<br />
problem based on metastable excited nuclei” –<br />
quant-ph/09103131 (2009).<br />
S. Kakei, J.J.C. Nimmo and R. Willox, “Yang-<br />
Baxter maps from the discrete BKP equation” –<br />
submitted to SIGMA (2009) http://arxiv. org/<br />
abs/0911.2684.<br />
F. Lambert, “Internationalisme scientifique et revolution<br />
quantique: les premiers Conseils <strong>Solvay</strong>”<br />
– submitted to Revue germanique internationale<br />
CNRS, http://www.umn 8547. ens.fr/Series/<br />
Rev.Germ.Internat.html.<br />
I. Loris and C. Verhoeven, “On the applicability<br />
of compressed sensing to ill-conditioned and<br />
noisy systems” – VUB Techn. Report (2009).<br />
Research carried out in the Group of the Deputy Director<br />
149
150
Quantum Theory of Condensed Matter<br />
Report of<br />
the International<br />
Advisory<br />
Committee<br />
Report of the International Advisory Committee<br />
151
Report of the International Advisory Committee<br />
Executive Summary<br />
The committee has found that<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> are run in a most impressive and competent way.<br />
o Within the existing organization there is not much room for a large extension of the<br />
activities.<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> Meetings are the pearls in the activities and every effort should be spent<br />
to uphold this level.<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> Workshops are held at very high scientific levels with excellent speakers<br />
and participants.<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs and the <strong>Solvay</strong> Colloquia play a very important role for the universities<br />
in Brussels to get exposed to world-class scientists.<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> Public Lectures are of utmost importance to foster interest in the most<br />
modern science within the public mind.<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> play an important role by providing means for postdoctoral and<br />
graduate student fellowships.<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> build an important bridge between the two language groups in<br />
Belgium.<br />
The committee has the following recommendations<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> should strive towards at least 50% funding from the endowment<br />
to ensure long-time planning stability.<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> should broaden the scientific committee to also have members<br />
from outside Brussels.<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> could increase slightly the number of workshops and try to cover<br />
a broader spectrum of topics both in the workshops and the colloquia.<br />
o The <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> should take an active role in promoting new subjects to facilitate<br />
for the universities to go into new modern areas.<br />
o If new initiatives are taken they must carry the same excellence stamp as the other<br />
programmes.<br />
o The <strong>Institutes</strong> should try to open up towards bio-physics/bio-physical chemistry, which<br />
are present in other departments than physics and chemistry. Issues in life science will<br />
most certainly be driving much of science this century.<br />
152
Introduction<br />
The committee that consisted of <strong>Professor</strong>s Lars<br />
Brink (Göteborg), chair, Leticia Cugliandolo<br />
(Paris), Gunnar von Heijne (Stockholm), Hermann<br />
Nicolai (Potsdam) and Hirosi Ooguri (Pasadena)<br />
met in Brussels on March 23 and 24, 2009.<br />
Unfortunately <strong>Professor</strong> Jacques Prost (Paris)<br />
was unable to attend the meeting. In order to<br />
prepare ourselves we had obtained the annual<br />
reports for the last three years together with<br />
information about the budget. On March 23<br />
we interviewed <strong>Professor</strong>s Alexandre Sevrin<br />
and Marc Henneaux and on March 24 we had<br />
extensive interviews with <strong>Professor</strong>s Barnich,<br />
Craps, De Wit, Gaspard, Geerlings, Goldbeter,<br />
Lambert, Wyns and again with Marc Henneaux.<br />
Between and after the interviews and at the dinners<br />
the committee had its deliberations.<br />
The committee found that all interviewees were<br />
very enthusiastic about the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>.<br />
They are all committed to the cause to run the<br />
various activities and to uphold the excellence<br />
stamp that the name <strong>Solvay</strong> carries. Apart from<br />
the secretariat, the work behind the activities is<br />
performed on a voluntary basis within the academic<br />
positions. This puts a limit as to how much<br />
work the staff can do for the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>.<br />
We will comment more on this fact later. Let us<br />
first discuss the economy and go through the<br />
various activities.<br />
Economy<br />
The committee was impressed by the fact that<br />
the <strong>Institutes</strong> could be run on such a relatively<br />
small budget. One reason is that the funding is<br />
very efficiently used and another that the<br />
universities contribute their share by paying for<br />
the salaries of the academic staff and for the<br />
localities. The committee is quite concerned<br />
about the proportions in the budget. Only some<br />
20% of the funding comes from the endowment.<br />
For corresponding institutes the figure is<br />
considerably higher. Even though most of the<br />
remaining funding is secure on a long-time scale<br />
it would be advantageous to strive towards a<br />
funding from the endowment which is at least<br />
50% to consolidate the financial base for the institutes.<br />
This would make the long-term planning<br />
much easier and would reduce the workload for<br />
the director. We will remind that all the activities<br />
around the Nobel Prizes including the prize<br />
work and the prizes themselves are paid for by<br />
the Nobel endowment.<br />
Within the existing organization there is not<br />
much room for a large extension of the activities.<br />
If it is decided to increase an activity or to start a<br />
new one it is crucial that the excellence level is<br />
kept.<br />
The committee will make some suggestions for<br />
slight increases in the activities that should be<br />
possible to implement with just a small budget<br />
increase.<br />
The <strong>Solvay</strong> Meetings<br />
The committee can only congratulate the <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
for having re-established these meetings<br />
at a level comparable to the famous ones of the<br />
first half of the last century. The meetings are the<br />
pearls in the activities and every effort should<br />
be spent to uphold this level. These meetings are<br />
unique in the scientific world.<br />
The <strong>Solvay</strong> Workshops<br />
Together with the meetings these workshops on<br />
more restricted topical issues are the most<br />
153<br />
Report of the International Advisory Committee
Report of the International Advisory Committee<br />
demanding activities. Three or four workshops<br />
a year have been organized and the quality of<br />
them has been very high. It is clear that the name<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> carries such weight that it is easy to get<br />
top-level speakers and participants. With an<br />
increased activity in chemistry we can foresee<br />
a demand for a slight increase in the number of<br />
such workshops. This can be achieved without<br />
lowering the quality but it will require more work<br />
from the staff. We will comment more on this fact<br />
below.<br />
The committee that decides about the workshops<br />
as well as the <strong>Solvay</strong> chairs is a local<br />
one from the two universities in Brussels. Even<br />
though the workshops are regarded within<br />
Belgium as a Brussels activity, from the outside<br />
they are more regarded as a Belgian<br />
activity. It would be advantageous to have a<br />
broader base for the committee. In a first step<br />
some members could come from other Belgian<br />
universities and in a second step some<br />
from outside Belgium, say from neighbouring<br />
countries. Such a committee will bring in new<br />
ideas, which will broaden the programme.<br />
Adding external members would enhance the<br />
authority of the committee and help to keep<br />
up the excellence. It would be healthy to have<br />
competing suggestions for workshops and it<br />
would help the staff in Brussels if also people<br />
from other Belgian universities sometimes take<br />
responsibility for organizing a workshop.<br />
They should still be held in Brussels and with<br />
the short distances between Belgian cities<br />
there shouldbe no problem for people from<br />
other universities to both organize and participate<br />
in the workshops.<br />
Especially the chemistry community in Belgium<br />
should be made more aware of the activities<br />
and be encouraged to be involved in planning<br />
and organizing workshops. The committee has<br />
found that the name <strong>Solvay</strong> is more known for<br />
excellence in scientific activities within the<br />
physics community than in the chemistry one.<br />
A number of high-level excellent workshops in<br />
chemistry can change that. This should have a<br />
high priority.<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Chairs<br />
This activity has been very successful so far. A<br />
number of very distinguished scientists have<br />
accepted to come to Brussels for a month or<br />
two and in all cases they have brought a lot of<br />
life, excitement and new knowledge into the<br />
Belgian scientific community. We foresee a level<br />
of at least one in physics and one in chemistry a<br />
year. Since the aim should be to get the leading<br />
scientists in the world it is more important to be<br />
able to keep up the excellence than to expand<br />
the programme too much.<br />
With the broadening of the scientific committee<br />
we foresee proposals of names representing<br />
subjects not directly present in the departments<br />
in Brussels. Such proposals should be encouraged<br />
and sometimes the chairs could be used<br />
to introduce the local scientific community to<br />
new important subjects. This could be a way to<br />
prepare the departments to open up into these<br />
fields and make young researchers interested<br />
in those subjects. In such cases it is of course<br />
especially important to make sure that the chair<br />
be well integrated into the host department.<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Colloquia<br />
The <strong>Solvay</strong> colloquia have by now been very<br />
well established even though it seems that the<br />
chemistry community has been slower to embrace<br />
them. Again the committee is impressed<br />
with the choice of lecturers and sees it as imperative<br />
that the excellent level be maintained.<br />
154
With a broader scientific committee we believe<br />
in a broadening in the choice of subjects and<br />
this activity can also be used to introduce the<br />
local community to new important subjects.<br />
This has certainly been done already, but the<br />
committee should keep in mind its role in the<br />
strategic planning of future activities in the<br />
departments.<br />
Colloquia are very important in the scientific<br />
activities of a department. In the modern world<br />
when the scientists get more and more duties it<br />
is easy to skip a colloquium. That is not a good<br />
solution though. An interesting colloquium<br />
broadens the knowledge and introduces the<br />
scientists to new ideas and techniques that<br />
might be useful in the future. One way of getting<br />
the whole faculty to attend a colloquium<br />
is to let them meet the speaker both before the<br />
event and after, to involve the whole department<br />
in the activity. To get the graduate students<br />
involved, a good idea could be to have<br />
a free-lunch pre-colloquium with a local scientist<br />
giving a background to the subject of the<br />
colloquium.<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Public Lectures<br />
The <strong>Solvay</strong> public lectures have been of utmost<br />
importance to foster interest in the most modern<br />
science within the public mind. The lecturers<br />
chosen have been extraordinary and the lecture<br />
theatre has been full at every occasion. Even<br />
though this is a very costly activity one cannot<br />
overestimate its importance in the modern world<br />
with so many temptations. It shows to the young<br />
students the beauty of science and will help some<br />
of them to contemplate a scientific career. It shows<br />
to the common listener how advanced and how<br />
fantastic modern science is, and it helps to demystify<br />
the world and show that it is governed by<br />
scientific laws which we can comprehend.<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Graduate Programme<br />
Recently the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> have got involved<br />
in a graduate course programme in String<br />
Theory together with Paris and Amsterdam. This<br />
course is held for first-year graduate students<br />
from the three cities and the students spend three<br />
weeks in each city. This programme has been<br />
very successful. The students get exposed to<br />
very qualified teachers and they get a chance<br />
to meet and work with the students from the<br />
other two cities. The committee strongly believes<br />
that this effort should be encouraged. A modest<br />
contribution seems to be enough to have<br />
the programme going. The committee would<br />
encourage the Director to examine if this could<br />
be called a <strong>Solvay</strong> Graduate Programme. This<br />
would mean that the overall responsibility is<br />
taken over by the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong>.<br />
Even though chemistry is divided into small<br />
disciplines and it might be difficult to find enough<br />
many first-year graduate students with common<br />
interests, it should be known in the chemistry<br />
community that the possibility of having a<br />
<strong>Solvay</strong> Graduate Programme exists. It is imperative<br />
though that such a programme must involve<br />
excellent teachers and be held in a subject of<br />
great importance. Again, collaboration with one<br />
or more universities outside Belgium is desirable.<br />
Post-doctoral and Graduate Student<br />
Fellowships<br />
The committee has noticed the great voluntary work<br />
that many people on the faculty perform for the<br />
<strong>Institutes</strong>. A good way of rewarding this work is to<br />
finance either a graduate student or a post-doctoral<br />
fellow for those persons. Apparently, within the Belgian<br />
system of financing graduate students it is dificult<br />
to find funding for foreign students in their first years<br />
in Belgium. A grant from the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> can be<br />
a handy way to overcome this problem.<br />
155<br />
Report of the International Advisory Committee
Report of the International Advisory Committee<br />
If <strong>Solvay</strong> Institute funding is used for such positions<br />
it is mandatory to ensure that the excellence<br />
of the students match the status that the<br />
name implies. The post-doctoral fellow or the<br />
graduate student could be called ”<strong>Solvay</strong> fellow”<br />
and ”<strong>Solvay</strong> graduate student” resp. to increase<br />
the attraction of the positions.<br />
Another scheme for fostering excellence in<br />
Belgian science that the <strong>Institutes</strong> may wish to<br />
contemplate is to advertise two ”<strong>Solvay</strong> Postdoctoral<br />
Fellowships” one in physics and one in<br />
chemistry, each year. The winners of the competition<br />
should then get a position for five years<br />
where it is mandatory that the first two or three<br />
years be spent abroad and the remaining years<br />
at an institution in Belgium. This would give<br />
exceptionally gifted Belgian students a chance<br />
to get postdoctoral training in the best universities<br />
in the world for a longer period and then be<br />
given enough time back home to get established<br />
in the Belgian system.<br />
Staff and Support for the Director<br />
The committee has understood that the success<br />
of the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> rests heavily on the tireless<br />
and excellent work that the Director and the<br />
secretaries perform. Also the enthusiasm of the<br />
other persons involved is necessary for the success.<br />
The board should be aware that within the<br />
present set-up one is close to the limit for what<br />
can be achieved. As the staff becomes more<br />
and more experienced a modest increase in the<br />
number of workshops could be accommodated<br />
but any new activities will have to be balanced<br />
against the administrative load.<br />
The committee finds the workload of the<br />
Director to be extremely heavy. Not only does<br />
he have to actively work for the funding of the<br />
<strong>Institutes</strong> and oversee all the activities but also<br />
take a very active role in the daily running of<br />
the <strong>Institutes</strong>. It would probably be advantageous<br />
if the Director could be helped in his<br />
endeavour by a Deputy Director with clear<br />
administrative responsibilities. This would<br />
allow the Director to concentrate on the more<br />
strategic work. If such a Deputy Director is appointed<br />
she/he should preferably be chosen<br />
from a field that is complementary to the one<br />
of the Director.<br />
A very important aspect of all the activities is<br />
the documentation on internet. To promote<br />
the activities and to lighten the burden for the<br />
secretariat an efficient system for registration<br />
and communication with lecturers and participants<br />
in meetings and workshops is mandatory.<br />
Some external professional help is probably<br />
necessary to implement such systems. The<br />
normal running of the web pages is performed<br />
very expertly by the staff. At some stage an<br />
efficient search engine would be needed. That<br />
would also demand an extra effort both in<br />
workload and in costs.<br />
The <strong>Solvay</strong> archives contain material of<br />
utmost importance for the history of science.<br />
In some respects they are unique in the<br />
world containing correspondences between<br />
some of the most important figures in the<br />
history of science. The <strong>Institutes</strong> should try<br />
to set up a programme financed outside the<br />
normal budget where all this material be<br />
made available to the general public. Also<br />
the lectures and discussions at the <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
meetings should be made available. One<br />
can here compare with the Nobel archives,<br />
which are increasingly made available on<br />
internet (apart from the ones which are still<br />
confidential.) It would be advantageous to<br />
have as much as possible of this done before<br />
the anniversary in 2011.<br />
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Benefits for the Belgian Community<br />
During the discussions with the staff and the Director<br />
the committee became well aware of the<br />
important bridge that the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> build<br />
between the two language groups in Belgium.<br />
The commitment to this cause is very strong and<br />
we heard appreciations for it from many corners.<br />
These efforts will of course continue but it is important<br />
for the board to be well aware of it and<br />
support it.<br />
The <strong>Institutes</strong> can also build new bridges between<br />
physics and chemistry. The overlap does not<br />
seem to be too strong now, and the <strong>Institutes</strong> can<br />
take advantage of having physics and chemistry<br />
together under the same board and director.<br />
The committee also noted that bio-physics/biophysical<br />
chemistry does not seem to be present<br />
in the physics or chemistry department but in<br />
the biology and to some extent in the medicine<br />
departments. The <strong>Institutes</strong> should try to open<br />
up towards those directions and get them more<br />
integrated in the work.<br />
The institutes should also use its position to<br />
introduce new important fields in physics and<br />
chemistry to the universities. In the end it is the<br />
departments and the universities that decide about<br />
future directions but the activities of the <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
<strong>Institutes</strong> should help them in these decisions. This<br />
is another important role for the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong><br />
within the Belgian scientific endeavours.<br />
Conclusions<br />
The committee is well aware of the differences<br />
between physics and chemistry. In physics the<br />
most basic questions about our world are raised<br />
and the <strong>Solvay</strong> meetings became famous precisely<br />
for raising those issues. This is still true for<br />
the modern <strong>Solvay</strong> meetings. Physics also has a<br />
long list of heroes with Albert Einstein and Niels<br />
Bohr as the top figures. They are all well known<br />
by everybody and their association with <strong>Solvay</strong><br />
meetings are equally well known. In contrast,<br />
the great achievements in chemistry are not as<br />
well appreciated by the general public, and the<br />
<strong>Institutes</strong> have to keep this in mind when planning<br />
their activities.<br />
On the other hand chemistry is closer to the<br />
industrial activities and those industries have<br />
played a vital role in Belgium. Opening up<br />
towards the interfaces between physics, chemistry<br />
and biology could bring in basic questions<br />
about life, issues that will most certainly be<br />
driving much of science this century. Here the<br />
different <strong>Solvay</strong> activities could play a decisive<br />
role in the contemporary world.<br />
One experience from recent <strong>Solvay</strong> Conferences<br />
and Workshops that the committee noted is that<br />
while the physicists want to have all the talks<br />
directly available on the internet, the chemists<br />
often want to have meetings between closed<br />
doors, being afraid that intellectual property<br />
rights might otherwise become compromised or<br />
that important new ideas might be exploited by<br />
competing groups. The <strong>Institutes</strong> have to keep<br />
this in mind when making information available.<br />
The overall impression that the committee has<br />
obtained is that the <strong>Solvay</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> are run<br />
in a most impressive and competent way. It is<br />
remarkable that the director and his staff have<br />
re-established the <strong>Institutes</strong> as world-leading<br />
institutions so swiftly, and the committee can only<br />
congratulate Belgium and the scientific communities<br />
in physics and chemistry to this achievement.<br />
Göteborg Paris Stockholm Potsdam Pasadena<br />
Lars Brink Leticia Cugliandolo Gunnar von Heijne Hermann Nicolai Hirosi Ooguri<br />
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Report of the International Advisory Committee
158