*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************
Atlanta, GA | Posted: January 23, 2014
On Friday, January 31, 2014, Professor Mairi Sakellariadou from King's College London will make a presentation titled Particle Physics and Cosmology from Almost Commutative Manifolds.
The unification of the four fundamental forces remains one of the most important issues in theoretical particle physics.
In this talk, she will give a short introduction to Non-Commutative Spectral Geometry, a bottom-up approach that unifies the (successful) Standard Model of high energy physics with Einstein's General theory of Relativity. The model is built upon almost-commutative spaces and she will discuss the physical implications of the choice of such manifolds. She will show that even though the unification has been obtained only at the classical level, the doubling of the algebra may incorporate the seeds of quantization. She will then briefly review the particle physics phenomenology and highlight open issues and current proposals.
In the last part of her talk, she will explore consequences of the Gravitational-Higgs part of the spectral action formulated within such almost-commutative manifolds. In particular, she will study modifications of the Friedmann equation, propagation of gravitational waves and the onset of inflation. She will show how current measurements (Gravity Probe, pulsars, and torsion balance) can constrain free parameters of the model. She will conclude with a short discussion on open questions.
The event will be held at 4:00pm in Skiles, room 006
