Niels Bohr Lecture by Bert Schellekens

Particle Physics in the Multiverse

Bert Schellekens is a member of the theory group of the National Institute for Subatomic Physics (Nikhef) in Amsterdam

Abstract: Is our universe a single entity or part of a multiverse? Can the Standard Model of Particle Physics be derived uniquely from a fundamental theory, or is it just one of many possibilities? Insights from inflation and string theory in the past three decades suggests that it is not unique, and that the number of alternatives may be enormous.

This would have important implications for our attempts at understanding the Standard Model and the expectations for “new physics”.

It also implies that we cannot ignore an important bias in observations: the existence of observers. This leads inevitably to a controversial issue: the "anthropic principle”.

• Wednesday, September 10, 2014 at 15:15 in Aud. 3 at HCØ.

About Bert Schellekens: Bert Schellekens received his PhD at the University of Nijmegen in 1981. Since then he has worked in the theory groups at Fermilab, the State University of Stony Brook and CERN. Currently he is a member of the theory group of the National Institute for Subatomic Physics (Nikhef) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and he is professor at the University of Nijmegen.

Since 1986, his research efforts have been aimed at what can be learned about the Standard Model of Particle Physics from string theory, a candidate for a theory of all interactions.