Coincidences in Physical Theories
FBK Aula Piccola
Fondazione Bruno Kessler - Polo delle Scienze Umane e sociali
Aula Piccola
FBK Aula Piccola
Fondazione Bruno Kessler - Polo delle Scienze Umane e sociali
Aula Piccola
The last 50 years have witnessed the establishment of a paradigm for the construction of physical theories: effective field theories (EFTs). An EFT consists of the most general dynamics among the degrees of freedom relevant at a certain energy scale, constrained only by symmetries inferred from experiment. Predictive power arises only thanks to the principle of naturalness: the majority of the unknown EFT parameters are not fine-tuned to produce coincidences. Within this paradigm, nature is described through a tower of EFTs ordered according to energy.
Yet, there is a number of coincidences that seem particularly meaningful for our type of life. Well-known examples are the cosmological constant and the Higgs mass, which almost coincide with zero — if they took their natural values the universe would be significantly different. It can be argued that we have a better chance to understand other coincidences that appear at lower energies, where one knows the higher-energy EFT. Coincidences between certain nuclear energy levels and break-up thresholds have long being recognized as necessary for the evolution of carbon and oxygen in the universe.
Nuclear theory has not yet reached the point where we can explain even these coincidences. For now, we can only muse about some ideas beyond the realm of (established) science: the multiverse and the anthropic principle, synchronicity, and intelligent design. Could any of these “explanations” ever be falsified?
Speaker: UBIRAJARA VAN KOLCK | FBK- ECT*
Discussant: RICHARD HALL-WILTON | FBK-SD
Cycle of Seminars: Conservation and Transformation in Ethics and Religion
Scientific coordination: Massimo Leone, Director FBK-ISR
Speakers
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Ubirajara van Kolck - SpeakerUbirajara (Bira) van Kolck is Directeur de recherche de classe exceptionnelle at France's CNRS and Professor of Physics at the University of Arizona. He is currently Director of ECT*/FBK. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1993 from the University of Texas under the supervision of S. Weinberg, he held postdoctoral and research-faculty appointments at the University of Washington and Caltech. He joined the University of Arizona in 2000 and was a Riken-BNL Research Center Fellow, a US DOE Outstanding Junior Investigator, and a Sloan Research Fellow, before joining CNRS in 2012. He was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2004 and Member of the Academia Europaea in 2020. He received the 2015 Prix Paul Langevin of the Societe Francaise de Physique, the 2019 Koffler Prize in Research of the University of Arizona, and the 2020 Herman Feshbach Prize in Theoretical Nuclear Physics of the APS.
Registration
Registration to this event is mandatory.
RegisterThe event will be held in English.
The presentation will take place in presence in the Aula Piccola FBK while places are available and online.
Registration is mandatory by 24 April 2025 at 12 noon.
Contacts
Organizers
The initiative was also realized thanks to the contribution of "Direzione generale Educazione, ricerca e istituti culturali" of the Ministry of Culture.