The Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) is an international

research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...

for physics and mathematics situated in

Kashiwa is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 433,436 in 194,216 households and a population density of 3800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The name of the city is written with a si ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, near

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Its full name is ''"Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, Kashiwa, Japan"''. The main subjects of study at IPMU are

particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...

high energy physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) and b ...

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

. The institute addresses five key questions: "How did the universe begin? What is its fate? What is it made of? What are its fundamental laws? Why do we exist?"

History

The Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe was created on October 1, 2007, by its founding director Hitoshi Murayama and the University of Tokyo. It is funded by the Japanese Ministry of Science, as a part of their World Premier International Research Center Initiative. In 2012, the IPMU received an endowment from the Kavli Foundation and was renamed the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe.

Members of IPMU

Many notable scientists are employed at the IPMU. Among them: *

Takaaki Kajita is a Japanese physicist, known for neutrino experiments at the Kamioka Observatory – Kamiokande and its successor, Super-Kamiokande. In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Canadian physicist Arthur B. McDonald. On 1 O ...

Mikhail Kapranov Mikhail Kapranov, (Михаил Михайлович Капранов, born 1962) is a Russian mathematician, specializing in algebraic geometry, representation theory, mathematical physics, and category theory. He is currently a professor of the ...

* Stavros Katsanevas * Young-Kee Kim *

Toshiyuki Kobayashi is a Japanese mathematician known for his original work in the field of Lie theory, and in particular for the theory of discontinuous groups (lattice in Lie groups) and the application of geometric analysis to representation theory. He was a maj ...

* Hitoshi Murayama *

Hiraku Nakajima Hiraku Nakajima (Japanese: 中島啓 ''Nakajima Hiraku''; born November 30, 1962) is a Japanese mathematician, and a professor of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe at the University of Tokyo. He will be Internat ...

Yasunori Nomura Yasunori Nomura (born 1974) is a theoretical physicist working on particle physics, quantum gravity, and cosmology. He is a professor of physics at University of California, Berkeley, a senior faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Labor ...

Hirosi Ooguri is a theoretical physicist working on quantum field theory, quantum gravity, superstring theory, and their interfaces with mathematics. He is Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics and the Founding Director of the Walter Bur ...

David Spergel David Nathaniel Spergel is an American theoretical astrophysicist and the Emeritus Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy on the Class of 1897 Foundation at Princeton University. Since 2021, he has been the President of the Simons Foundatio ...

Yuji Tachikawa Yuji Tachikawa (立川祐路, ''Tachikawa Yūji'', born July 5, 1975 in Kanagawa, Japan), is a Japanese racing driver. He was Super GT series champion in 2001, 2005 and 2013. Racing record Complete JGTC/Super GT results (key) (Races in bold ...

References

External links

Kavli IPMU site

Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe
Japan (video, 7:25)
Sixty Years of Science for Peace and Development
(UN lecture, video, 13:17) {{Authority control Research institutes in Japan Physics institutes Mathematical institutes Kavli Institutes University of Tokyo