The Center for Fundamental Physics at Northwestern has issued an initial call for applications for interdisciplinary visiting fellowships. The first round of applications is being accepted between Sept. 15, 2018 and Dec. 1, 2018 for stays to start in 2019.
Theologians, philosophers, and experts from fields other than physics rarely if ever have a serious and sustained professional interaction with physicists, especially experimental physicists. It is also true that physicists in the lab typically carry on without seriously reflecting on the philosophical and theological context and implications of their work. Conscious of its focus upon physics experimentation, the Center for Fundamental Physics (CFP) encourages interdisciplinary activities that reflect upon, illuminate, and reveal the assumptions, implications, and methods of fundamental physics. To this end, the CFP is offering a grant to support a CFP Interdisciplinary fellow who is not a practicing natural scientist to spend up to a year at the center. We are grateful to the Templeton Foundation for providing the resources.
Ideally a CFP Interdisciplinary Fellow will have research objectives that relate in a meaningful way with those of the CFP. The following questions are of particular interest to the CFP:
– Are the fundamental constants of nature constant in time? Fundamental constants are quantities (like the fine structure constant) that must be input to a mathematical description of physical reality. They can be measured but not calculated.
– Do the basic interactions of physics transform under the certain combination of three fundamental symmetries as assumed in the standard model description? What are the limits?
– What is dark matter? The motions of galaxies can be explained by postulating that galaxies contain dark matter that is present but does not reflect enough light to make it visible. So far no one has been able to observe or identify particles making up dark matter, or to demonstrate any other explanation for the observed motions.
– Do the most precise predictions of the standard model description agree with what can be measured to high precision?
– Since gravity does not fit very well in the standard model description, does gravity behave as Newton and Einstein predicted—even on very short-distance scales? Can evidence be found to show whether gravity is quantum mechanical?
For more information and to apply, please visit http://cfp.physics.northwestern.edu/interdisciplinary-grants.html
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