SAVE THE DATES: invitation to 19 and 25 JULY ICTP COLLOQUIA

[Zina Makkawi]

*SAVE THE DATES THIS MONTH:*


_*WEDNESDAY 19 JULY at 16:30, ICTP COLLOQUIUM in *__*the Budinich 
Lecture Hall, Leonardo Building, ICTP.*_

* "The Dynamics of the Gravitational Constant G", by Prof.Claudio Bunster
*

BIOSKETCH: Theoretical physicist Claudio Bunster was born in Santiago, 
April 15, 1947, under the name Claudio Teitelboim, which he maintained 
until 2005. Educated at Universidad de Chile and Princeton University, 
Bunster has taught at Princeton, the University of Texas at Austin and 
Universidad de Chile and has been a long-term member at the Institute 
for Advanced Study, Princeton. He was awarded the Chilean National 
Science Prize in 1995 and was elected foreign associate of the United 
States National Academy of Sciences in 2005. Bunster's first interest in 
theoretical physics was the problem of radiation reaction in classical 
electrodynamics, where he found a new splitting of the energy momentum 
tensor of the electromagnetic field of a classical point charge in two 
separately conserved pieces. This led to a reinterpretation of the 
Lorentz-Dirac equation of motion. Then his attention turned to general 
relativity, where he elucidated the Hamiltonian structure of spacetime, 
giving a geometrical meaning to the commutation relations of the 
generators of hypersurface deformations. Among the results of his 
subsequent research, one may find, for example, significant 
contributions to: the determination of the role of surface integrals as 
generators of asymptotic symmetries in general relativity and gauge 
theories, the understanding of the quantum numbers of a black hole and 
its thermodynamics, the theory of black holes in lower dimensions, the 
general theory of constrained systems and its quantization, the dynamic 
neutralization of the cosmological constant, and the generalization of 
the notion of electric-magnetic duality to extended objects and higher 
spins. Bunster has been the Director of the Centro de Estudios 
Científicos (CECs) since its foundation in 1984. Besides its work as 
Director and his research activity in theoretical physics, Bunster has 
been involved in public service. He served as Presidential Science 
Advisor in President Eduardo Frei’s administration (1994-2000). During 
his tenure as science advisor the Presidential Science Chairs and the 
Millennium Science Initiative were established. He was also a member of 
the Dialogue Board on Human Rights (Mesa de Diálogo sobre Derechos 
Humanos), established by the Government to address pending human rights 
problems, with the participation of civilians and the military.

ABSTRACT:The issue of the enormously small value that the gravitational 
constant G takes when expressed in microscopical units is revisited. A 
simple mechanism is discussed, which could implement Dirac's idea of G 
actually decaying; from an initial value commensurable with 
microscopical units to its value in the present epoch of the universe. 
The mechanism is based on the possibility of having, within one 
universe, domains with different values of G, whose borders are crossed 
by particles and forces. The dynamics of the novel kind of domain wall 
that separates two such dominions is largely dictated by the second law 
of thermodynamics as applied to a black hole. It is argued that this is 
a satisfactory state of affairs, since the expression of the entropy of 
a black hole is the formula in physics where all the constants 
characterising its different realms appear together in a poignant manner.

More information at: http://indico.ictp.it/event/8271/


*_TUESDAY 25 JULY at 17:00: JOINT ICTP- SISSA COLLOQUIUM __in the 
Budini__c__h Lec__ture____H__all, Leo__na__rdo Building, ICTP._
*

*"Unraveling the Sense of Smell", **by Dr. Linda Buck.*

BIOSKETCH: Dr. Linda Buck is a Full Member at Fred Hutchinson Cancer 
Research Center and an Affiliate Professor at the University of 
Washington. She received a B.S. from the University of Washington and a 
Ph.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She was 
previously Full Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. 
Buck is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National 
Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts of Sciences, a 
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a 
Foreign Member of the Royal Society. Dr. Buck's research has provided 
key insights into the mechanisms that underlie our sense of smell. Her 
pioneering research has shed light on how thousands of odor molecules in 
the environment are first detected in the nose and then translated by 
the brain into diverse odor perceptions and instinctive behaviors. Dr. 
Buck has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 
Unilever Science Award, the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished 
Work in Medical Research, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, 
and, in 2004, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

ABSTRACT: The sense of smell allows mammals to perceive a multitude of 
environmental chemicals as having a distinct odor. It also mediates the 
detection of pheromones and predator odors that elicit innate responses. 
We are interested in how the olfactory system detects different 
chemicals and how the nervous system translates those chemicals into 
diverse perceptions and behaviors. Using a combination of molecular, 
cellular, and genetic approaches, we have identified families of 
receptors that initially detect odorants and pheromones in peripheral 
sense organs, asked how those receptors encode the identities of 
different chemicals, and investigated how the signals they generate are 
routed and organized in the nervous system to yield distinct perceptions 
and instinctive responses. Our work also touches on other neural 
circuits that affect emotions and innate drives that modulate behavior.

More information at: http://indico.ictp.it/event/8245/

-- 
Zina Makkawi (Ms)
Director's Office
The Abdus Salam International Centre
   for Theoretical Physics
Strada Costiera, 11
34151 Trieste, Italy
T +39 040 2240507