A galaxy of leading physicists and astrophysicists will convene in Tucson on Jan. 22 - 24, 2007. More than three dozen experts are expected to attain the conference — Rethinking Gravity: from the Planck scale to the size of the Universe - there.
The scientists gathering in the conference will be discussing their common goal of probing and testing gravity at all scales - starting from the subatomic level to the entire universe. This is perhaps for the first time scientists are drawn from so many diverse research fields to discuss on this topic.
Physicist Dimitrios Psaltis of The University of Arizona, a conference organizer, said,
Scientists have understood for several decades that Einstein’s theory of gravity, which describes our universe at astronomical scales, is incompatible with quantum field theories, which describe phenomena at atomic scales. Despite numerous efforts, scientists have yet to come up with a satisfactory quantum theory of gravity.
But our quest has become intensely exciting for two reasons.
The participants of the Conference will be discussing on how modern technologies have opened the way for testing the predictions of Einstein’s theory in different contexts like –
• Astronomers’ using of the Hubble Space Telescope and powerful new ground-based telescopes for studying supernovae in distant galaxies for a more accurate grasp of the cosmological constant.
• Predicting deviations from Newtonian gravitational law at sub-millimeter distances that modern idea of gravity goes beyond general relativity.
• Several current and planned NASA missions that aim to test Einstein’s theories in regimes having never been observed before.
• Recent results from several high-precision experiments that are testing the most fundamental aspects of Einstein’s theory.
