Food for Thought | The Mirror Crack’d: Why Is There More Matter Than Antimatter?

During this Food for Thought presentation, Professor of Physics and College Executive Dean Rick Van Kooten discussed how physics is helping scientists understand why we exist through complex, sophisticated experiments. Following his presentation, Dean Van Kooten participated in a moderated Q&A session with Provost Professor of Chemistry Jeffrey Zaleski.
Presentation Description: Why do we exist? This is arguably the most profound question there is and one that may seem completely outside the scope of physics. However, sophisticated experiments at the world’s most powerful particle colliders are helping scientists understand this enigma. Right after the Big Bang, there should have been as much matter as antimatter, which should have canceled each other out. Since there is a miniscule difference or “asymmetry” between particles and antiparticles, the universe is mostly matter, which makes up our visible universe today.
Speaker Biography: Rick Van Kooten, who first joined IU Bloomington as an assistant professor in 1993, became the executive dean of the IUB College of Arts and Sciences on July 1, 2019. Before this appointment, he served for five years as chair of the Department of Physics and four years as the IU Bloomington vice provost for research, working across the campus as a passionate advocate for scholarly activity. During his tenure, research infrastructure for intelligent systems engineering was established, and funding for humanities research expanded significantly, as the campus secured grants from many sources, including the Luce and Mellon foundations and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In other areas, Van Kooten steered two of IU's major 21st century initiatives, the Emerging Areas of Research and the IUB components of the Grand Challenges initiatives. The Emerging Areas of Research program has led to new centers of excellence in human and machine learning, quantum engineering and science, and sustainable food systems. The Grand Challenges are a five-year, over $200-million research initiative to address the big issues facing Indiana, such as environmental resilience, precision health, and addressing the addictions crisis.
While growing up in Canada, Van Kooten was most interested in science. He earned his undergraduate degree in engineering science from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He was then named scientific associate at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) and then research scientist at the University of Hamburg. He has written or co-written more than 750 publications, most in the area of particle physics. Van Kooten has also chaired the Fermi National Laboratory Physics Advisory Committee, as well as serving on a committee that set out the current long-term plan for particle physics in the U.S.
Moderator Biography: Jeff Zaleski joined the faculty at Indiana University in 1996 and is currently a Provost Professor of Chemistry. Zaleski received his B.S. degree from SUNY at Geneseo in 1988 followed by his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1993. He was awarded the Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford University, where he studied Physical-Biorganic chemistry under the direction of Professor Edward I. Solomon. You can learn more about Professor Zaleski at www.chem.india....