Prof. Stephon Alexander, Brown University

"The Chiral Universe"

Abstract: Among a handful of mysteries in the standard big-bang cosmological paradigm, I focus on three: Dark Matter, Baryogenesis and the origin of structure. I then provide a pedagogical introduction to a modification to General Relativity that encodes chirality, and show how these three mysteries may be interconnected. I also discuss some observational windows including parity violation in large scale distribution of galaxies.

Stephon Alexander is a theoretical physicist, author, and jazz musician, whose work is at the interface between cosmology, particle physics, AI, quantum gravity. His expertise lays in constructing new theories of the early universe and elementary particle physics that has predictions for the universe at present, such as dark energy, dark matter, and high energy phenomena beyond the standard model. He also combines mathematics and tools from theoretical physics into machine learning, the geometry and cognition of musical perception, signal processing and computational algorithms. Alexander is a Professor of Physics at Brown University, and a past President of the National Society of Black Physicists. Alexander was also the Executive Director of the Harlem Gallery of Science. He had previous appointments at Stanford University, Imperial College, Penn State, Dartmouth College and Haverford College. Alexander is a specialist in the field of string theory and cosmology, where the physics of superstrings are applied to address longstanding questions in cosmology. In 2001, he co-invented the model of cosmic inflation based on string theory. In his critically acclaimed book, The Jazz of Physics, Alexander revisits the ancient interconnection between music and the evolution of astrophysics and the laws of motion. He explores new ways music, in particular jazz music, mirrors modern physics, such as quantum mechanics, general relativity, and the physics of the early universe. He also discusses ways that innovations in physics have been and can be inspired from "improvisational logic" exemplified in Jazz performance and practice. Alexander is also a professional jazz musician.