¡¡The ultimate purpose of elementary particle theory is to find the
so¡¾called "theory of everything".
The superstring theory is considered to be the most promising
candidate for this status, and we are now in a position to be able
to understand non¡¾perturbative aspects of quantum gravity.
In the field of experimental physics, high¡¾precision experiments
at LEP on the Z boson and the discovery of the "top quark" at
Tevatron have established the standard model as a highly reliable t
heory of nature.
Efforts are also made to go beyond the standard model; the solar neutrino
experiment at KAMIOKANDE and the LHC project are some examples of
the movement in this direction.
¡¡We are working on such front¡¾line problems in the theory of the
fundamental constituents of matter and their interaction.
Current interests among faculty members include:
¡¡The study of nuclear structure and nuclear interactions constitutes one of
the traditional research areas of the Institute since the inception of the
former RIFP. Yukawa's meson theory played a historical role in research
programs on nuclear forces and nuclear many¡¾body problems undertaken
at the Institute. The Institute has supported many research programs on
developing various nuclear models and concepts appropriate to many
different facets of complex nuclear phenomena, such as collective
nuclear motions, the cluster structures of light nuclei, nuclear fission,
heavy¡¾ion collisions, and hyper nuclei.
With its interdisciplinary environment, the Institute also
has played a special role in promoting new research areas at the interface
of nuclear, astro¡¾ and particle physics, fields such as theory of
high density nuclear matter, and manifestation of underlying
subnuclear degrees of freedom in extreme physical conditions.
¡¡Current research topics undertaken by the regular staff of the Institute
include :
¡¡Since the unification of the former RITP, which had for many years played
an essential role in Japanese research activities of astrophysics and
gravitation, with the former RIFP, which had made an important
contribution to big bang cosmology and general relativity, this
section has been acting as one of the national centers in the field,
hosting a number of workshops as well as visitors annually.
¡¡Current research activities are divided into three representative fields.
The first one is cosmology. One of the major subjects in this field is
the study of the very early universe making use of the high energy
theories. The construction of a new framework for a fully quantum
treatment of spacetime evolution, and investigations of the evolution
of the early universe in the framework of unified theories are two
examples of research activities in this branch.
Another important subject is the research in observational cosmology
brought about by various new techniques and equipments such as the Cosmic
Background Explorer and the Hubble Space Telescope. In this
promising field much effort has been made to constrain the values of
cosmological parameters including the density parameter,
the Hubble constant, and the cosmological constant, combining various
data from different means of observations.
Theoretical studies to support their determination are also under way, such
as studies in the statistics of gravitational lensing.
Further, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, to be completed in the
beginning of the next century, will certainly provide information
which will assist in the determination of a correct model of the formation
of large¡¾scale structures.
¡¡The second major field is mathematical general relativity. Researches in
this field cover investigations of fundamental problems in general
relativity or other gravity theories such as spacetime singularities
and global structures of spacetimes, and those of cross-disciplinary
problems such as gauge theories in curved spacetimes. In particular,
the structures of spacetime singularities and their physical effects are
becoming major subjects in this field in connection with recent developments
in the gravitational wave astronomy.
¡¡The third one is the relativistic astrophysics, which is also a central
subject of research in this Institute. One very successful direction
in the study of this subject is numerical or computer¡¾aided relativity
in 3+1 dimensional spacetime. The fully general¡¾relativistic calculations
of gravitational radiation from coalescing binary neutron stars that are
being investigated here will serve as a theoretical template to
guide experimental projects seeking to detect gravitational waves with laser
interferometers, an entirely new channel of astronomical observation.
Another important direction in this field is the investigation of new exciting
objects called gamma ray bursters, which seems to be extremely
high¡¾energy objects distributed at cosmological distances according to
recent observational and theoretical studies. The clarification of their
origin is expected to give us a new insight to the relativistic
dynamics of compact stellar objects.
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With or without the members of the Institute as core organizers, many
research projects are proposed and carried out every year in these fields of
research. Some of these projects are organized as nation¡¾wide topical
symposia, and others are organized as small¡¾sized workshops.