Aim of the Program

The current status and future prospects of quark-hadron sciences:

By the end of 1970's, we arrived at the final understanding that the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction, which was originally discovered by Hideki Yukawa. Nevertheless, we still have only little understanding of various possible forms of hadrons or quarks, such as vacuum structures at extreme high temperatures in the early universe or at extreme high densities in compact stars. In other words, there is still a vast area of research which is to be explored. To advance our exploration, it will be necessary not only to make full use of existing theoretical techniques but also to develop new theories and establish a new framework. The outcome will give a strong impact on our understanding of various forms of matter at various levels of nature. We may even be forced to change our current understanding about possible forms of matter.

The primary purpose of this program, YIPQS, is to establish a new area of research fields, the quark-hadron sciences. For this purpose, cooperating with present and near-future experimental research, we will advance theoretical research not only in quark-hadron physics but also in related areas as listed below, which constitute indispensable part of the quark-hadron sciences.

Examples of related areas:

Quark-gluon plasma, Hadron physics, Lattice QCD, Dark energy, Dark matter, Baryogenesis, CP violation, Physics of strongly-correlated systems, Phase transition of internal degrees of freedom of matter, Physics of the early universe, Matter at extreme conditions, Structure of unstable nuclei and nucleosynthesis, Structure of compact stars, Optical lattice, String theory, AdS/CFT correspondence, Twister string theory, (Non-perturbative) non-equilibrium dynamics, etc..

International collaboration programs:

・As a core activity of the YIPQS, we organize a long-stay collaboration program on research topics from quark-hadron physics and related fields of theoretical physics. The themes of long-stay programs are selected by the YIPQS executive committee, taking account of comments and opinions by the international advisory committee.

・We run 3 long-stay programs annually. The duration of each program will be 1 to 3 months. We invite 10 to 20 world-leading scientists for each theme, and provide participants with a relaxed, at-home atmosphere so that there may be active discussions and fruitful collaborations, which we hope will ultimately lead to Nobel-prize class results.

・To publicize our aim of creating and advancing the field of quark-hadron sciences, the activities and outcomes of the YIPQS will be announced regularly on the internet and in the form of printed documents.