The Invisible Universe: Higgs, Dark Matter, Gravity Waves

Explore the invisible universe, from the Higgs field and dark matter to gravitational waves and discoveries that may reveal the Big Bang. Important • This public lecture will begin at 7:00 PM. Your ticket is valid until 6:45 PM. This ensures all guests have enough time to enter the Theatre and be seated by our ushers. • The talk will be livestreamed via our YouTube channel with a recording of the talk available following the event. • Our ushers seat guests beginning from the front rows of the Theatre toward the back. Love Science? Help Us Share It. This event—and all of our public science programming—is made possible thanks to donor support. If you’d like to help keep science accessible for all, consider a gift of $5–$25 to support our educational outreach programs: Fuel Discovery --- Title The Invisible Universe: Higgs, Dark Matter, Gravity Waves Abstract Most of the universe is invisible, but the invisibles determine our everyday existence. There is an invisible energy field, related to the Higgs boson, that provides mass. There is dark matter that holds our galaxy together, but we have yet to detect it in the laboratory. We have only recently learned how to detect gravity waves—ripples in spacetime—coming from the far corners of the cosmos, and possibly from dramatic events in the early universe. The CERN Large Hadron Collider may produce signals of dark matter, new forces of nature or cousins of the Higgs boson. Discoveries from the LHC and from other experiments and observatories will be needed to pull together a coherent picture of the invisible world and explain the first instants of the Big Bang. About the Speaker Professor Marcela Carena is the executive director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada. She is also a physics professor at the University of Chicago, where she has been a member of both the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. Prof. Carena is a renowned particle physicist who has advanced our understanding of fundamental mysteries of science related to sourcing the mass of the fundamental particles in nature, the origin of matter in the universe and the nature of dark matter. Her most recent research program explores particle physics and quantum information to tackle problems of quantum theory in the early universe. Prof. Carena is an original co-author of the Status of the Higgs Boson review of the Particle Data Book. In 2022, Prof. Carena was honored as a U.S. DOE Office of Science distinguished scientist fellow. In 2010, Prof. Carena won the Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She was a staff member and a John Stuart Bell Fellow at CERN and was awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship of the European Commission to conduct research at DESY. Tickets Tickets are free and must be reserved through Eventbrite, as there is no on-site box office. TICKETS ARE VALID UNTIL 6:45 PM THE DAY OF THE EVENT. Perimeter Institute is committed to creating a respectful, inclusive, and safe environment for everyone. All event attendees are expected to uphold these values. Harassment, discrimination, or any form of misconduct will not be tolerated and will be addressed promptly and appropriately. Thank you for helping us ensure a positive experience for all.