PHYSICS
LSU Post-Doctoral Researcher Wins International Physics Prize
Victor Taveras, a postdoctoral researcher with the LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy and LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, received the Bergmann-Wheeler prize from the International Society of General Relativity and Gravitation.
This prize is an international honor given to only one physics scholar in the world every three years. The Bergmann-Wheeler prize honors Ph.D. candidates whose research brings new and innovative approaches to quantum gravity research. The society selected Taveras for his research into loop quantum gravity, an area of physics research that attempts to reconcile Einstein's theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics.
Taveras’ research interests involve applying loop quantum gravity ideas to specific astrophysical phenomena, such as black holes. The equations involved in this research are complex, and physicists often rely on computational technology to solve them and gain insight into the universe at its formation, and how black holes form and evaporate in outer space.
Through his graduate research, Taveras developed a simpler description of how the universe evolved at early times through examining effective equations, which modify Einstein’s theory with quantum mechanics processes. These equations, which scientists can solve by hand, still allow them to capture the rich physics they normally can only see by solving the quantum equations with computers.
Taveras received his doctorate in physics at Penn State University, and came to LSU in August 2009 to work with physics professor and CCT Interim co-Director Jorge Pullin, whose research specialty is quantum physics and black holes.
With Pullin, Taveras is now applying loop quantum gravity ideas to study the formation and evaporation of black holes as they disintegrate in the universe.
The International Society of General Relativity and Gravitation will formally present Taveras with his award at a conference in Mexico City in July 2010.
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