Probing quantum gravity at all scales
Name of applicant
Astrid Eichhorn
Title
Professor
Institution
University of Southern Denmark
Amount
DKK 9,995,000
Year
2023
Type of grant
Semper Ardens: Accomplish
What?
What are the fundamental building blocks of our universe? We do not know the full answer, because we neither know the building blocks of space and time, nor the building blocks of the dark matter and the dark energy. I propose that we can understand all three together: the interplay between the building blocks of spacetime, dark matter and dark energy determines their properties.
Why?
It is one of the deepest and most fascinating mysteries of our universe, what its fundamental building blocks are. It is also one of the oldest mysteries of our universe, but I believe that we are tantalizingly close to finding the answer. We must therefore leverage recent theoretical and experimental innovations to finally learn what the world is made of at its most fundamental level.
How?
Using the mathematical analogue of a microscope, I zoom in on the microscopic building blocks of our universe and make theoretical predictions about their structure. I then zoom out to confront the theoretical predictions with experimental data. The key innovation of my research is to use the microscope for the building blocks of spacetime, dark matter and dark energy together for the first time.