SMC


THE SAMY MAROUN
​

​​​CENTER  FOR​  SPACE, 

TIME ​ 

 AND The QUANTUM

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The Center for Space, Time and the Quantum has been awarded a large grant from the John Templeton Foundation, to aid us launch the project The Quantum Information Structure of Spacetime (QISS), a consortium comprising several prestigious universities and institutes. See the website qiss.fr for further information. The bulk of our current activities is in the context of the coordinating and taking initiatives such as workshop organisation, virtual seminars, and outreach activities, in the context of the QISS project. 

We are extremely happy for our senior member of our advisory board Roger Penrose, who has received the 2020 Nobel prize in Physics for his revolutionary contributions on black hole theory. 

We are proud to welcome in our advisory board Anton Zeilinger, current president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, whose revolutionary investigations in the foundations of quantum physics gave rise to the field of quantum information. We are immensely thankful to Anton and AAS for their support in expanding the QISS project. 
Quantum theory and General Relativity have opened new perspectives on reality. Merging these two theories demands us to rethink our understanding of fundamental notions like Time, Space and the Quantum. The Center is an independent research foundation focusing on the conceptual issues arising.
 
The Center was founded thanks to the generosity, the vision and the passion for science of the late Samy Maroun.  It is now supported by private funding from individuals as well as other international foundations, particularly the John Templeton Foundation and the Foundational Quastions Institute (FQXi). We promote and facilitate basic research in Quantum Gravity, Quantum Information and Quantum Foundations, focusing on the fundamentals. We supporting students and post-doctoral researchers
 working in these fields, as well as by the organisation of workshops, conferences,  scientific visits and exchanges. Nowadays, we are mainly preoccupied with the coordination and organisation of the large consortium The Quantum Information Structure of Spacetime (QISS). Please visit
qiss.fr for further information on activities and events supported by the center in the context of QISS. 
Some of our favourite physics topics
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BLACK HOLES

 The relation of thermodynamics and geometry goes deep. Loop Quantum Gravity offers a description of the microscopic degrees of freedom for the quantum gravitational field, that explains the Bekenstein-Hawking formula in terms of spin-networks piercing the horizon. Credit for the figure goes to our friends, authors of this article. ​
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SPINFOAMS

Spinfoams are dynamical quantum 4D combinatorial structures, from which emerges the usual spacetime picture. Much of the center activites support research that allow to bridge the abstract description of nature given by technical descriptions such spinfoams  with the everyday reality as we experience it.  
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​Loop QUANTUM GRAVITY 

 Intuition is a central resource for constructing models of reality. This simple 3D structure made from keyrings captures the main idea behind Loop Quantum Gravity: describe interrelations between spacetime quanta using loops, the analogue for gravity to Faraday's magnetic field lines. 

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THE SAMY MAROUN CENTER FOR SPACE, TIME AND THE QUANTUM
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  • Home
  • About the Center
  • Current Research
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