Cosmology and the Quantum Vacuum

Organizers:

M. Asorey (U. Zaragoza), E. Elizalde (ICE/CSIC, Barcelona), S. Odintsov (ICE/CSIC, Barcelona)

This VIII Edition of the Workshop will focus, as the preceding ones, which took place in Benasque (twice), Rhodes, and Segovia, on aspects of Theoretical Cosmology that are related with properties of the Quantum Vacuum. The longstanding question: Why we do not see vacuum fluctuations at cosmological scale? is still without answer. Now we have indeed detected an acceleration in the cosmic expansion which could be most easily understood as a vacuum effect (dark energy), but the numbers still do not match by many orders of magnitude. Alternative approaches to this problem involve cosmological models which modify the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian by adding terms of higher order in the curvature. Terms of this kind should probably be there, since they appear in most attempts of calculating quantum corrections to General Relativity. At this stage, however, modified gravity models should be confronted both with fundamental theories and with the most recent astronomical data.

List of Topics

1. Cosmological models: modified gravities, f(R) and similar theories, non-local models.
2. Quantum vacuum effects and its implications in cosmology. Casimir effect in brane models.
3. The cosmological constant problem and quantum vacuum fluctuations.
4. Mathematical physics techniques for quantum vacuum effects.

Invited Speakers

T. Tanaka (Kyoto, Japan)
A. Koshelev (Shanghai, China)
T. Katsuragawa (Wuhan, China)
A. Saharian(Erevan, Armenia)
R. Woodard (Florida, USA)

Call for participation

Abstract submission should be done through here.

    * Abstracts files should be 1 page abstract in .pdf format
    * The use of graphics in the abstract is optional.
    * A complete editable abstract example and guidelines could be downloaded here.
    * You have to be registered before abstract submission. No payment necessary before contribution acceptance.

Registration fee information

The registration fee for this conference is 350 eur.

Pay by bank transfer

The registration fee must be paid to the account of the Centro de Ciencias de Benasque Pedro Pascual after your application has been accepted.

Ibercaja (account number): 2085 2310 3803 3004 4193
IBAN: ES44 2085 2310 3803 3004 4193
BIC: CAZRES2Z

Remember that your registration is complete only after the payment is made.

* Please, pay after your application has been accepted.
* Please, send a confirmation by e-mail to info@benasque.org.
* Please pay all bank charges
* Include as a subject in the transfer '2025vacuum Your_Surname'
* In the comments section include:
      Full name of the conference and your name.

Pay by credit card

Credit card online payments here.

* You have to be registered.
* Please, pay after your application has been accepted.

*Cancellation Policy*
A 30 euro charge will be applied for cancellations made up to 10 days before the conference start date.
A no refund policy will be applied to cancellations made after this date.

Bus transportation

The center provides free buses:
From Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 686, Metro: L3 Palau Reial at 15:00h (Note that the bus stops opposite University of Barcelona, Facultat de Física i Química)

From Barcelona airport ('El Prat', Terminal T2A: on leaving exit, turn left and you will find a police building called 'Mossos d'Esquadra'.
Cross the road using the zebra crossing and turn left. The bus will stop there) at 15:30h.

Return buses:
From Benasque to Barcelona airport and then university, departure at 9:00h.
The trip by bus to Barcelona takes 4-5h. approximately. The trip by car only takes 3h 30m.

Bus trajectories and dates:
- Barcelona-Benasque, Sep 07.
- Benasque-Barcelona, Sep 13.

Registration & accommodation

Application deadline is Jun 20

Further Information.

  • List of participants.
  • Scientific program.
  • Pictures