A Collège de France - CNED coproduction
Abstract
The opening lecture focuses on one of the greatest challenges facing theoretical physics today: unifying our understanding of the infinitely large (the entire Universe) and the infinitely small (the physics of elementary particles). Einstein's theory of general relativity is our preferred tool for describing gravitation and the evolution of the Universe, while the Standard Model provides a highly detailed description of elementary particles and their interactions according to the laws of quantum mechanics and special relativity. Unfortunately, the principles of general relativity and those of quantum mechanics are not compatible, which prevents us from tackling several cosmological enigmas, particularly those concerning the primordial Universe. Yet, since the 1960s, we have known of a good candidate for unifying these two pillars of physics of the last century : string theory. Its often surprising properties hold out great hope of resolving, in the medium term, the fundamental problems that exist in particle physics, quantum gravitation and, above all, cosmology.
