National Taiwan University (NTU) has announced that professor Chen Pi-sin (陳丕燊) has been named a Blaise Pascal Chair for his research into simulated black holes.
Chen, who is director of the Leung Center for Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics at the university, said the chair would enable him to continue his research into black holes.
He has over the past year worked with Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Gerard Mouru on an experiment both had proposed in the paper “Accelerating Plasma Mirrors to Investigate the Black Hole Information Loss Paradox,” published by Physical Review Letters in January last year.
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University
The two are exploring what is known to as the black hole information paradox, namely whether physical information would continue to exist when it is devoured by a black hole.
The premise of the experiment hypothesized that Albert Einstein’s theories of general and special relativity could be paradoxical with quantum mechanics, Chen said.
“With the use of lasers, plasma targets with density gradients and relativistic plasma mirrors, we have created an environment analogous to the late-time evolution of black hole Hawking radiation,” Chen said.
Chen is to be invited to conduct further experiments at Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, where he would have access to the Laboratoire pour l’Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, the university said.
The Blaise Pascal Chair, named after one of the first two inventors of the mechanical calculator, was conceived in 1996 by the government of the Ile de France region, which surrounds Paris, to invite prestigious academics to visit and study.
The laureate of the Blaise Pascal Chair is considered an extremely prestigious position.
Of more than 90 chair recipients over the years, five have been Nobel Prize winners.
Nominees are chosen every year by a scientific committee from outstanding scientists around the world in a wide range of disciplines.
Additional reporting by CNA
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
RSS