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Indiana University Bloomington

About the IUCSS

The IUCSS is a Center in the Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences. Faculty members of the IUCSS have been drawn from the Physics Department, the Astronomy Department, the Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine, and the Mathematics Department at IU Bloomington, and the Physics Department and Mathematics Department at IU Indianapolis (formerly IUPUI). Officially inaugurated at the CPT'10 meeting in July 2010, the IUCSS aims to promote and catalyze scientific progress in theoretical and experimental studies of spacetime symmetries.

Spacetime and its symmetries are central ideas in gravity and particle theories. The study of spacetime symmetries and their possible violation therefore offers opportunities to explore foundational aspects of nature. For example, Einstein's theories of special and general relativity are based on spacetime symmetries. IUCSS researchers have proposed that tiny relativity violations might arise from a fundamental theory unifying gravity and quantum physics, and many sensitive searches for these effects are underway.