Ruth Durrer Explained

Ruth Durrer
Birth Place:Kerns
Fields:Astroparticle physics
Workplaces:University of Zürich
University of Geneva
University of Cambridge
Princeton University
Alma Mater:University of Zürich
Thesis Title:Gauge-Invariant Cosmological Perturbation Theory
Thesis Url:https://uzb.swisscovery.slsp.ch/permalink/41SLSP_UZB/18ib5b3/alma990004978440205508
Thesis Year:1988
Doctoral Advisor:Norbert Straumann

Ruth Durrer (born 1958) is a professor of Cosmology at the University of Geneva. She works on the cosmic microwave background, brane cosmology and massive gravity.

Early life and education

Durrer was born in Kerns. She earned her high school diploma at Kantonales Lehrerseminar, and studied at the University of Zürich. She completed her PhD on perturbation theory with Norbert Straumann at the University of Zürich in 1988.[1] [2] She was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge for a year, before joining Princeton University in 1989.[3] Durrer returned to Zürich in 1991, completing a postdoctoral fellowship.

Research and career

Durrer was made an assistant professor at the University of Zürich in 1992, and full professor at the University of Geneva in 1995. [4] She is a member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.[5] She works on the cosmic microwave background and massive gravity.[6] [7] [8] Massive gravity describes an expanding universe with massive gravitons, which weakens gravity on large scales.[9] Durrer uses cosmological observations as a test for general relativity.[10]

Durrer has contributed extensively to the theoretical understanding of topological defects. She showed that cosmic textures can suppress the acoustic peaks of the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background.[11] This results confirm that cosmic textures are not responsible for the distribution of matter in the observed universe. She worked with Neil Turok to demonstrate it is possible to use terrestrial lab-based experiments to test cosmological phase transitions in the early universe.[12] These include using liquid crystals to study the scaling solutions of string networks. She has also demonstrated that density fluctuations in the early universe can result in the cosmological magnetic fields.[13] [14] [15] She showed that the scaling properties of these primordial magnetic fields can be determined by causality arguments alone.[16]

Durrer studied an extended area of space, separating it into 60 billion zones and using the c++ library LATfield2 with a supercomputer to study the movement of individual particles.[17] She used Einstein's equations to calculate the distance in metric space, comparing this with the prediction of Newton's methods. She has investigated dark energy.[18]

Durrer was elected to Academia Net by the Swiss National Science Foundation in 2012.[19] She is a member of the committee of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics International Society on General Relative and Gravitation.[20] She has held visiting academic positions at University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, University of Paris-Sud and Galileo Galilei Institute.

Books

Awards and honours

Her awards and honours include;

Personal life

Durrer is married with three children.She speaks German, English, French, and Swiss German.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ruth Durrer Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics - University of Geneva. cosmology.unige.ch. en. 2019-04-28.
  2. Web site: Ruth Durrer - The Mathematics Genealogy Project. www.genealogy.ams.org. 2019-04-29.
  3. Web site: Ruth Durrer. Institute for Advanced Study. en. 2019-04-28.
  4. Web site: Ruth's Homepage. fiteoweb.unige.ch. 2019-04-28.
  5. Web site: Ruth Durrer Perimeter Institute. perimeterinstitute.ca. 2019-04-28.
  6. Book: Durrer, Ruth.. The cosmic microwave background. 2008. Cambridge University Press. 9780511424069. Cambridge, UK. 297170401.
  7. Web site: Ruth Durrer SwissMAP. www.nccr-swissmap.ch. 2019-04-28.
  8. Web site: Cosmology and the cosmic microwave background Cours de physique théorique. courses.ipht.cnrs.fr. 2019-04-28. Institut de physique théorique - IPhT Saclay.
  9. Web site: Ruth Durrer. www.colloquium.phys.ethz.ch. en. 2019-04-28.
  10. Web site: Testing General Relativity with Cosmological observations - Ruth Durrer. Media Hopper Create - The University of Edinburgh Media Platform. en. 2019-04-28.
  11. Durrer. Ruth. Gangui. Alejandro. Sakellariadou. Mairi. 1996-01-22. Doppler Peaks in the Angular Power Spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background: A Fingerprint of Topological Defects. Physical Review Letters. 76. 4. 579–582. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.579. 10061495. astro-ph/9507035. 1996PhRvL..76..579D. 16031907.
  12. Yurke. Bernard. Turok. Neil. Durrer. Ruth. Chuang. Isaac. 1991-03-15. Cosmology in the Laboratory: Defect Dynamics in Liquid Crystals. Science. en. 251. 4999. 1336–1342. 10.1126/science.251.4999.1336. 0036-8075. 17816188. 1991Sci...251.1336C. 33894124.
  13. Durrer. Ruth. 2006-02-10. Is the Mystery of Cosmic Magnetic Fields Solved?. Science. en. 311. 5762. 787–788. 10.1126/science.1122395. 0036-8075. 16469908. 1522770.
  14. Web site: North of the Big Bang. www.newscientist.com. 2019-04-28.
  15. Web site: Members in the Media. www.aps.org. en. 2019-04-28.
  16. Durrer. Ruth. Caprini. Chiara. 2003-11-19. Primordial magnetic fields and causality. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. 2003. 11. 010. 10.1088/1475-7516/2003/11/010. 1475-7516. astro-ph/0305059. 2003JCAP...11..010D. 53768021.
  17. Web site: Spacetime and Gravitational Waves Yield a New View of the Universe. 2016-03-07. The Daily Galaxy. en-US. 2019-04-28.
  18. Durrer Ruth. 2011-12-28. What do we really know about dark energy?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 369. 1957. 5102–5114. 10.1098/rsta.2011.0285. 22084297. 2011RSPTA.369.5102D. free. 1103.5331.
  19. Web site: Prof. Ruth Durrer - AcademiaNet. www.academia-net.org. 2019-04-28.
  20. Web site: AC2: Members IUPAP: The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. iupap.org. 2019-04-29.
  21. Reviews of The Cosmic Microwave Background:
    • 10.1063/1.3206096 . The Cosmic Microwave Background; A Primer on the Physics of the Cosmic Microwave Background . . Slosar . Anže . 2009-08-01 . 62 . 8 . 44. 2009PhT....62h..44D .
    • 10.1007/s10714-009-0791-0 . Ruth Durrer: The cosmic microwave background . Bartelmann . Matthias . 2009 . 41 . 7 . 1671–1673 . General Relativity and Gravitation. 117069473 .
    • 10.1088/0264-9381/26/16/169002 . BOOK REVIEW: The Cosmic Microwave Background . Coles . Peter . Peter Coles . 2009 . 26 . 16 . 169002 . Classical and Quantum Gravity. 250790765 .
    • 10.1080/00107510902884410 . The Cosmic Microwave Background, by R. Durrer, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008, xii + 401 pp., £40.00 (hardback), ISBN 978 0 521 84704 9. Scope: textbook/reference text. Level: advanced. . . 50 . 5 . 604–605 . Matravers . David . 2009. free .
  22. Web site: Ruth Durrer. Institute for Advanced Study. en. 2019-04-28.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ruth Durrer".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.