Summary of Proposal

Host institution name

The University of Tokyo

Head of host institution

Hiroshi Komiyama,（President, The University of Tokyo）

Center Director

Hitoshi Murayama

Administrative director

Kenzo Nakamura

Title of center project

Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe

Center nameInstitute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe

This center aims at establishing a multi-disciplinary research institutewith the unifying goal of understanding the universe from the synergistic
perspectives of physics, cosmology and mathematics. The Institute willbring many of the world’s leading theoretical physicists andmathematicians together to develop new formulations of thefundamental laws of nature, a crucial step toward solving the mysteriesof the universe.

Project Summary

We will study dark energy, dark matter, neutrinos, and physics beyond
the Standard Model of elementary particles and will follow these closely
related research threads toward a deeper and more comprehensive
view of the cosmos. The Institute will utilize state-of-the-art facilities(Super-Kamiokande, KamLAND, Subaru telescope, and LHC
accelerator) and will produce an unprecedented volume of precisiondata. We will invent new mathematical tools to analyze the data anddevelop new strategies for future experiments.
This center is a unique research institute in the world on the forefront ofphysics, cosmology and mathematics. It will attract highly motivatedyoung researchers, as well as established leading scientists fromaround the world and will greatly strengthen the foundation ofmathematical and physical sciences in Japan.
Physics and Mathematics

Research fields

Science’s fundamental and historic search for the fundamental laws of
Nature is built on the invention of new mathematics, and it has inspired
many important developments in the field. Approximately 40% of Field
Medalists in mathematics since 1990 have worked in areas closely
related to quantum field theory or string theory. No other area of sciencehas had such a great impact on mathematics in the past few decades,
and the rate of progress in this area suggests that this trend will only
accelerate in the future. Japan has long been strong in both physics andmathematics. The Institute will bring the world’s leading physicists andmathematicians together, build a unified community, redefine theboundaries between them, and help nurture future generations ofmathematical scientists.
The Insititue will also support and take advantage of superb
experimental programs. Japan continues to lead the world in the field ofunderground physics including dark matter searches and the study ofneutrinos by capitalizing on two major underground detectors(Super-Kamiokande and KamLAND). A new instrument that enables awide-field, deep-sky survey of galaxies is being built for Japan’s largest
telescope, Subaru, which has a unique technical capability for suchprojects. The world highest energy accelerator LHC, to which Japan has
made significant contributions for construction, will become operationalby the end of this year, and the data on high energy collisions that mimic
those which occurred during the Big Bang, the birth of the Universe, will
be available to us.
Thus, the Institute will be a globally unique research center that spans
pure mathematics, theoretical physics, experimental physics,astronomy, and applied mathematics. Frontier research projects in eachfield will motivate efforts in the others in a way not possible within theusual structure of academic institutions.
We will address a set of basic and deep questions about the universe,
its fundamental laws, its beginning, its fate and its mysterious
components, especially Dark Matter and Dark Energy. For this purpose,
we will create the new mathematics needed for a unified description of
the universe. This mathematical foundation will allow the formulation of
new physical theories with well-defined and testable predictions.
Technological innovations will follow to make new experiments possible;
the resulting data streams will stimulate further developments inmathematics.

Research objectives

The ambitious ten-year goals of the Institute’s activities are as follows:• Using new data from underground (neutrino) and accelerator(high energy particle) experiments, we aim to unveil the nature ofdark matter and develop a new paradigm in particle physics,
based on a unified physical theory and founded upon newmathematical tools and insights.
• The vast data volumes produced by next-generation galaxy
surveys will motivate applied mathematicians and statisticians todevelop the novel methods needed to extract subtle signals andmaximal information, thus uncovering any unanticipatedbehavior of the universe’s mysterious Dark Energy component.
• We will enumerate and classify solutions of string theory that willlead to the development of new types of geometries.
• Mathematical developments in integrable systems will allow
string theorists to find new classes of solutions which determine
the dynamical behavior of Dark Energy.
Taken together these goals will produce revolutionary and unifying
advances in physics, mathematics and cosmology.
The Institute Directorate consisting of the Director, Deputy Directors andAdministrative Director will have direct access to the Office of thePresident, will be able to consult with the President and his staff
members and will thus share their management resources. Thanks tothis arrangement, we envision our administrative organization to be
streamlined, yet very effective. More than 50% of the staff members will
be bilingual.

Aside from the appointment of the Director and approval of PI
Outline of management selections, the Director will have the authority to make nearly all
decisions on the Institute’s composition, organization and operation.
The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) to the Director consists of four
to five PIs of his choice. It will advise the Director on planning and hiring
staff members, as well as scientific directions, but the Director is solely
responsible for the final decisions. The PIs will have great autonomy in
the research they conduct and will be encouraged to fund their researchthrough competitive grants. They can make proposals to the Director tohire postdocs and term professors. The Director’s approval of suchappointments will reflect the scientific vision and priorities set by the（Host institution：

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Title of Center Project：）Director, advised by the SAC.
An External Advisory Board (EAB) will review the Institute’s activities
annually and advise the Director on the effectiveness of its operational
priorities and research activities with respect to the proposed science
goals summarized above. At least half of the EAB’s members will bescientists from outside the University of Tokyo.
Initially the Institute will have 20 Principal Investigators and 3 administrative
staff members. By March, 2011, the Institute will have grown to 22 PI’s, 173
other researchers, 20 research support staff members and 10administrative staff, totaling 225 core members of the Institute. The initial listof PI’s is: H.Murayama, Y.Suzuki, T.Kajita, M.Nakahata, M.Fukugita, H.
Aihara, K. Sato, K. Nomoto, T. Yanagida, M. Jimbo, T. Kohno, M.
Researchers and otherSugiyama, A. Tsuchiya, K.Inoue, H. Ooguri, K.Saito, M.Nojiri, D.Spergel.
center staffs
S.Katsanevas, H.Sobel. A satellite activity center will be established atKamioka. Department of Astrophysical Sciences of Princeton University,
Department of Physics of University of California Berkeley, IHES in France,
the Physics Department and the YITP at Kyoto University, NAOJ, KEK, andTohoku University Research Center for Neutrino Science will becollaborating institutions.
The Director has extensive experience leading research groups atBerkeley and the Institute for Advanced Study and via service on
numerous scientific-policy making committees in the US and Japan. The
agreements with the University and the funds secured by the Director
will enable Institute researchers to focus on their research and on
scientific interactions with each other. The new Institute building, with a
Outline of researchlarge open area and amenities, will provide an attractive and stimulating
environment
environment for scientists from around the world. International
conferences and workshops held at the Institute will bring visitors tofurther stimulate the intellectual activities and to keep the Institute at theforefront of global science. The Institute will adopt a merit-based
compensation system with salaries based on individual performance
criteria.
The number of refereed journal papers by Institute authors and theircitation impact, plus the number of presentations the researchers deliver
Outline of indicators for at major international conferences will be monitored. The number of
evaluating a center’s visitors, and the number of foreign scientists among them, are otherglobal standing
objective indicators of the Institute’s contributions and visibility. We plan
to monitor the number of publications co-authored by mathematicians
and physicists as a measure of the synergy between the two disciplines.
The initial Institute PIs received a total of approximately $57M incompetitive funding during the last five years, and they have already
Securing research
secured approximately the same amount for the future. We are,funding
therefore, confident that they can maintain a similar funding profile in theera of this new Institute.
A world-class center of excellence for international research aligns
with the University's medium-term objectives and plan extremely well;hence the Institute will be the most important and visible organizational
unit and endeavor reporting to the President. It will thus receive
university-wide support under the specified achievement targets. Top
Summary of hostinstitution’s commitment priority will be given to financing and appropriating land for the Institute’s
new research building. Until the new research building is constructed at
the Kashiwa Campus, rooms and other space in the Kashiwa General
Research Building will be provided for activities of the Institute on apriority basis.

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