Hitoshi Murayama plenary: Studying the Birth and the Fate of the Universe Using Multi-Object Spectroscopy

The understanding of the universe has been through a tremendous revolution. The composition is more than 95% unknown, comprised of mysterious dark matter and dark energy. The dark matter is crucial for us to understand how the stars and galaxies were born, and detailed properties of galaxies and clusters of galaxies today. The dark energy, on the other hand, is ripping the Universe apart and holds the key to the fate of the Universe.

In this plenary session on studying the birth and the fate of the universe using multi-object spectroscopy, Hitoshi Murayama of University of California Berkeley and University of Tokyo, likens the quest to understand the universe as looking to get to know "our mom," from whom we were split at birth. In gaining understanding of cosmic expansion, Murayama explores questions such as, whether dark matter makes stars and galaxies, the nature of dark matter, and the relationship between dark matter and dark energy.

Detailed multi-object spectroscopy is crucial to address both aspects. Murayama introduces the Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) being built for the Subaru telescope as a tool for these investigations. PFS is an international collaboration of institutions in Japan, Brazil, France, Germany, Taiwan, and the US.

Hitoshi Murayama is professor of physics at University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, University of Tokyo. Murayama is a particle theorist with keen interest in astrophysics and cosmology, in particular dark matter, dark energy, baryon asymmetry, and inflation.