Speaker: Xinmin Zhang, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Time: October 13, 2026, Tuesday, 10:30 AM
Location: Lecture Hall 9409

Abstract:
    Dark energy and primordial gravitational-waves are two major frontiers in modern physics and astronomy. The natureof dark energy determines the fate of the Universe. Recent observations from DESI and DES support dynamical darknergy, whose cquation-of- state crosses the boundary of (w--1) during cosmic cvolution, in good agreement witloredictions of the Quintom thcory.Primordial gravitational-wave detection serves as a critical cxperiment to testcosmic inflation theory and probe the origin of the Universe. As the northern-hemisphere's sole highaltitudeobscrvatory for primordial gravitational-wave dctection, the AliCPT is Iocatcd in thc Ali rcgion, Tibet, with an altitudf 5250 meters. After more than ten years of efforts, AliCPT-1 was completed and achieved its first-light in early 2025This talk will present the current status of dark-energy study, review the historical development of the Quintom theoryand introduce the current status and future plans of AliCPT.

Speaker Profile:
    Xinmin Zhang is a Professor of the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
He is the Principal Investigator of the Ali CMB Polarization Telescope (AliCPT) project, and Spokesperson of the AliCPT International Collaboration. He obtained his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1991. He returned to China in 1996 and has been working in the Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS ever since. He was selected for the CAS Hundred-Talents Program in 1997 and awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 1999. He proposed the Quintom dark-energy theory in 2004 and put forward the AIiprimordial gravitational-wave detection project in 2014.