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Overview

Since 2004, the Centre de Physique Théorique (CPT) has been a joint research unit of the CNRS. It is a multi-institution UMR jointly operated by CNRS – Aix-Marseille University – University of Toulon.

With more than fifty permanent researchers organized into 8 teams and 3 research groups, the CPT is the largest French theoretical physics laboratory in terms of size. The research activities carried out there cover a broad range of topics in physics and mathematical physics, from the study of fundamental interactions and their mathematical structures, to the study of complexity in various physical contexts, from statistical physics or condensed matter to classical or quantum dynamical systems and their applications, including to biological systems.

Around thirty PhD students are trained in the laboratory, which also hosts several postdoctoral researchers. The CPT has developed scientific collaborations with several laboratories of Aix-Marseille University and with numerous research laboratories and institutes in France and abroad.

Brief history of the CPT

The history of the laboratory dates back to the early 1960s, when a theoretical group was founded on the Saint-Charles campus in the center of Marseille (University of Provence). A few years later, this group moved to the Joseph-Aiguier campus, now the headquarters of the CNRS Provence and Corsica Regional Delegation, and became a CNRS Research Unit (UPR 7061), before moving in 1978 to its current location on the Luminy campus.

In 2012, the three former universities of Marseille—University of Provence (U1), University of the Mediterranean (U2), and Paul Cézanne University (U3)—merged to form a single institution: Aix-Marseille University. The CPT is therefore now a Joint Research Unit affiliated with two universities (AMU and UTLN) as well as the CNRS, under the designation UMR 7332.

In the past, three members of the laboratory (including two former directors of the CPT) became deans of the Faculty of Science at Luminy. One of them is currently Vice-President of the Scientific Council of Aix-Marseille University.
Members of the laboratory also played a role in the creation of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Toulon and of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics (UMR 5152) in Toulouse.

Research themes

Although initially focused on mathematical physics (quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, operator algebras, differential geometry, etc.), the CPT quickly developed research activities oriented toward fundamental questions in particle physics and, somewhat later, in nanophysics and cosmology. Through a similar process, expertise acquired in the study of dynamical systems has found new applications in other areas such as the control of chaos in various physical systems, including fusion plasmas, as well as in biology and immunology. More recently, activities in statistical physics have turned toward the study of complex networks, which offer many possibilities for interdisciplinary applications (in epidemiology, but also, for example, in the social sciences).

A multi-site laboratory

The CPT is distributed across two sites: Marseille and Toulon. The main site is located on the Luminy campus in the south of Marseille (one of the three scientific campuses of Aix-Marseille University, the other two being the Saint-Charles and Saint-Jérôme campuses), close to the Calanques National Park. The secondary site on the La Garde campus brings together CPT faculty members within the University of Toulon.

Affiliations and partnerships

Federation of Mathematics Research Units of Marseille
In collaboration with the Marseille Mathematics Laboratory (I2M), the CPT is a founding member of the Federation of Mathematics Research Units of Marseille (FRUMAM, FR2281), created in 2002 by the CNRS and the three (former) Aix-Marseille universities, later joined by the University of Toulon, and whose former director is a member of the CPT.

National Research Federation for Magnetic Confinement Fusion
The laboratory is also a founding member of the National Research Federation for Magnetic Confinement Fusion (FRFCM ITER), created in 2005 by the CNRS, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), and six other institutions, in connection with the installation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Cadarache, about 50 km north of Marseille. In addition, since 2006, the CPT has been a “Contractual Research Laboratory” (LRC) with the CEA in Cadarache, and maintains a collaboration with members of the Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research (IRFM) within the framework of a scientific project funded by the EURATOM organization since 2003 and by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

Laboratories of Excellence: LABEX OCEVU and LABEX ARCHIMEDE
Since 2012, national “Investments for the Future” funding programs have been developed and several universities of excellence have been selected to benefit from them. As a result, new funding structures have been created within Aix-Marseille University, significantly impacting the research landscape, including at the CPT. These structures, known as “Laboratories of Excellence” (LABEX), number ten within AMU and are managed by the AMIDEX excellence initiative. The CPT participates in two of these LABEX: LABEX OCEVU and LABEX ARCHIMEDE.

The LABEX OCEVU offers, in southern France (Marseille–Montpellier–Toulouse axis), a structured, collaborative and interdisciplinary environment for research aimed at understanding the physics of the universe, its origins, evolution, and composition. The collaborations involve six CNRS joint research units:

  • CPPM (Centre for Particle Physics of Marseille, UMR6550)
  • CPT (Centre de Physique Théorique, UMR7332)
  • LAM (Laboratory of Astrophysics of Marseille, UMR6110)
  • L2C (Charles Coulomb Laboratory, UMR5221) in Montpellier
  • LUPM (University Laboratory of Particles of Montpellier, UMR5299)
  • IRAP (Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology, UMR5277) in Toulouse.

LABEX OCEVU funds both experimental and theoretical projects. The CPT has thus benefited from doctoral fellowships and postdoctoral contracts, as well as funding to host visitors and carry out collaborative projects. Since its creation, it has been the origin of numerous collaborations between laboratories in the Marseille region and those in Montpellier and Toulouse. LABEX OCEVU is strongly involved in several thematic areas, particularly research and especially the understanding of the universe (interdisciplinary approach), training, science outreach, and technology transfer.

The LABEX ARCHIMEDE, for its part, focuses on pure and applied mathematics as well as computer science. The main objectives of LABEX ARCHIMEDE are:

  • Strengthening multidisciplinary collaborations between research units at Aix-Marseille University,
  • Promoting international partnerships,
  • Improving the relationship between research and teaching at the university level.

It is composed of four CNRS research units bringing together scientists from Aix-Marseille University with an international reputation in mathematics and computer science, as well as an international conference center that organizes workshops throughout the year:

  • Centre de Physique Théorique (CPT, UMR 7332)
  • Institut de Mathématiques de Marseille (I2M, UMR 7373)
  • Laboratoire d’Informatique Fondamentale de Marseille (LIF, UMR 7279)
  • Laboratoire des Sciences de l’Information et des Systèmes (LSIS, UMR 7296)
  • Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques (CIRM, UMS 822)

CENTURI Convergence Institute
CENTURI (the Turing Center for the Study of Living Systems) brings together a growing community of biologists, physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers. Numerous research institutes are involved in this project, which also includes a significant educational component. Interdisciplinarity lies at the heart of CENTURI, both for research and for teaching and technology. The research projects developed within CENTURI address the nature of the information underlying biological processes and the organization and dynamics of biological structures.