Alexei Yuryevich Smirnov (; born October 16, 1951) is a

neutrino A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is an elementary particle that interacts via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass is so small ('' -ino'') that i ...

physics researcher and one of the discoverers of the MSW Effect.

Education

Alexei Smirnov graduated from

MSU Faculty of Physics The Fizfak (Faculty of Physics) of Moscow State University is one of the most esteemed faculty (division), faculties of Moscow State University, widely regarded by students as one of the toughest faculties in the university. It was established in ...

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in 1974. In 1977, he began to work at the

Institute for Nuclear Research Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INR RAS, ) is a Russian scientific research center "for further development of the experimental base and fundamental research activities in the field of atomic nucleus, elementary ...

(INR) of the

Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (u ...

, where he received his

Candidate of Sciences A Candidate of Sciences is a Doctor of Philosophy, PhD-equivalent academic research degree in all the post-Soviet countries with the exception of Ukraine, and until the 1990s it was also awarded in Central and Eastern European countries. It is ...

degree in 1979. In 1989, he received a degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical sciences. He also taught at the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University in the period from 1982 to 1990. Smirnov joined the

International Centre for Theoretical Physics The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is a research center for physical and mathematical sciences, located in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The center operates under a tripartite agreement between the Gov ...

(ICTP) in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1992 as a staff-associate while continuing his affiliation with INR (Moscow) as a leading research scientist. He became a staff member with ICTP in 1997 and where he held the position of principal research scientist. Since 2015 he is a permanent scientist and Max-Planck Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Research and achievements

The main area of Smirnov's research is neutrino physics and astrophysics. In 1984—1985, following earlier work by

Lincoln Wolfenstein Lincoln Wolfenstein (February 10, 1923 – March 27, 2015) was an American particle physics, particle physicist who studied the weak interaction. Wolfenstein was born in 1923 and obtained his PhD in 1949 from the University of Chicago. He retire ...

, Smirnov, together with Stanislav Mikheyev, uncovered effects of resonance enhancement of neutrino oscillations in matter and the adiabatic conversion in non-uniform media known now as the

Mikheyev–Smirnov–Wolfenstein effect The Mikheyev–Smirnov–Wolfenstein effect (often referred to as the ''matter effect'') is a particle physics process which modifies neutrino oscillations in matter of varying density. The MSW effect is broadly analogous to the differential retar ...

(MSW effect). Solutions to the solar neutrino problem based on the MSW effect have been proposed. The effects were also applied to supernova neutrinos and neutrinos of various origins propagating in the Earth. In the following years Smirnov and his colleagues developed a number of aspects of theory and phenomenology of neutrino conversion in various media. Currently Smirnov is working on implications of the obtained neutrino results for fundamental physics (quark-lepton complementarity, unification, etc.) as well as on future programs of studies in neutrino physics. Smirnov is a co-recipient of the 2005

Bruno Pontecorvo Prize The Bruno Pontecorvo Prize () is an award for elementary particle physics, established in 1995 by the JINR in Dubna to commemorate Bruno Pontecorvo. The prize is mainly given for neutrino physics, which was Pontecorvo's principal research field, ...

"for his prediction and study of the influence of matter on neutrino oscillations". For his lifetime achievements in physics Smirnov was named

Humboldt Humboldt may refer to: People * Alexander von Humboldt, German natural scientist, brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt * Wilhelm von Humboldt, German linguist, philosopher, and diplomat, brother of Alexander von Humboldt Fictional characters * Hu ...

Research Fellow. This is one of the

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

's most prestigious awards in science which enables outstanding scientists and scholars from abroad to spend up to six months at the Humboldt Institute to carry out research on projects of their own choosing. Alexei Smirnov and Stanislav Mikheyev were awarded the 2008

Sakurai Prize The J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, also commonly referred to as just the Sakurai Prize, is a prize awarded by the American Physical Society. It is presented annually at the Society's April meeting and honors "outstanding a ...

"for pioneering and influential work on the enhancement of neutrino oscillations in matter, which is essential to a quantitative understanding of the solar neutrino flux". Smirnov is an editor of the ''

Journal of High Energy Physics The ''Journal of High Energy Physics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering the field of high energy physics. It is published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the International School for Advanced Studie ...

'' and ''

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics The ''Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics'' is an online-only peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on all aspects of cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the ...

'' and a divisional associate editor for ''

Physical Review Letters ''Physical Review Letters'' (''PRL''), established in 1958, is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society. The journal is considered one of the most prestigious in the field of physics ...

''. He is also member of the advisory board of the journal ''Universe''. His awards and honors also include the Biedenharn endowed chair in physics (University of Texas, Austin, 2002), the award of the Japanese Society for promotion of science (2004), an

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation () is a foundation that promotes international academic cooperation between scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad. Established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, it is funded by t ...

research award (2004), and the

Erwin Schrödinger Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger ( ; ; 12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes written as or , was an Austrian-Irish theoretical physicist who developed fundamental results in quantum field theory, quantum theory. In particul ...

guest professorship (Vienna, 2007), as well as the 2016

Albert Einstein Medal The Albert Einstein Medal is an award presented by the Albert Einstein Society in Bern. First given in 1979, the award is presented to people for "scientific findings, works, or publications related to Albert Einstein" each year. Recipients ...

References

External links

Alexei Smirnov's papers in the INSPIRE database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smirnov, Alexei Yuryevich 1951 births Living people Soviet physicists 20th-century Russian physicists Neutrino physicists Moscow State University alumni Academic staff of Moscow State University Theoretical physicists Albert Einstein Medal recipients J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics recipients 21st-century Russian physicists Russian scientists

Education

Research and achievements

See also

References

External links