On the morning of December 15, 2025, the 7th IOPP Colloquium was successfully held in Room 9409 in the Institute of Particle Physics (IOPP) of Central China Normal University. Professor Hong-Jian HE, a Distinguished Professor at the T. D. Lee Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Adjunct Professor at Tsinghua University, delivered an inspiring talk titled “Origin of Mass and Scattering Amplitudes: from Higgs to Pauli, Kaluza–Klein, and Chern–Simons”.

Professor HE began his talk with the profound puzzle of the origin of mass, systematically elaborating on the four-dimensional Higgs mechanism within the Standard Model. He placed special emphasis on the mass generation of light neutrinos—first proposed by Pauli—and highlighted the significance of right-handed neutrinos as the “last missing piece” of the Standard Model. He also discussed their non-Gaussian signatures from cosmic inflation. Furthermore, Professor HE explored geometric mass generation in Kaluza–Klein gauge/gravity and string theories, as well as topological mass generation in three-dimensional Chern–Simons gauge/gravity theories. A key insight he shared was the relation “Gravity = (Gauge Theory)²”, which offers fundamental clues to the deep connection and potential unification of gauge and gravity theories.

During the discussion session, Professor HE engaged in in-depth exchanges with students on several cutting-edge topics, including the connection between neutrino mass generation and cosmological observations, the construction of effective field theories for higher-dimensional models at low energies, and applications of topological field theories in condensed matter physics. Many students remarked that Professor HE’s broad perspective—bridging concepts “from Higgs to Chern–Simons”—not only broadened their understanding of fundamental physics, but also inspired them to apply methods from higher-dimensional geometry and quantum field theory in their own research.

The IOPP Colloquium is a series of academic events organized by the Institute of Particle Physics, designed to provide informative and inspiring talks for faculty and students, thereby fostering a dynamic research environment and encouraging collaborative studies. This talk showcased the interdisciplinary integration of particle physics, quantum gravity, and cosmology. With its profound content and unique insights, the colloquium offered a valuable learning experience for all participants and highlighted IOPP’s commitment to “international vision and interdisciplinary innovation.”

Professor Xin-nian Wang, Director of C3NT and IOPP, presented Professor Hong-Jian He
with the 7th IOPP Colloquium Commemorative plaque

Professor Hong-Jian HE is an elected APS Fellow, a distinguished professor at T. D. Lee Institute of SJTU and adjunct professor at Tsinghua University. He studies particle physics, quantum gravity, cosmology and their interface. He was awarded the Asia Achievement Award (Robert T, Poe Prize), Gan-Chang Wang Physics Prize, China Youth Science and Technology Prize, and Outstanding Junior Research Grant Award. Professor HE worked at DESY National Laboratory (Germany), University of Texas at Austin (USA), Michigan State University (USA ), and Tsinghua University, He is currently on the editorial boards of international journals including Physics of the Dark Universe (Elsevier), Nuclear Physics B (Elsevier), and Research (Beijing).

Group Photo of the 7th IOPP Colloquium

Correspondent: Xiangyu Shui
Proof-reader: Xinqiang Li