Frontiers of Physics in Cosmology to be Examined in Summer Program at Institute for Advanced Study

Participants in the 2010 Prospects in Theoritical Physics program Photo by Randall Hagadorn

Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from around the world will gather at the Institute for Advanced Study from July 18 to 29 to participate in Prospects in Theoretical Physics (PiTP), an intensive two-week summer program that will focus on the Frontiers of Physics in Cosmology. Cosmology has undergone a revolution, thanks both to advances in observational and experimental techniques as well as progress in the models used to describe the evolution of our Universe. New results have led to new puzzles. The program will focus on the role of cosmology as a source of information about physics at very high energies.

This year’s program, which has accepted more than 100 participants from some 12 countries, is intended for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars interested in the interphase between fundamental physics and cosmology. It will cover topics ranging from the early Universe cosmology to the late-time acceleration of the cosmic expansion. In addition to lectures, it will include problem sessions where participants will work through some of the basic calculations underlying the understanding of the field.

One of the goals of PiTP is to contribute to the training of the next generation of physicists. A special effort is made to involve women and minorities, along with graduate students in small universities who typically do not have the same opportunities and access to leaders in the field as graduate students in large research institutions.

“In attendance this year will be students from a wide range of backgrounds ranging from the more observational to the theoretically minded,” said Matias Zaldarriaga, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute, one of the organizers. “The program will provide them with a unique opportunity to view the field from a very wide perspective, something that is becoming increasingly important as observations begin to probe the finer details of our theories.”

First held at the Institute in 2002, PiTP has, in past years, covered topics ranging from physics at the Large Hadron Collider to supersymmetry and phenomenology. The program builds upon the strong relationship between the research groups at the Institute and Princeton University.

Lecturers and organizers from the Institute for PiTP 2011 include Institute Faculty members Nima Arkani-Hamed, Juan Maldacena and Matias Zaldarriaga. Other lecturers and organizers are William Jones, David Spergel and Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University; Raphael Bousso of the University of California, Berkeley; Paolo Creminelli of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics; Eva Silverstein and Leonard Susskind of Stanford University and Neil Turok of the Perimeter Institute.

Prospects in Theoretical Physics 2011 is a program of the Institute’s School of Natural Sciences. Additional information on the program may be found at www.ias.edu/pitp.