Prospects in Theoretical Physics 2025

Announcements and Reminders
(announcements are also located on the board in Wolfensohn Lobby)

• Information regarding weekend activities, public transportation, local restaurants and grocery stores is available on the sidebar under "General Information"
   
• Posters from Session 1 are now located in Bloomberg Hall to view at your convenience. A directory of where the posters are hung is posted on the sidebar.
   
• For those who presented posters this week, please remove your posters from Bloomberg Hall by Friday evening (July 18th). If you left a poster carrier, please pick it up at the information desk in the Wolfensohn Hall lobby.
   
• Please check the Wolfensohn Hall lobby bulletin board or see the link in the sidebar for your assigned date/group for the archival presentation and display
   
• The link to the lecture recordings is now available in the sidebar
   
• Afternoon tea for all PiTP participants is being held in Rubenstein Commons in the same location as the morning coffee break (not in Fuld Hall.)  Thank you!
   
• The daily lunch menu is available here: https://www.ias.edu/dining/lunch.  Lunch includes a drink, choice of main meal, and a dessert.  (Any dietary restrictions can be discussed with the chef).  Note that lunch begins at 1:00pm in Simons Hall.  The servery line closes at 1:30pm promptly!
   
• Past PiTP 2025 Announcements and Reminders
   

Program Description

PiTP is an intensive two-week summer program designed for advanced graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. The program will be held from July 14-25, 2025 at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ. The school will explore the field of gravitational wave physics and astrophysics, bridging the gap between theory and observation. Gravitational waves offer a unique window into the Universe, allowing us to probe extreme astrophysical environments and primordial cosmological epochs. Gravitational waves also allow for powerful tests of general relativity in the strong field regime.

Over the last decade, the direct detection of gravitational waves has opened up new avenues of research, driving rapid advancements in theoretical modeling, observational techniques, and data analysis. The school will provide a comprehensive overview of the field's current state, covering key theoretical tools, the latest developments in modeling gravitational wave sources, and state-of-the-art methods in data analysis. These tools are essential for extracting physical insights from current observations and will be a critical foundation for interpreting data from more sensitive upcoming detectors.

PiTP Program Details

The APPLICATION deadline is Saturday, March 1, 2025 at 11:59 pm (Eastern Standard Time). If you have not received your PhD, one letter of recommendation from your thesis advisor is required and should be uploaded with the application or with this reference form.

For housing, travel, and other administrative PiTP information please see the FAQ page. 

Topics will include:

Waveform models, Numerical Relativity, Gravitational Wave Searches, Parameter Estimation, Pulsar Timing Arrays, Astrophysics of Gravitational Wave Sources and interpretation of current observational data.

 Preliminary Program Lecturers

• Bruce Allen (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics)
• Adam Burrows (Princeton University)
• Neil Cornish (Montana State University)
• Maya Fishbach (University of Toronto)
• Jenny Greene (Princeton University)
• Luis Lehner (Perimeter Institute)
• Chiara Mingarelli (Yale University)
• Tejaswi Venumadhav Nerella (University of California, Santa Barbara)
• Patricia Schmidt (University of Birmingham)
• Barak Zackay (Weizmann Institute)
• Matias Zaldarriaga (Institute for Advanced Study)

Organizing Committee

Maya Fishbach (Toronto); Tejaswi Venumadhav Nerella (UCSB); Frans Pretorius (Princeton); Barak Zackay (Weizmann); Matias Zaldarriaga (IAS)

If you have questions regarding the PiTP program, please send an email to: pitp@ias.edu.