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"Strings
and Phenomenology"
July 14 - July 25, 2008
2008 Program
Prospects
in Theoretical
Physics 2008
(PiTP 2008) was designed for string theorists who wanted to learn about
issues of compactification relevant to phenomenology and cosmology, and
for phenomenologists who wanted to learn about strings and their
applications to phenomenology. The topics in strings and
phenomenology were chosen so as to make the maximum contact between
the two fields, and the lecture series was as self-contained as
possible. All participants needed to be very familiar with
QFT
and the Standard Model, and have some background in string theory.
To assist the students in preparing for the school, a list of
reading materials was made available on this website several weeks
before the start of the program. PiTP 2008 was organized more
like a workshop than a school, and active student participation was
expected. The format consisted of two 90-minute lectures in
the
morning
and two homework/discussion sessions in the afternoon.
PiTP 2008 was scheduled to precede the International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP 2008), which took place in Philadelphia July 29 - August 5, 2008.
Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who were
attending
ICHEP 2008 were encouraged to apply to PiTP 2008. Participants who were
registered for ICHEP 2008 were offered the chance to remain in the Institute
for Advanced Study's apartments until Tuesday, July 29, 2008, instead of being required
to vacate the apartments at the end of the PiTP 2008 program.
Organizers and lecturers for PiTP 2008 included: Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study), Luis E. Ibáñez (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Shamit Kachru (Stanford University), Chiara Nappi
(Princeton University), Hans-Peter Nilles (Physikalisches Institut der Universität Bonn), Stuart Raby (The Ohio State University), John Schwarz
(California Institute of Technology), Herman
Verlinde (Princeton University), and Edward Witten
(Institute for Advanced Study).
Background on PiTP
Prospects in Theoretical
Physics is an intensive two-week summer program designed for graduate
students and postdoctoral scholars considering a career in theoretical
physics. First held by the School of Natural Sciences at the
Institute for Advanced Study in the summer of 2002, the PiTP program is
designed to provide lecture courses and informal sessions on the latest
advances and open questions in various areas of theoretical physics.
One of the goals of the
program is to help the physics community train the next generation of
scholars in theoretical physics. A special effort is made to
reach out to women and minorities, as well as to 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.
Prospects in Theoretical
Physics builds on the strong relationship of the research groups at the
Institute and Princeton University, and many faculty members from the
physics departments at both institutions are actively involved in the
program together with scientists from neighboring
institutions.
Additional Program History: 2002 - 2007
The
pilot program in the
summer of 2002 was an introduction to string theory tailored to
graduate students entering the field, where much attention was paid
also to particle phenomenology and cosmology. PiTP 2003 was
devoted to the problems and techniques at the interface of particle
physics and cosmology. PiTP 2004 was a program for advanced
graduate students in string theory, while PiTP 2005 was designed to
provide an introduction to collider physics. The
2006 Program - "Applications of String Theory" - covered recent
advances in string theory that have found applications to gauge
theories, integrable models, cosmology and mathematics. The PiTP
2007 Program - "The Standard Model and Beyond" - was held July 16-27,
2007 and focused on particle physics phenomenology with special
emphasis on model building.
For further information about the PiTP program,
please contact Susan Higgins, (609) 734-8198; e-mail: shiggins@ias.edu
2008 Videos of Selected Lectures
2008 Program Photos 2008 Suggested Pre-Reading List 2008 Program Schedule 2008 General Participant Information Hints for those Applying for U.S. Visa 2008 Application Form (no longer available on this web site)
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