"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)   

Archive (2007 Program)

Archive (2006 Program)

Archive (2005 Program)

Archive (2004 Program)

Archive (2003 Program)

Archive (2002 Program)

Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Email: pitp@ias.edu