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"Frontiers of Physics in Cosmology"
July 18 - 29, 2011
2011 Program
Prospects
in Theoretical
Physics (PiTP) 2011 was a workshop intended for graduate
students and postdoctoral scholars interested in the interphase between
fundamental physics
and cosmology covering topics ranging from early universe cosmology to
the late time acceleration of the cosmic expansion. In addition
to lectures, it included problem sessions where
participants worked through some of the basic calculations
underlying our
understanding of the field. The Organizers for PiTP 2011 were: Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study), David Spergel (Princeton University), Paul Steinhardt (Princeton University), and Matias Zaldarriaga (Institute for Advanced Study). This year's lecturers were: Nima Arkani-Hamed, Raphael Bousso (University of California, Berkeley), Paolo Creminelli (The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics), Willam Jones (Princeton University), Juan Maldacena (Institute for Advanced Study), Eva Silverstein (Stanford University), David Spergel, Leonard Susskind (Stanford University), Tanmay Vachaspati (Arizona State University) and Matias Zaldarriaga.Lecture topics were: "Robustness of GR. Attempts to modify gravity" (Nima Arkani-Hamed - 4 lectures)
"Entropy bounds, light-sheets, and the holographic principle in cosmology" (Raphael Bousso - 3 lectures)
"The statistical properties of the primordial fluctuations" (Paolo Creminelli - 3 lectures)
"Probing the Early Universe through Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background" (William Jones - 1 lecture)
"dS/CFT" (Juan Maldacena - 3 lectures)
"Mechanisms for Inflation" (Eva Silverstein - 4 lectures)
"Tuning of parameters, order of magnitude astrophysics" (David Spergel - 2 lectures)
"Aspects of Eternal Inflation" (Leonard Susskind - 4 lectures)
"Topological defects" (Tanmay Vachaspati - 1 lecture)
"The physics of the CMB and Large Scale Structure" (Matias Zaldarriaga - 4 lectures)
Background on PiTP
Prospects in Theoretical
Physics is an intensive two-week summer program typically 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 - 2010
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 covered recent
advances in string theory that have found applications to gauge
theories, integrable models, cosmology and mathematics, and
the 2007 program - "The Standard Model and Beyond" - focused on
particle
physics phenomenology with special
emphasis on model building. In 2008 the program - entitled "Strings and
Phenomenology" - 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 2009 program focused on
"Computational Astrophysics" and was designed to assist young
researchers in honing the numerical methods they employ in their own
research and to learn about the techniques used in other areas of
computational astrophysics. Last year's 2010 program was on "Aspects of
Supersymmetry" and was designed to give a coherent overview of the
fundamental theoretical aspects of supersymmetry, emphasizing the
common themes running throughout the subject, from the major advances
made in the duality revolution of the 90's to the most exciting recent
developments (integrability, M2/5 branes, N=2 theories and scattering
amplitudes). An introduction to the formal aspects of SUSY
breaking and softly broken SUSY at the weak scale was also given in
parallel.
For further information about
the PiTP program,
please contact Susan Higgins, (609) 734-8198; e-mail: shiggins@ias.edu 2011 PROGRAM LECTURE VIDEOS
(note:
We regret that the video of the second lecture given by David Spergel
cannot be included, due to corruption of the recorded file.) 2011 PROGRAM PHOTOS 2011 PARTICIPANTS' GENERAL INFORMATION 2011 PROGRAM SCHEDULE
2011 Suggested Pre-Readings 2011 Hints for Those Applying for U.S. Visa
2011 PROGRAM APPLICATION FORM The
deadline for applications has now passed. We are sorry but we are
unable to accept any further applications for this year's program.
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