May 23 – June 13
Critical Behavior of Lattice Models in Condensed Matter and Particle Physics
Organizers:
Gordon Baym, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Yannick Meurice, University of Iowa
Ulrich Schollwoeck, RWTH Aachen
Shan-Wen Tsai*, University of California, Riverside
The goal of the workshop is to bring together lattice practitioners working in different fields. In condensed matter, lattices appear naturally as physical entities in various types of solids. On the other hand, for lattice gauge theorists, the lattice is used as an ultra-violet regulator for theories of strongly interacting particles such as quantum chromodynamics or extensions beyond the standard model. Despite this difference, the large distance behavior of lattice models has universal features that can be approached with common methods. The renormalization group method provides a common language that allows lattice practitioners in different fields to communicate and understand the critical behavior of their respective models. In addition, the possibility of physically building lattice models with tunable interactions by trapping cold atoms in optical lattices is a very exciting new development. We expect that the workshop will favor the communication of new exciting results across the traditional boundaries and stimulate exchange of theoretical methods and develop new types of collaborative efforts. Among the topics of common interest that will be discussed, we should mention the use of concepts of quantum information in RG context, conformal windows, relativistic fermions in graphene, comparison of phase diagrams and perturbative expansions, and new experimental results in optical lattices.
May 23 – June 13
Strong Dynamics Beyond the Standard Model
Organizers:
Richard Brower, Boston University
Sekhar Chivukula , Michigan State University
Jeff Harvey, University of Chicago
Mithat Unsal , SLAC, Stanford University
Chung-I Tan*, Brown University
As the experimental program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
explores the TeV energy range, there is potential for the discovery of
new strong interactions beyond the QCD sector of the standard
model. Strong interactions arise in several promising extensions of
the standard model, which are being actively explored in the particle
theory community. The workshop seeks to bring together particle
theorists working in (1) lattice field theory and simulation, (2)
non-perturbative gauge theory dynamics and (3) string/gauge duality to
explore fundamental mechanisms and their generic consequences for
phenomenological signatures.
May 23 – June 20
Forefront QCD and LHC Discoveries
Organizers:
Edmond Berger, Argonne National Laboratory
Frank Petriello*, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Davison Soper, University of Oregon
Bryan Webber, University of Cambridge
Giula Zanderighi, University of Oxford
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will extend the accelerator energy frontier by nearly one order of magnitude, portending exciting discoveries. A quantitative understanding of Standard Model phenomena, particularly the interactions of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), in the new energy domain of the LHC is essential for discovery and analysis of all but the most obvious new physics signals. One crucial issue is the calculation of fixed-order QCD and electroweak corrections to high orders in perturbation theory and to a large number of final state particles. There has been substantial recent progress in these endeavors. Another opportunity for progress is in extending the reach of perturbative calculations by combining them with summations of large logarithms through such methods as soft-collinear effective theory, and the integration of the calculations with parton shower event simulations. Furthermore, understanding the data will benefit from better determinations of parton distribution functions and their uncertainties and from critical analysis of jet definitions and search variables for new physics. This workshop is intended to bring together physicists with different expertise to discuss and advance solutions to these and other QCD issues important to the success of the LHC physics program. Experimenters will be invited to help make participants aware of LHC realities.
June 13 – June 27
Gev and Tev Sources in the Milky Way
Organizers:
Stefan Funk, Stanford University
Alice Harding , NASA Goddard
Liz Hays, NASA Goddard
Roger Romani, Stanford University
The purpose of the workshop is to bring together observers and theorists working in the area of GeV and TeV Galactic sources, an area that has attracted much interest following the launch of the Fermi and AGILE space missions and new results from ground-based gamma-ray telescopes. The focus will be on understanding the physics of the newly discovered properties of high-energy sources, including pulsars, pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants, and accreting compact objects. We hope to explore Galactic sources with this new energy window in astrophysics and to synthesize the different but complementary GeV and TeV views , to form a more complete physical picture of these objects . An additionally important topic is how to establish signals of new physics in the galaxy, disentangling the high energy astrophysical processes that must first be understood.
June 13 - July 4
Astrophysics and Cosmology with the 21-CM Background
Organizers:
Judd Bowman , California Institute of Technology
Asantha Cooray, University of California, Irvine
Steven Furlanetto, University of California, Los Angeles
Peng Oh*, University of California, Santa Barbara
The 21-cm background during, prior to, and after the epoch of reionization, will soon be a major focus of low-frequency radio experiments. This workshop will address the cosmological and astrophysical information content of the 21-cm background, the 21-cm signal as a probe of the reionization history and of “first light” and galaxy formation, future directions and goals in the field both from ground and space, and upcoming novel opportunities involving the 21-cm background in combination with other cosmological probes such as the CMB and cosmic shear. The workshop will encompass all aspects of the 21-cm background from theory to experimental concept studies.
June 20 - July 18
From Colliders to the Dark Sector: Understanding Dark Matter at Particle Colliders and Beyond
Organizers:
David Morrisey*, TRIUMF
Aaron Pierce, University of Michigan
Tomer Volansky, Institute for Advanced Study
Neal Weiner, New York University
Itay Yavin, Princeton University
2010 is poised to be an exciting year. The frontiers of particle physics
will expand as new data from the LHC, the Tevatron, astrophysical
measurements, and dark matter (DM) direct detection experiments become
available. These results will inform our notions of the yet unknown
mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking and the origin of DM in our
Universe. Not only will we have a chance to understand what most of the
matter in the Universe is, a deeper understanding of the DM might reveal
remarkable connections with other outstanding questions in particle
physics. This Aspen Physics workshop is intended to bring together
experts in the fields of particle physics and astro-particle physics. The
exchange between these participants should yield fruitful and enlightening
new ideas as the data-driven era commences.
June 27 - July 25
New Mathematical Methods in Quantum Gauge Theories
Organizers:
David Ben-Zvi*, University of Texas at Austin
Dan Freed, University of Texas at Austin
Davide Gaiotto, Institute for Advanced Study
Anton Kapustin, California Institute of Technology
The workshop will bring together mathematicians and physicists to discuss current topics of mutual interest quantum field theory. It will focus on 4 particular topics. Twistors and perturbative quantum field theory: Penrose's twistor theory lies at the heart of new techniques to compute scattering amplitudes. Wall-crossing formulas and Donaldson-Thomas invariants: The last year has seen wall crossing formulas emerge as a very active discipline straddling physics and mathematics, with new connections to stability of D-branes, the study of Hall algebras and cluster combinatorics, and to hyperkahler geometry. Supersymmetric gauge theory, nonlocal operators, and duality: Wilson and 't Hooft loops, surface operators, and domain walls have been studied with great success in 3-dimensional and 4-dimensional theories with varying amounts of supersymmetry; the relation to electric-magnetic duality is of particular interest. Extended topological field theory in dimensions >= 3: There is a recently proved structure theorem (the cobordism hypothesis) and many examples of interest (Rozansky-Witten theory, Chern-Simons theory, character theory, 3-dimensional mirror symmetry, twisted N=4 gauge theory in 4 dimensions and geometric Langlands duality, etc.).
July 18 – August 8
Low Dimensional Topological Matter
Organizers:
Parsa Bonderson, Microsoft Station Q
Kirill Shtengel*, University of California, Riverside
Steven Simon, Oxford University
Ady Stern, Weizmann Institute of Science
The goal of this workshop is to study the physical nature of topological phases of matter as well as to address the most important theoretical issues connected with any attempt to practically realize a topological quantum computer. Focus topics will include experimental systems (and proposed experimental systems) which display topological order: including fractional quantum Hall effects, topological insulators, cold atom systems, frustrated magnetic systems, and quantum loop models. We expect much of the workshop to also be devoted to detailed analysis of recent experiments designed to probe topological properties of these systems, as well as further exploration of methods of exploiting topological properties of these systems in order to build actual quantum information processing devices.
July 25 – August 22
Quantum Many-Body Physics in One Dimension
Organizers:
Ehud Altman, Weizmann Institute of Science
Leonid Glazman, Yale University
Paul Goldbart, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Gil Refael*, California Institute of Technology
Interest in one-dimensional correlated quantum systems spans many decades. Such systems provide theorists with fertile ground for developing new techniques and concepts, and give rise to problems intractable via the standard tools of quantum many-body theory. Moreover, technological progress has transformed the physics of one-dimensional quantum correlated systems into a vibrant branch of experimental science. This workshop targets various topics in quantum physics in one dimension, including superconductivity, interaction and disorder effects in nanowires, non-equilibrium physics of spins and charges in carbon nanotubes and other one-dimensional conductors, and one-dimensional quantum gases of cold atoms.
August 8 – August 22
Taking Supernova Cosmology into the Next Decade
Organizers:
Greg Aldering, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Isobel Hook, Oxford University
Mark Phillips, Carnegie Observatories
Nicholas Suntzeff*, Texas A&M University
Michael Wood-Vasey, University of Pittsburgh
The biggest challenge currently facing SNIa cosmology is understanding the effect of dust on the apparent magnitude of the observed SN Ia light and how to disentangle such effects from intrinsic color evolution, variation, and color-luminosity dependence in SNeIa. New multi-wavelength datasets extending from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared are becoming available at the same time as improved multi-dimensional modeling that can now probe the wavelength-, metallicity-, and companion-dependent nature of potentially asymmetric SNIa explosions. This convergence creates the ideal opportunity to attack this question of color evolution of SNeIa versus the dimming caused by dust along the line of sight and how this might evolve as a function of cosmic time. This two-week workshop will bring together a team of experts to fully develop the potential for SNeIa to continue to improve our constraints on the nature of dark energy and to explore the utility of using other types of supernovae as cosmological probes.
August 22 – September 12
Star Formation in Galaxies: From Recipes to Real Physics
Organizers:
Nickolay Gnedin*, Fermilab
Mark Krumholz , UCO/Lick Observatory
Elizabeth Tasker, University of Florida
Star formation drives the chemical and physical evolution of the interstellar medium, the synthesis of heavy elements, and the structure and evolution of galaxies. The centrality of star formation to a wide variety of astronomical processes, and the complex physics and large range of size scales required to model it in detail, have led to a ubiquitous need for simple star formation recipes that can be built into other studies. Simulations and semi-analytic models of galaxy formation, reionization, galactic stellar and ISM dynamics, and chemical evolution all rely on ``sub-grid" models for converting gaseous to stellar material. However, most of the star formation recipes in wide use today are simple rules-of-thumb that make little attempt to model the physical processes involved in star formation. They do not reflect the significant advances that have been made, both theoretically and observationally, in star formation studies during the past decade. The primary goal of this workshop is to change that, by bringing together researchers whose primary focus is on the physics of star formation with those whose work on galaxy formation and evolution, chemical evolution, and other fields relies upon star formation models. We will work to develop new models of star formation for use in galactic and cosmological studies that are much more closely linked to the actual physics of star formation, and which can become the standard for the next generation of simulations and semi-analytic models.
August 22 – September 12
New Perspectives in Strongly Correlated Electrostatics in Soft Matter
Organizers:
Erik Luijten, Northwestern University
Gerard Wong*, University of California, Los Angeles
The importance of electrostatic interactions in liquid environments is
a common factor to a broad set of disciplines, ranging from the
biological and environmental sciences to science and engineering of
colloids and polymers. Recent developments in soft condensed-matter
physics, both conceptual and instrumental, have made it possible to
engage open questions in all these areas. This Aspen Physics workshop
aims to create new opportunities by bringing together scientists from
a diverse range of backgrounds. It is our hope that this will allow
us to apply state-of-the-art theoretical, computational, and
experimental tools to important problems that depend on an
understanding of electrostatic interactions in liquid environments,
but lie outside the normal boundaries of physics. By forging new
interactions and highlighting the applicability of these tools to new
areas transformational progress can be catalyzed.
August 22 – September 12
Patterns on Thin Sheets: From Stressed Inanimate Materials to Biomembranes and Growing Tissues
Organizers:
Benjamin Davidovitch*, University of Massachusetts
Ka Yee Lee, University of Chicago
Eran Sharon, The Hebrew University
Recent developments in biology, chemistry and material sciences have renewed the interest in the rich phenomenology of patterns evolving on thin sheets, be it elastic ones with uniform or prescribed metric, or fluid membranes, characterized by homogenous or multi-component molecular composition. The workshop will bring together experimentalists and theorists, who lead research programs in this field. By bringing together scholars whose research focuses on solid (elastic) membranes with ones whose primary interest is within the biophysics of fluid membranes, we hope to inspire fresh directions of research. In addition, special emphasis will be given to encourage participation of leading mathematicians who specialize in aspects of differential geometry of high relevance to the physics of membranes. This diverse combination of excellent researchers with complementing skills will give rise to an exciting and fruitful environment and will stir innovative intellectual activity.