POTUS2011 : The Physics of The Universe Summit

7 Jan 2011, 18:00 → 9 Jan 2011, 22:35 US/Pacific

SpaceX/Andaz/Caltech

To accomplish the extraordinary, you must seek extraordinary people. — James Lee Byars

This two day retreat brings together the top minds (thinkers and doers) in the fields of the physics of the universe both theoretical and experimental. The meeting fosters discussion, and when the best people talk the outcome is advance and growth. We avoid standard prepared talks, and focus on exciting forefront issues, where there may be differences of opinion, or new results that will provoke wide discussion. The summit is inspired by the data and recent results by satellite and ground-based experiments on dark matter searches, the challenges from theory and the LHC first nine months of collisions.

POTUS contact info: Jury Rodriguez jury@caltech.edu @ 626-818-6539, technical support Dorian Kcira dkcira@caltech.edu @ 626-379-2887
SpaceX day contact: Mary Beth Brown @ 310-403-0188 (January 8)
Caltech/Cahill day contact: Mary Cross @ 626-262-3770 (January 9)
 

0.     The summit kicks-off with the cocktail reception and dinner at the Andaz on Friday January 7 at the Andaz West Hollywood. 

1.     The first day of the summit (Saturday, January 8) will be held at the headquarters of SpaceX.   Elon Musk will give a tour of his “Falcon” and “Dragon” construction and missions. 

2.     The second day (Sunday, January 9) will be held at Caltech’s Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

3.     Participants will be housed at the The Andaz West Hollywood Hyatt Hotel where the kick-off reception/dinner (Jan 7) and the Pritzker Summit dinner (Jan 8)  will be given. 

4.     The closing of the meeting will be a première of a short film by Jesse Dylan followed by a reception at Caltech's Cahill Center.

5.     The summit is by invitation only; There is no registration or other fees; Just make your way to the Andaz and the rest is covered.

 

 

Andaz http://www.westhollywood.andaz.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

Caltech/Cahill/Parking map Caltech-map-POTUS2011.pdf

SpaceX Map/Directions http://www.spacex.com/contact.php

Friday, 7 January

19:00 → 22:30 Cocktail Reception & Dinner

Saturday, 8 January

07:30 → 08:30 Breakfast

08:30 → 09:15 Buses to SpaceX

09:15 → 12:30 String/Gravity Paradigm Shift: Tom Banks, Gia Dvali, Lenny Susskind, Erik Verlinde, Herman Verlinde

<font color=darkblue>The session will discuss the ongoing paradigm shift in our thinking about gravity and string theory. Although everybody seems to agree that a paradigm shift is occurring, theorists seem to have very different takes on what are the right ways to think about the new emerging paradigm(s).</font>

Convener: David Gross

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 15:00 SpaceX tour by Elon Musk

15:00 → 18:00 Dark Matter: Eliott Bloom, Juan Collar, David Moore, Katie Freese, Neal Weiner

<font color=darkblue>Direct and indirect searches are yielding stronger constraints on the nature of dark matter. Recent observations from both space- and ground-based experiments are being interpreted as signals of dark matter annihilation/decay or direct detection. In this session we will ask what is this data really telling us, and what are the new theory ideas generated by the dark matter results so far.</font>

Convener: Wendy Freedman

18:15 → 19:00 Buses to Andaz

19:30 → 22:30 Summit Dinner (sponsored by Susan and Nick Pritzker)

Sunday, 9 January

07:30 → 08:30 Breakfast

08:30 → 09:15 Buses to Cahill/Caltech

09:30 → 10:30 The future of US science: Steven Koonin

10:30 → 10:50 Coffee Break

10:50 → 12:20 Astro 2011: Brant Robertson, Marc Kamionkowski, Michael Turner

<font color=darkblue>A discussion starting with the "first light" after the Universe's dark ages and concluding with the State of the Universe Address.</font>

Convener: Hirosi Ooguri

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 14:45 Diatribes: Kathryn Zurek, Aaron Pierce, Gordy Kane

14:45 → 16:15 LHC Year 0: JoAnne Hewett, Harvey Newman, Maria Spiropulu

<font color=darkblue>In this session we will discuss the vastness of the LHC discovery space, the LHC7 data results, the race for the Higgs, SUSY, extra dimensions, and other exotic phenomena, plus the road to doubling and quadrupling the energy of proton collisions.</font>

16:15 → 17:00 Consilience: Lisa Randall

17:00 → 19:30 Short film and closing cocktail reception: Jesse Dylan

19:30 → 20:00 Buses to Andaz