TACOS Workshop at Rice

9 Oct 2023, 08:00 → 10 Oct 2023, 18:00 America/Chicago

Duncan Hall, Room 1070 (Rice University)

Andrew Long (Rice University), Fred Olness (Southern Methodist University (US)), James Dent, Joel Meyers (Southern Methodist University), Kimberly Boddy (University of Texas at Austin), Louis Strigari (Texas A&M)

Theoretical Astroparticle and Cosmology Symposium in Texas

 

Building research ties across Texas:  This meeting brings together researchers interested in topics at the intersection of theoretical particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Participants from various institutions in Texas present and discuss the latest developments in their subfields, with the aim of fostering ideas and collaborations among faculty, postdocs, and graduate students. The host institution rotates from year to year to enable interactions with local experts in neighboring subfields.

 

Meeting Website:

https://sites.google.com/view/texas-tacos/upcoming-meeting

 

Scientific Organizing Committee:

Kimberly Boddy (UT Austin)
James Dent (Sam Houston)
Andrew Long (Rice)
Joel Meyers (SMU)
Louis Strigari (TAMU)

Monday 9 October

Monday Session

08:30 Breakfast

1 Opening

Welcome remarks by Chris Johns-Krull, chair of the Physics and Astronomy Department.

Speaker: Andrew Long (Rice University)

2 New Opportunities and New Challenges with Upcoming CMB Surveys

Speaker: Joel Meyers (Southern Methodist University)

New Opportunities and New Challenges with Upcoming CMB Surveys - TACOS.pdf

TACOS_Meyers

3 The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI): HOD-dependent systematics in modelling Baryon Acoustic Oscillations for Emission Line Galaxy

Speaker: Cristhian Garcia Quintero (UT Dallas)

4 Taquitos I

Speakers: Andrew Long (Rice University), Dorian Amaral (Rice University), Joel Meyers (Southern Methodist University)

10:30 Coffee Break

5 Has JWST Discovered Dark Stars?

Speaker: Katherine Freese

Freese DS TACOS.pdf

Freese DS TACOS.ppt

6 The viability of ultralight bosonic dark matter in dwarf galaxies

Speaker: Isabelle Goldstein (Brown University)

7 Neutron star cooling with lepton-flavor-violating axions

Speaker: Hong-Yi Zhang

ns_cool.pdf

8 Group Photo

12:30 Lunch

9 GRMHD Positron Applications from the Present and Primordial Universe

With the 2019 Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) sub-mm observation of M87*, the first horizon-scale image in history, we are now in position to infer the physical properties of jet/accretion flow/black hole (JAB) systems through direct comparison of phenomenological models with the regions surrounding supermassive black holes. Using general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of M87, we compare parametric models in which plasma imparts energy to synchrotron emitters via turbulent heating to those in which the emitters derive their energy directly from magnetic fields. Positrons are incorporated into the general relativistic ray tracer IPOLE to postprocess the GRMHD simulations-- showing stark differences in polarization signatures between standard and normal evolution (SANE) and magnetically arrested disk (MAD) accretion modes due to positron-mediated Faraday effects. MAD simulations with both types of emission model considered are concordant with EHT M87 linear and circular polarization constraints. The inclusion of electrons, positrons and protons in our radiative transfer pipeline thus provides a powerful probe of the composition and phenomenology of JAB systems. We then consider the role of positrons in the primordial plasma of the early Universe. From approximately 10ms to 10s after the Big Bang, relativistic positronium (electron-positron) plasma was a billion times more abundant than protons and neutrons. We consider GRMHD simulations in this unique environment, in which we model the accretion of positronium by primordial black holes. With the addition of rotation and the magnetorotational instability, we show how accreting primordial black holes could account for at least a percent-level contribution to the dark matter budget today, as well as the gamma ray background.

Speaker: Richard Anantua (UT San Antonio)

Rice TACOS Talk - 10-9-2023v2.pdf

Rice TACOS Talk - 10-9-2023v2.pptx

10 Maximizing Direct Detection with HYPER Dark Matter

Speaker: Gilly Elor

Elor_HYPER_TACOS.pdf

11 Taquitos II

Speakers: Andrew Long (Rice University), Dorian Amaral (Rice University), Joel Meyers (Southern Methodist University)

15:10 Coffee

12 Dark Matter in Extreme Astrophysical Environments

Speaker: Kuver Sinha (University of Oklahoma)

TACOS_2023_Updated.pdf

13 Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Ultralight Dark Matter

Speaker: Barmak Shams Es Haghi (University of Texas at Austin)

SMBHB in ULDM.pdf

14 Cosmological gravitational particle production of massive spin-2 particles

Speaker: Siyang Ling

massive_spin2_TACOS.pdf

17:00 Coffee

15 The THESAN Project: Radiation-Hydrodynamic Simulations of the Epoch of Reionization

Speaker: Aaron Smith (UT Dallas)

16 Gravitational waves from Nnaturalness

Speaker: Mudit Rai (University of Pittsburgh)

Nnaturaltalk.pdf

17 PROBING SOLAR NEUTRINOS WITH CE𝞶NS AND FLAVOR-DEPENDENT RADIATIVE CORRECTIONS AT DARK MATTER DETECTORS

Speaker: Nityasa Mishra

18:40 Reception

Tuesday 10 October

Tuesday Session

08:30 Breakfast

18 The Magnetic Mysteries of Magnetars

Speaker: Matthew Baring (Rice University)

19 On the gamma-ray emission from the core of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy

Speaker: Addy Evans

20 Surfing Dark Matter Waves at the Windchime Experiment

Speaker: Dorian Amaral (Rice University)

d_amaral_tacos23.pdf

10:20 Coffee

21 Cosmology with Gravitational-Wave Multi-Messenger Observations

Speaker: Hsin-Yu Chen (UT Austin)

22 Harmonic Analysis Method to Search for Gravitational Waves with Pulsar Timing Arrays

Speaker: Jonathan Nay (UT Austin)

Harmonic Analysis for PTAs-TACOS.pdf

23 New Windows Into High Redshift Galaxies with Line Intensity Mapping

Speaker: Patrick Breysse (NYU)

24 Closing

Speakers: Andrew Long (Rice University), James Dent, Joel Meyers (Southern Methodist University), Prof. Kimberly Boddy (University of Texas at Austin), Louis Strigari (Texas A&M)