ATHEXIS - Athens Symposium on Exploring the Universe

8 Jun 2026, 09:00 → 12 Jun 2026, 19:00 Europe/Athens

Athens, Greece

The Athens symposium on Exploring the Universe (ATHEXIS) will take place οn 8-12 June 2026.

It aims to bring together scientists working on particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology and initiate cross-field discussions on recent developments and future prospects. The presentations will cover recent progress on theoretical, phenomenological and observational aspects of cutting-edge topic.

This meeting is organized by the National Technical University of Athens, and the University of Cyprus.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

• Ioannis Dalianis (Cyprus U)
• Nikos Irges (NTU Athens)
• Alexandros Kehagias (NTU Athens)
• Chris Kouvaris - Chair (NTU Athens)
• Nick E. Mavromatos (NTU Athens & King's College London)

 

Monday 8 June

Plenary talk: The Case for Astrons

Convener: P. Frampton

Plenary talk: Probing the primordial power spectrum from dynamical heating of astrophysical disks in the local universe

Convener: Julien Lavalle (LUPM (CNRS / Univ. Montpellier))

11:00 Coffee break

Plenary talk

Convener: Dr Davide Racco (Universita e INFN Roma Tre (IT))

Plenary talk: Cosmology with Gravitational-Wave Standard Sirens

Convener: Michele MANCARELLA (Aix-Marseille)

13:00 Lunch break

Plenary talk: Compact Stars can test Extra-Dimensional Dark Matter

Convener: Dr Raghuveer Garani (Indian Institute Of Technology–Madras, Chennai)

Short talks: Probing early universe phase transition microphysics with gravitational waves

Convener: Philipp Schicho (University of Geneva)

15:45 Coffee break

Short talks: Nanohertz Gravitational Waves from the Baryon- Dark Matter coincidence

Convener: Jacopo Nava (Vrije Universiteit Brussels)

Short talks: Quasi-pole inflation in metric affine gravity

Convener: Antonio Racioppi (National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics (EE))

Tuesday 9 June

Plenary talk: TBA

Convener: Maxim Pospelov

Plenary talk: Dark Matter searches:light and heavy

Convener: Marco Cirelli (CNRS LPTHE Jussieu)

11:00 Coffee break

Plenary talk: Linear response theory for light dark matter-electron scattering in materials

Convener: Riccardo Catena (Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden)

Plenary talk: From Cosmic Tensions to Fundamental Physics: A New Phase Transition in the Early Universe

Convener: Florian Niedermann

13:00 Lunch break

Plenary talk: Perturbative and non- perturbative aspects of flav or and chiral oscillations

Convener: Massimo Blasone (Università di Salerno & INFN)

Short talks: Freeze-in from feeble to stronger coupling: cosmology and phenomenological signatures

Convener: Andreas Goudelis

15:45 Coffee break

Short talks: Gravitational wave emission from nonspherical collapse in an early matter-dominated era using N-body simulations

Convener: Albert Escrivà (Nagoya University)

Short talks: Black Holes as Laboratories for Dark Matter

Convener: Qianhang Ding (Institute for Basic Science CTPU-CGA)

Short talks: A simple mechanism for the enhancement of the inflationary power spectrum.

Convener: Aris Katsis (Crete Center of Theoretical Physics)

Wednesday 10 June

Plenary talk: Primordial Black Holes: formation and statistics

Convener: Cristiano Germani (Universitat de Barcelona)

Plenary talk: A Non-Gaussian Perspective on Primordial Black Holes and Gravitational Waves

Convener: Hardi Veermäe (National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics (EE))

11:00 Coffee break

Plenary talk: Light states in multi-Higgs potentials with multiple vacua

Convener: Dr Miguel Ruben Nebot Gómez (U. of Valencia - IFIC)

Plenary talk: TBA

Convener: N Karnesis

13:00 Lunch break

Plenary talk: All Orders, All the Way Down

Convener: J. Pradler

Short talks: Recent results on dark matter and rare event searches with the XENONnT experiment

Convener: Pietro Di Gangi

15:45 Coffee break

Short talks: Wallions: Dark Matter from the Boundaries of Field Space

Convener: Mathias Becker

Thursday 11 June

Plenary talk: Standard Model and Beyond with Strings Attached

Convener: Alon Faraggi

Plenary talk: Probing String-Theory– Inspired Topologies of the Early Universe through CMB Temperature and Polarization Anisotropies

Convener: M. Sanchis-Lozano

11:00 Coffee break

Plenary talk: Quintessence with Tachyonic Resonance: Late- Time Signatures in the CMB, Gravitational Waves, and Beyond

Convener: Takahiro Terada

Plenary talk: Running Vacuum: Unified Paradigm for Inflation and Dark Energy

Convener: Joan Sola

13:00 Lunch break

Plenary talk: New tools for cosmology by Extended Theories of Electro-Magnetism

Convener: Alessandro D.A.M. Spallicci (Université d'Orléans - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Short talks: A non-compact QCD axion

Convener: Georgios Karananas

15:45 Coffee break

Short talks: A Menagerie of Wormholes and Cosmologies in the Gravitational Path Integral

Convener: Ioannis Gialamas (National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics)

Short talks: New physics at MeV temperatures: impact on cosmological observables

Convener: Maksym Ovchynnikov (CERN)

Short talks: Scalar hair in Black Holes: From singular to regular solutions and their stability

Convener: Theodoros Nakas

Friday 12 June

Plenary talk: Constraints on primordial black holes of asteroid masses

Convener: Peter Tinyakov (Universite Libre de Bruxelles)

Plenary talk: Cosmological collider physics from particle physics viewpoint

Convener: Masahide Yamaguchi (Institute for Basic Science)

11:00 Coffee break

Plenary talk: Unveiling Ultralight Axion- like Dark Matter — A PPA- PTA Method

Convener: Tao LIU

Plenary talk: Gravitational waves and primordial black holes from strongly supercooled phase transitions

Convener: Dr Ville Vaskonen

13:00 Lunch break

Short talks: No room for monopole dark matter

Convener: Giacomo Ferrante (Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB))

Short talks: Freeze-in Dark Matter in Neutron Stars

Convener: Samya Roychowdhury

Short talks: Gravitational Waves from Mergers of Asymmetric Dark Stars

Convener: Boris Betancourt Kamenetskaia (Institute for Basic Science)

16:00 Coffee break