POTUS2013 : The Physics of The Universe Summit

11 Jan 2013, 18:00 → 13 Jan 2013, 22:35 US/Pacific

SpaceX/Caltech/Andaz

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 exchange, 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 this year is inspired by the astounding discovery at the LHC, recent and upcoming results by satellite and ground-based experiments on dark matter searches and paradigm shifting/breaking ideas in string theory, gravity and cosmology. 

POTUS contact info: Jury Rodriguez jury@caltech.edu @ 626-818-6539
SpaceX day contact: Mary Beth Brown @ 310-403-0188 (January 12)
Caltech/Cahill day contact: Mary Cross @ 626-262-3770 (January 13)
technical support Dorian Kcira dkcira@caltech.edu @ 626-379-2887

0.     The summit kicks-off with the POTUS reception and family-style dinner at the Andaz on Friday January 11 at the Andaz West Hollywood. 

1.     The first day of the summit (Saturday, January 12) will be held at the headquarters of SpaceX.   

2.     The second day (Sunday, January 13) 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 Flug Summit kick-off reception and dinner (January 11) and the Pritzker Summit dinner (January 12)  will be given. 

4.     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.

 

Friday, 11 January

19:00 → 21:30 POTUS Reception & Dinner (sponsored by Marty & Sarah Flug)

Saturday, 12 January

07:30 → 08:30 Breakfast

08:30 → 09:15 Buses to SpaceX

09:15 → 12:30 Standard & Alternative Cosmologies and String Implementations: Scott Dodelson, Shamit Kachru, Paul Steinhardt

<font color=darkblue>Cosmic inflation is the standard paradigm of modern cosmology. String theorists have been implementing inflationary cosmologies in the past 10 years. Although everybody seems to agree that inflation requires extreme and ad-hoc (almost improbable) initial conditions, and produces a multiverse with uncertain predictions, theorists seem to have very different takes on what are the right ways to think about alternative paradigm(s) while observers are looking for ways to test the inflation paradigm. </font>

Conveners: Discussants (Eva Silverstein, Dick Bond, Liam McAllister, and Tom Banks), Michael Turner (Convener)

Notes from convener Notes-from-convener

09:15 Welcome/Context

Speaker: Michael

09:20 "Standard Theory" of inflation

Speaker: Scott

09:55 Inflation within modern particle theory

Speaker: Shamit

10:30 In-room Coffee break

10:45 Alternatives and new directions

Speaker: Paul

11:20 Discussant opening remarks

Speaker: Eva, Dick, Liam, Tom

11:50 Audience joins in discussion

12:30 → 13:50 Lunch

14:00 → 14:50 SpaceX tour [by Elon Musk TBC]

15:00 → 18:00 Dark Matter & Caveats: The Latest From Earth and Space: Richard Ellis, Neal Weiner, Clifford Cheung, Roger Blandford

<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>

Conveners: Experimental Diatribes (Juan Collar, Laura Baudis, Sunil Golwala, Maurizio Pierini, Jennifer Siegal-Gaskins, Katie Freese), Joe Lykken (Chair), Wendy Freedman (Chair)

Notes from conveners Notes from conveners

15:00 Welcome/Context

Speaker: Wendy,Joe

15:05 Caveats of dark matter astrophysics

Speaker: Richard

15:30 Global state of direct and indirect searches vs. theory models

Speaker: Neal

15:55 In-room coffee break

16:05 CoGeNT, COUPP, DAMA

Speaker: Juan

16:15 XENON100, XENON1T

Speaker: Laura

16:25 SuperCDMS (& LUX)

Speaker: Sunil

16:35 DM@LHC

Speaker: Maurizio

16:45 FERMI gamma ray lines

Speaker: Jenny

16:55 DM and DNA

Speaker: Katie

17:05 DM out of the box

Speaker: Cliff

17:30 Discussion and synthesis

Speaker: Roger

18:15 → 19:00 Buses to Andaz

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

Sunday, 13 January

07:30 → 08:15 Breakfast

08:15 → 08:50 Buses to Caltech/Millikan Board [1]

09:00 → 11:00 Millikan Round Table

10:20 → 10:40 Busses to Caltech/Cahill [2]

11:00 → 12:10 Discovery2012: Eilam Gross, Si Xie

<font color=darkblue>Experimental Results from ATLAS and CMS on the Higgs-like particle</font>

Conveners: Discussants (Jacobo Konigsberg, Chris Tully, Chris Rogan), Teresa Rodrigo (chair)

Chairs Notes on D2012 and Quo Vadis Chairs Notes on D2012 and Quo Vadis

12:15 → 13:30 Lunch Break

13:30 → 14:15 Discovery2012: (discussion)

13:30 Higgs to fermions

Speaker: Jaco

13:40 HLL

Speaker: Chris R

13:50 Upgrades and ultimate Higgs reach

Speaker: Chis T

14:00 Audience joins discussion

14:15 → 15:45 Higgs Quo Vadis: Joe Lykken, Nima Arkani-Hamed, Lisa Randall

<font color=darkblue>Interpretations, Implications & Speculations on the post-higgs-like era -- projection of 14 TeV Discovery2015</font>

Conveners: David Gross (Chair), Marcela Carena (Chair)

15:50 → 16:10 Coffee break

16:15 → 17:30 Accelerators of the Future: Barry Barish, Norbert Holtkamp

Convener: Tom Tombrello (Chair)

17:30 → 19:00 Closing Reception (Cahill Foyer)

19:00 → 19:30 Buses to Andaz