Tag Archives: gravity

Probing Effective Theories of Gravity in Strong Fields and Cosmology, Santa Barbara, USA

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Probing Effective Theories of Gravity in Strong Fields and Cosmology
KITP, UC Santa Barbara

Coordinators: Cora Dvorkin, Ira Rothstein, and Thomas Sotiriou
Scientific Advisors: Alessandra Buonanno, Pedro Ferreira, and Steve Giddings

There is strong evidence that General Relativity (GR) is only an effective field theory (EFT). While it is often assumed that the energy scale where the EFT breaks down is near the Planck scale and experimentally inaccessible, tantalizing arguments suggest that GR is not a canonical effective theory.

In particular, the apparent hints of non-locality in black hole evaporation and the small scale associated with the vacuum energy motivate reconsidering EFT ideas in gravity. Given the wealth of data in current and future high precision cosmological surveys, it is necessary to develop a tool kit of theoretically consistent EFTs for analyzing potential deviations from the predictions of GR. The birth of gravitational wave astronomy opens up other avenues for testing gravity in previously unimaginable ways, enabling the study of higher curvature backgrounds as well as black hole horizon physics.

This program is geared towards finding ways to push the boundaries of our knowledge of the EFT of GR by bringing together members of three distinct communities: strong gravity/relativistic astrophysics, cosmology, and EFT.

Primary Application Deadline: August 11th 2019. After that date application will continue to be considered in a rolling basis until the program is filled.

Please apply through the KITP website (link).

Geometric Foundations of Gravity in Tartu, Estonia

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Geometric Foundations of Gravity in Tartu

is a conference dedicated to the geometric foundations of gravity theories that will take place June 17-21, 2019 in Tartu, Estonia. This conference is a continuation of series of conferences Geomgrav 2017 and Telegrav 2018. The aim of this conference is to gather experts on various alternative and modified approaches to gravity.

The main topics include:
— Gauge theories of gravity (Poincare, teleparallel, …)
— Extended field content & related theories ((multi)scalar-vector-tensor theories, Horndeski, f(R) gravity, generalized Proca, massive gravity and bimetric theories, …)
— Beyond Lorentzian geometry (Finsler, modified dispersion relations,…)
— Dynamical systems in cosmology

The conference is organized by the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, University of Tartu, Estonia.

An up to date list of invited speakers, the registration procedure, participants and all further details can be found on

http://hexagon.fi.tartu.ee/~geomgrav2019/

We are looking forward to meet you in Tartu in June, the organizing committee:

Sebastian Bahamonde
Manuel Hohmann
Laur Jarv
Tomi Koivisto
Martin Krssak
Christian Pfeifer
Margus Saal

Physical Interpretations of Relativity Theory (PIRT-2019), Moscow, Russia

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International Conference “Physical Interpretations of Relativity Theory” (PIRT-2019), Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow, Russia, 1 – 5 July , 2019, organized by Bauman University (Russia) and University of Liverpool (Great Britain).

The objectives of this conference are the same as those pursued in the Physical Interpretations of Relativity Theory (PIRT) conferences which have been held in Imperial College, London, every two years since 1988. These objectives are the physical, geometrical, and mathematical interpretations of the formal structure of Relativity Theory, and to examine the questions concerning the various interpretations of the accepted mathematical expression of the Relativity Principle.

The Conference Program of the Moscow PIRT-2019 will include papers dealing with the following major themes:
– Gravitation, cosmology and large-scale structure;
– Gravitational waves and experimental tests of the relativity theory;
– Space-time, topology and differential geometry;
– Relativistic electrodynamics;
– High energy astrophysics;
– Nature and models of physical vacuum.

SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE PIRT-2019
Anatoly Aleksandrov, Bauman University, Russia
Barry Barish, California Institute of Technology, the United States
Aroonkumar Beesham, University of Zululand, South Africa
David Blair, University of South Western Australia, Australia
Anatol Cherepashchuk, Sternberg Astronomical Institute Moscow University, Russia
Alexander Chernikov, Bauman University, Russia
Sergei Chervon, Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University, Russia
Naresh Dadhich, IUCAA, PUNE, India
John Dainton, Liverpool University, Great Britain
Vladimir Gladyshev, Bauman University, Russia
Georgii Izmailov, Moscow Aviation Institute, Russia
Nikolay Kardashev, Astro Space Center of P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of RAS, Russia
Louis Kauffman, University of Illinois at Chicago, the United States
Richard Kerner, University Pierre et Marie Curie, France
Vassily Manturov, Bauman University, Moscow State University, Russia
Bivudutta Mishra, BITS-Pilani, India
Andrey Morozov, Bauman University, Russia
Nicola Napolitano, INAF Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, Italy
Guido Pizzella, University of Rome, Italy
Konstantin Postnov, Sternberg State Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University, Russia
Vladislav Pustovoit, Russian Academy of Science, Bauman University, Russia
Carlos Romero, Universidade Federal da Paraiba, Departamento de Fisica, Brazil
Peter Rowlands, University of Liverpool, the United Kingdom
Valentin Rudenko, Sternberg State Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University, Russia
Mikhail Sazhin, Sternberg State Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University, Russia
Alexei Starobinsky, Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Russia
Sergey Sushkov, Kazan Federal University, Russia
Roland Triay, Centre de Physique Théorique CNRS – Aix- Marseille University, France
Nina Tyannikova, Bauman University, Russia
Rainer Weiss, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the United States

Postal Communications may be sent to the Secretary of PIRT-2019 Organizing Committee preferably by e-mail to Dr. Nina D. Tyannikova (dekan-fn[AT]mail.ru)
Details will be at the website: http://www.pirt.info/index.php?lang=eng

Gravity Research Foundation, Awards for Essays for 2018

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Roger W. Babson, FOUNDER
George M. Rideout, Jr. President

The trustees are pleased to announce the Awards for Essays for 2018.

1. $4,000 – Gravity’s Universality: The Physics Underlying Tolman Temperature Gradients by Jessica Santiago and Matt Visser, School of Mathematics and Statistics, Victoria University of Wellington; PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand; e-mail: jessica.santiago[AT]sms.vuw.ac.nz, matt.visser[AT]sms.vuw.ac.nz

2. $1,250 – A Microscopic Model for an Emergent Cosmological Constant by Alejandro Perez[1], Daniel Sudarsky[2], and James D. Bjorken[3], [1]Aix Marseille Univ, Universite’ de Toulon, CNRS, CPT, Marseille, France, [2]Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional, Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico, D.F. 04510, Mexico, [3]SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94309; e-mail: perez[AT]cpt.univ-mrs.fr, sudarsky[AT]nucleares.unam.mx, bjbjorken[AT]gmail.com

3. $1,000 – GR and Classical Mechanics: Magic? by Ezra Newman, Dept of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213; e-mail: newman[AT]pitt.edu

4. $750 – The Kinetic Theory of the Mesoscopic Spacetime by T. Padmanabhan, IUCAA, Pune University Campus, Ganeshkhind, Pune – 411 007, India; e-mail: paddy[AT]iucaa.in

5. $500 – The Holographic Space-time Model of Cosmology by Tom Banks[1] and W. Fischler[2], [1]NHETC and Department of Physics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019, [2]Department of Physics and Texas Cosmology Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712; e-mail: tibanks[AT]ucsc.edu, fischler[AT]physics.utexas.edu

Selected for Honorable Mention this year were (listed in alphabetical order): Ana Alonso-Serrano, Mariusz P. Dabrowski, and Hussain Gohar; Sudarshan Ananth, Lars Brink, and Sucheta Majumdar; Swastik Bhattacharya and S. Shankaranarayanan; Jens Boos; Subenoy Chakraborty and Subhra Bhattacharya; Chiang- Mei Chen, Jian-Liang Liu, and James M. Nester; Christian Corda; Saurya Das, Mir Faizal, and Elias C. Vagenas; Eric Dupuis and M. B. Paranjape; Joshua Erlich; C. Fairoos, Avirup Ghosh, and Sudipta Sarkar; Arthur E Fischer; Steven B. Giddings; Andri Gretarsson, Preston Jones, and Douglas Singleton; D. Grumiller and M.M. Sheikh-Jabbari; Richard T Hammond; Shahar Hod; Olaf Hohm; Sabine Hossenfelder and Tobias Mistele; Michael J. Kavic, Djordje Minic, and John Simonetti; Swanand Khanapurkar and Tejinder P. Singh; Stefano Lucat, Tomislav Prokopec, and Bogumila Swiezewska; Emil J. Martinec; Samir D. Mathur; Tim R. Morris; Joan Sola Peracaula; Fabrizio Pinto; Nikodem Poplawski; R. H. Sanders; W. M. Stuckey, Timothy McDevitt, A. K. Sten, and Michael Silberstein; Angelo Tartaglia; C. S. Unnikrishnan and George T. Gillies; Tanmay Vachaspati and George Zahariade; Yong Xiao.

This announcement and abstracts of award-winning and honorable mention essays will be posted when ready on our web site, http://www.gravityresearchfoundation.org. The five award-winning essays will be published in a special issue of the International Journal of Modern Physics D (IJMPD). They will also be posted at a later date on our web site.

Neutron stars in the dawn of multi-messenger astronomy, London, UK

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Neutron stars in the dawn of multi-messenger astronomy
(IoP Gravitational Physics Group September meeting)

This half-day meeting of the IOP Gravitational Physics Group is focused on recent developments in the study of neutron stars. The meeting will be comprised of three speakers:

– Prof. Nils Andersson (University of Southampton)
– Prof. Michael Kramer (University of Manchester / Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie)
– Dr Samaya Nissanke (Radboud University)

All are welcome to attend and no registration fee will be charged. The talks will be preceded by the IOP Gravitational Physics Group annual general meeting.

Programme
11:00 – Annual General Meeting for members of the IOP Gravitational Physics Group
13:30 – Scientific Programme
17:00 – Close

Cost
All are welcome to attend and no registration fee will be charged.

Date
September 18, 2018

Time
11:00-17:00

Venue
Oxford Suite, Hallam Conference Centre, 44 Hallam street, London, W1W 6JJ

Contact
Events Officer: Dr Aindriú Conroy
a.conroy[AT]lancaster.ac.uk

Organised by:
The IOP Gravitational Physics Group

Teleparallel Gravity Workshop, Tartu, Estonia

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Teleparallel Gravity Workshop in Tartu

is a continuation of the conference Geometric Foundations of Gravity in Tartu, 2017. The workshop will take place June 25-29, 2018 at the University of Tartu in Estonia. The aim of this workshop is to gather experts on teleparallel gravity and its modifications and discuss the recent advances and upcoming challenges within the field.

The participation at the conference is free for all participants, but we do not provide any financial assistance. The workshop is organized by the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, University of Tartu.

Organising Committee:
– Laur Jaerv
– Manuel Hohmann
– Martin Krssak
– Christian Pfeifer

Collabor8.2, Lancaster, UK

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Collabor8.2 is a two-day meeting designed to promote acknowledgement and collaboration among early career researchers in the UK across the disciplinary divide of mathematics and physics. The focus is broad, encompassing theoretical problems from astronomy, cosmology, particle theory, string theory, condensed matter and quantum foundations.

Participants are invited to give short talks on specific research problems they face, seeking new perspectives and fresh approaches. Speakers will lead small team discussions aimed at overcoming the research hurdles presented. Presentations should focus on current research, rather than completed projects.

The conference will feature a keynote seminar by Professor Ruth Gregory who has written papers with more than 100 mathematicians and physicists in a distinguished 30 year career. There will be recruitment presentations from several industrial sponsors offering research positions in physics, data science and machine learning (to be confirmed).

We are delighted to offer free lunch, morning coffee and afternoon tea to all participants. We also have funding to reimburse some travel and accommodation costs for speakers. There is no conference fee. There will be a conference dinner on the first evening in a local restaurant (circa 10 GBP).

Observing Black Holes: From the Universe to the Lab, London UK

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IOP Gravitational Physics Group September Meeting
“Observing Black Holes: From the Universe to the Lab”

Friday, 15 September 2017, 12:00 – 17:00
Ayrton and Franklin Rooms, Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT, UK

This half-day meeting of the IOP Gravitational Physics Group is focused on recent observational developments of black holes. The meeting will be comprised of three speakers discussing the following topics:

Gravitational Wave Observations – John Veitch (University of Glasgow)
Imaging a Supermassive Black Hole – Jason Dexter (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics)
Observation of Superradiance in a Vortex Flow – Silke Weinfurtner (University of Nottingham)

All are welcome to attend and no registration fee will be charged. The talks will be preceded by the IOP Gravitational Physics Group annual general meeting.

Schedule
12:00: Annual General Meeting for members of the IOP Gravitational Physics Group
13:30-14:30 – John Veitch
14:30-15:30 – Jason Dexter
16:00-17:00 – Silke Weinfurtner

Registration
https://www.iopconferences.org/iop/1129/home

Signed
The IOP Gravitational Physics Group Committee
gp.iop.org

Observing Black Holes: From the Universe to the lab, London, UK

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“Observing Black Holes: From the Universe to the lab”

This half-day meeting of the IOP Gravitational Physics Group is focused on recent observational developments of black holes. The meeting will be comprised of three speakers who will discuss the following topics:

Gravitational Wave Observations – John Veitch (University of Glasgow)
Imaging a Supermassive Black Hole – Jason Dexter (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics)
Observation of Superradiance in a Vortex Flow – Silke Weinfurtner (University of Nottingham)

All are welcome to attend and no registration fee will be charged. The talks will be preceded by the IOP Gravitational Physics Group annual general meeting

Signed

The IOP Gravitational Physics Group Committee

Probing the dark sector and general relativity at all scales at CERN, Geneve, Switzerland

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The standard cosmological model, based on the theory of general relativity, has been very successful in explaining the observable properties of the cosmos. This success is achieved at the price of assuming that the energy content of the universe is currently dominated by dark contributions; namely, dark matter and dark energy. Only the large-scale gravitational interaction of these components has been detected so far and their properties remain largely unknown, despite great effort, both theoretical and experimental, that has been made to identify any direct interactions between the dark sector and luminous matter. At present we do not even know if the dark components really exist as a new kind of matter or represent a mirage produced by modifications of the laws of gravity.

The rapid improvement in the quality and quantity of observational data requires the development of more precise and detailed descriptions of the predictions of various models for the dark sector. The prediction of each candidate model must be confronted with data on all scales where the model makes calculable predictions that can be tested observationally or experimentally. Progress in this direction requires a strong cooperative effort from experimentalists, observers and theorists.

The purpose of this TH Institute is to bring together experts in theory, experiments and observations interested in dark matter, dark energy and tests of the laws of gravity. It will provide an opportunity to discuss new ideas to probe the dark sector and general relativity at diverse scales. The topics to discuss include the current consistency tests of the standard cosmological model, the identification of new observable signatures of dark matter and dark energy, experimental/observational methods, tests of gravity, and questions such as to what extent it is possible to discriminate among alternative models. The program will include review talks on the state-of-the art in various fields, as well as contributions on more specific topics. A lot of free time will be left for discussions.

Organisers: Diego Blas, Clare Burrage, Justin Khoury, Diana Lopez Nacir, Paolo Pani, Sergey Sibiryakov, Alfredo Urbano

Geometric Foundations of Gravity in Tartu, Estonia

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Geometric Foundations of Gravity in Tartu

is a conference dedicated to the geometric foundations of gravity theories that will take place August 28 – September 1, 2017 in Tartu, Estonia. The aim of this conference is to gather experts on various alternative and modified approaches to gravity, as well as observations.

The main topics include:

* Gauge theories of gravity (Poincare, teleparallel, …)
* Extended field content and related theories ((multi)scalar-vector-tensor theories, Horndeski, f(R) gravity, generalized Proca, massive gravity and bimetric theories)
* Beyond Lorentzian geometry (Finsler geometry, modified dispersion relations)
* Observational evidence for GR and beyond

The conference is organized by the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, University of Tartu, Estonia.

Invited speakers are:

-Salvatore Capozziello (Napoli, Italy)
-Friedrich W. Hehl (Cologne, Germany)
-Lavinia Heisenberg (Zurich, Switzerland)
-Tomi S. Koivisto (Stockholm, Sweden)
-Claus Laemmerzahl (Bremen, Germany)
-Yuri N. Obukhov (Moscow, Russia)
-Sergei D. Odintsov (Barcelona, Spain)
-Jose G. Pereira (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
-Frederic Schuller (Erlangen, Germany)

The conference includes a social program including a presentation of the history of gravitational physics in Estonia, a public lecture and an excursion to Estonian natural heritage sites.

Registration is open and possible via the conference homepage

http://hexagon.fi.tartu.ee/~geomgrav2017

where all details on the meeting are available.

We are looking forward to meet you in Tartu in August, the organizing committee:
Laur Jaerv
Manuel Hohmann
Martin Krssak
Christian Pfeifer

Gravitational waves, Poland, Warsaw

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The conference on gravitational waves – mathematical, computational, astrophysical and quantum approaches. The conference will take place from the 9th (arrival day) to the 11th of December 2016 at the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw.

Invited Speakers: Iwo Bialynicki-Birula, Piotr Chrusciel, Joerg Frauendiener, Helmut Friedrich, Petr Horava, Piotr Jaranowski, Jerzy Kijowski, Andrzej Krolak, Igor Novikov, Pawel Nurowski, Roger Penrose, Uwe Semmelmann, Paul Tod, Andrzej Trautman.