| “All science is either physics or stamp collecting.” –Ernest Rutherford 2012 Winter ConferencesClick Here to ApplyBiophysics Growth and Form: Pattern Formation in BiologyOrganizers: How do biological systems regulate growth and produce the patterns seen in nature? This conference will explore this broad question that spans such diverse topics as developmental biology, cancer, biomineralization, and flocking. Specific examples include embryonic development, the formation and structure of organs and tissues, wound healing, branching structure of neurons and blood vessels, leaf arrangement and flower patterns, microstructure of bones and seashells, swarming of bacteria and biofilm formation, and flocking of birds and fish. An increasing number of physicists, mathematicians, engineers, and biologists are using physical principles, statistical mechanics, and modeling to approach this wide spectrum of problems. Indeed, 2010 was the 150th anniversary of the birth of D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, the author of the classic work On Growth and Form. Unlike the biologists of his day who emphasized the role of evolution in determining the form and structure of living organisms, Thompson pointed out the importance of physical laws and mechanics. This is true now more than ever. Deadline to apply is October 15, 2011. For more information, please click here. Condensed Matter Physics Sunday evening reception New Directions in Ultracold Atomic SystemsOrganizers: This conference will cover the latest developments in ultra-cold atoms and molecules. The precision and control of atomic physics now allows the study of well-characterized and tunable many-body systems, ranging from dynamics of strongly correlated bosons and fermions to quantum magnetism. This has created a new direction in condensed matter physics, the experimental study of idealized model systems, which is strongly connected to theoretical work. Deadline to apply is October 15, 2011.
Astrophysics Sunday evening reception ExoClimes 2012: The Diversity of Planetary AtmospheresOrganizers: Ground-based surveys and NASA's Kepler mission are discovering countless planets, for which only mass, radius and orbit are known. Scientists and the public want to know what these worlds are like, which is largely a question of climate. Yet modelers are unable to rely on the myriad data that pin the climate models of Earth and --to a lesser degree-- those of other solar system worlds. Instead, we need models of planetary atmospheres that are robust to incident flux, rotation rate, chemistry, ionization, and surface gravity, to name a few. In the last half-decade, data from the ground and space have begun to place useful constraints on general circulation and 1-D climate models of hot, gaseous exoplanets; in the upcoming decade, new instruments and facilities will enable the characterization of potentially habitable terrestrial planets. Modelers need empirical data to guide their models, and astronomers need qualitatively new models to interpret their data. This meeting will provide a timely opportunity for astrophysicists, planetary scientists and climate modelers to exchange ideas about the state of the art. The two principal themes will be: 1) what exoplanet properties can we measure in the foreseeable future? and 2) how will these data constrain climate models? Deadline to apply is October 15, 2011. For more information, please click here. Astrophysics Saturday evening reception The Physics of Astronomical TransientsOrganizers: Rapid advances in detector technology, computer processing power and data storage are fostering a data-driven revolution in astrophysics. This is enabling surveys that probe ever-larger areas of the sky and ever-fainter sources, opening up a vast discovery space. These advances also add temporal information to what was previously a relatively static picture of the sky. In addition to aiding the discovery of whole new classes of variable astronomical phenomena, temporal information probes the fundamental physics of the underlying objects. Coupling these surveys with innovative exploration strategies and novel theoretical work will open new windows onto the universe. This meeting will focus on issues related to the physics and discovery of astronomical transients. Topics will range from the extragalactic: detection of gamma-ray bursts, and supernovae in distant galaxies, variable AGN, to the galactic: variable stars, novae, and other cataclysmic events. Deadline to apply is October 30, 2011. Astrophysics Monday evening reception Inflationary Theory and Its Confrontation with Data in the Planck EraOrganizers:
Condensed Matter Physics Sunday evening reception New Paradigms for Low-Dimensional Electronic MaterialsOrganizers: Several of the most exciting recent developments in condensed matter involve new ways to create and probe low-dimensional electronic materials. The metallic interface between some insulating oxides and the metallic surface of a three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator are both examples of novel 2D electron systems that inherit properties from the 3D host materials, via electronic correlations in the first case and spin-orbit coupling in the second. The ``conventional'' two-dimensional electron gas has continued to produce surprises such as paired quantum Hall states, while graphene is an intrinisically two-dimensional system with several novel features. Another area of progress in quantum condensed matter was the development of new probes of 2D or quasi-2D systems; to pick just one example, advances in spin-resolved photoemission were crucial in confirming theoretical predictions about the surface states of topological insulators. We propose a winter conference that will bring together experimentalists and theorists working in these rapidly developing areas of quantum condensed matter. The combination of fields above is broad enough to go beyond topical workshops while focused enough to have common interests and intense discussions. As an example, while topological insulators and oxide interfaces originally involved different materials families and workers from different backgrounds, it is becoming clear that realizing the potential of topological insulators will likely require creating interfaces to more correlated materials (magnets and super-conductors). Participants should leave with a better understanding of the remarkable recent progress in quantum condensed matter and an appreciation of where future progress is likely.
Deadline to apply is November 15, 2011. For more information, please click here.
Particle Physics Saturday evening reception The Hunt for New Particles, from the Alps to the Plains to the RockiesOrganizers: Particle physics is about to experience one of its most exciting years in recent history. By winter 2012, the LHC experiments (in the Alps) are expected to have analyzed several orders of magnitude more data than for their first results of early 2011 and analyses from the final run of the Tevatron (in the Plains) will be nearing completion. There is great potential for discoveries of new particles, or laws of nature. We plan to gather together (in the Rockies) a diverse group of experimentalists and theorists and incite energetic exchange of ideas, information and knowledge gathered at the newly explored frontiers of particle physics, that will shape the future of the field. In addition to the hunt for new particles at colliders, our current understanding of the nature of electroweak scale dark matter will also be highlighted, as well as the latest results on heavy-ion, neutrino and heavy flavor physics. Deadline to apply is November 30, 2011.For more information, please click here.
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