Summer Program
New Synergies: Crafting the Next Generation Narrative for Cosmology and Particle Physics
June 14–July 5, 2026
Organizers:
Marilena Loverde, University of Washington
Gustavo Marques-Tavares, University of Utah
Sarah Shandera, Pennsylvania State University
Yuhsin Tsai, University of Notre Dame
Collider experiments have shown the need for new physics to address Naturalness problems of the Higgs and neutrino masses, as well as the strong CP problem. Precision cosmological data has also provided strong evidence for new physics related to dark matter, dark energy, and inflation. The Universe serves as a unique laboratory, sensitive to physics at very high energy scales or with minimal interactions with the Standard Model. Such physics includes scenarios with dark forces, secret neutrino interactions, axions and other light fields, dark matter self-interactions, and violent cosmological phase transitions, complementing collider studies. Yet, the framework to fully utilize cosmological observations—from sub-galactic scales to those probed by large-scale structure surveys—in conjunction with terrestrial experiments is missing. As a consequence, we may miss opportunities to jointly detect new physics from the laboratory to the cosmos. Particle physicists and cosmologists must come together to develop fresh phenomenological insights, identify new observables, and craft a new narrative for solving the many outstanding puzzles. This program aims to encourage interdisciplinary interactions across high-energy physics, cosmology, and astrophysics to advance our understanding of the Universe and its underlying laws.
Summer Workshops
The summer program, running for 16 weeks from late-May to mid-September, emphasizes exciting open problems at the cutting edge. Two or three concurrent workshops, each with a specific focus selected for timeliness and the potential for breakthroughs and of two to five weeks in length, establish the main themes of each week, with twelve or thirteen different workshops each summer, balanced across fields including particle physics, string theory, astrophysics and hard and soft condensed matter physics, as well as emerging areas including biological physics, ultra-cold atom physics, quantum information, and physical mathematics. Additional researchers participate in small working groups or as individual researchers. This framework is designed to maximize informal interactions and free discussion within each area and to promote cross-fertilization between different areas via the common language of theoretical physics. Participation in the summer program of the Aspen Center for Physics is by application and subsequent invitation only. View past workshops.
