Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University to Co-Host 2015 Theoretical Physics Program

The Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University will cohost the 2015 Prospects in Theoretical Physics program on July 20 to 31, which convenes graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from around the world to explore “New Insights About Quantum Matter.” The fourteenth annual Prospects in Theoretical Physics program will be offered as a joint program in conjunction with the eleventh annual Princeton Summer School on Condensed Matter Physics.

“This program covers a novel and exciting area of research which is witnessing the experimental implementation in solid state systems of advanced concepts in theoretical physics and mathematics,” said Chiara Nappi, Professor Emerita at Princeton University and organizer of the program.

Prospects in Theoretical Physics builds on the strong relationship of the research groups at the Institute and Princeton University, and faculty members from both institutions are involved in the program. The intensive two-week residential program is intended for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars engaged in all areas of theoretical physics. More than 150 international participants will attend a range of lectures on the latest advances and open questions in the area of topology and topological quantum field theory.

First held at the Institute in 2002, Prospects in Theoretical Physics seeks to help the physics community train the next generation of scholars in various areas of theoretical physics. In past years the program has covered a range of topics including cosmology, supersymmetry, astrophysics and computation and biology. A special effort is made to reach out to women and minorities, along with graduate students in small universities who typically do not have the same opportunities and access to leaders in the field as graduate students in large research institutions.

Prospects in Theoretical Physics 2015 is jointly organized by Chiara Nappi of Princeton University and Edward Witten, Charles Simonyi Professor in the School of Natural Sciences. In addition to the organizers, lecturers include Waseem Bakr, Bogdan Bernevig, Duncan Haldane, Zahid Hasan, Nai Phuan Ong and Shivaji Sondhi of Princeton University; Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor and Nathan Seiberg of the Institute for Advanced Study; Charles Kane of the University of Pennsylvania; Vidya Madhavan of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Greg Moore of Rutgers University; Nicholas Read of Yale University; Xiao-Gang Wen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Amir Yacoby of Harvard University.

For more information visit www.sns.ias.edu/pitp. Follow lectures, conversations and more via social media by using #2015PiTP.