Charting the Future Symposium25th Anniversary

Aug 25, 2025, 8:00 a.m. → Aug 29, 2025, 5:00 p.m. America/Toronto

PI/2-292 - Time Room (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)

Charting the Future Symposium: Big questions in particle physics, strong gravity, and cosmology over the next 25 years

Join us for a special symposium celebrating Perimeter’s 25th anniversary. This event offers a unique opportunity to unite Perimeter alumni and friends in the fields of cosmology, particle physics, and strong gravity with our extended community, reflect on a quarter-century of discovery, and look ahead to the challenges and opportunities that will shape the next 25 years of fundamental physics.

Over the past quarter-century, we have witnessed transformative advances across our fields. In particle physics, the discovery of the Higgs boson crowned decades of effort, while precision experiments continue to probe the Standard Model and search for new physics. In strong gravity, the direct detection of gravitational waves has opened a new observational window onto black holes, neutron stars, and the very fabric of spacetime. In cosmology, precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure have revolutionized our understanding of the universe’s origins and evolution, even as dark matter and dark energy remain profound mysteries.

As we look to the future, a new generation of experiments, observations, and theoretical ideas promises to drive further revolutions. From uncovering physics beyond the Standard Model to probing the nature of spacetime and the earliest moments of the cosmos, the next 25 years are poised to be as transformative as the last.

This symposium will bring together leading researchers, young scientists, alumni, and friends to celebrate past achievements, and imagine the discoveries yet to come. We invite you to be part of this landmark event at Perimeter Institute, as we honor the spirit of curiosity, ambition, and collaboration that has defined our journey so far — and will carry us forward

Invited Speakers

• Haipeng An (Tsinghua University)
• Masha Baryakhtar (University of Washington)
• Brian Batell (University of Pittsburgh)
• Laura Bernard (Observatoire de Paris)
• Richard Bond (CITA)
• Pablo Bosch Gomez (Utrecht University)
• Latham Boyle (University of Edinburgh)
• Patrick Brady (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
• Joe Bramante (Queen's University)
• Savas Dimopoulos (Perimeter Institute)
• Adrienne Erickcek (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
• Stefania Gori (UC Santa Cruz)
• Chad Hanna (Pennsylvania State)
• Renée Hložek (University of Toronto)
• Yoni Kahn (University of Toronto)
• Vicky Kaspi (McGill University)
• Gordan Krnjaic (Fermilab)
• Ian Low (Northwestern University)
• Mathew Madhavacheril (University of Pennsylvania)
• David Morissey (TRIUMF)
• Moritz Münchmeyer (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
• Ue-Li Pen (CITA, Perimeter Institute)
• Will Percival (Perimeter Institute)
• Maxim Pospelov (University of Minnesota)
• Josef Pradler (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
• Daniel Siegel (University of Greifswald)
• Nils Siemonsen (Princeton University)
• Carlos Wagner (University of Chicago)
• Huan Yang (Tsinghua University)
• Matias Zaldarriaga (IAS)

 

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Organizing Committee
Asimina Arvanitaki
Luis Lehner
Sergey Sibiryakov
Kendrick Smith

Mon, August 25

8:30 a.m. Registration

1 Opening Remarks

Speaker: Marcela Carena (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)

2 Conference Talk

Speaker: Matias Zaldarriaga (Institute for Advanced Study)

3 Measuring H0 and dark energy with DESI

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is the first of a new generation of Dark Energy experiments and probes evolution in the universe using galaxy clustering. Within the galaxy clustering signal, the projected location of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) acts as a standard ruler to map cosmic evolution. I will present the latest BAO results from the DESI Data Release 2 (DR2) sample, which contains 3 years of data, and their impact on our understanding of dark energy and neutrino masses. Finally, I will consider how the amplitude of the BAO signal can help us measure the Hubble constant, potentially helping to solve the Hubble tension.

Speaker: Will Percival (University of Waterloo)

10:30 a.m. Break

4 Searches for high mass composite dark matter

A number of theories for dark matter predict the formation of massive composite states in the early universe. Discovering dark matter with a unit mass in excess of a microgram requires methods beyond traditional underground experiments. I will discuss the most trenchant past searches for high mass composites, including mica and plastic etch detectors, along with future prospects.

Speaker: Joseph Bramante (Queen's University)

5 Conference Talk

Speaker: Maya Fishbach (Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA))

12:00 p.m. Lunch

6 Conference Talk

Speaker: Brian Batell (University of Pittsburgh)

7 Conference Talk

Speaker: Gordon Krnjaic (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)

8 Conference Talk

Speaker: Pablo Bosch Gomez (Utrecht University)

9 Conference Talk

Speaker: Josef Pradler (Austrian Academy of Sciences & University of Vienna)

3:30 p.m. Welcome Reception

Tue, August 26

10 Status and Prospects of AI Reasoning in Theoretical Physics

I will give a brief review of how large-language models are now being used for theoretical physics research. I will show the rapid progress of these models at the example of the TPBench benchmark, and present our recent work on improving their reliability with a symbolic verification agent and test-time scaling techniques. I will also discuss whether these models are truly reasoning and speculate how we might improve their performance in our field in the future.

Speaker: Moritz Munchmeyer (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

11 Conference Talk

Speaker: Daniel Siegel (Universität Greifswald)

10:30 a.m. Break

12 Conference Talk

Speaker: Carlos Wagner (University of Chicago)

13 Conference Talk

Speaker: Ue-Li Pen (University of Toronto)

12:00 p.m. Lunch

14 Conference Talk

Speaker: Stephen Green (University of Nottingham)

15 Conference Talk

Speaker: Masha Baryakhtar (University of Washington)

2:30 p.m. Collaboration Break

16 Conference Talk

Speaker: David Morrissey (TRIUMF)

17 Conference Talk

Speaker: Reed Essick (University of Toronto)

Wed, August 27

18 Conference Talk

Speaker: Haipeng An (Tsinghua University)

19 Conference Talk

Speaker: Adrienne Erickcek (UNC Chapel Hill)

10:30 a.m. Break

20 PN still alive : analytical waveforms to challenge GR

In this talk, I will give an overview of why the PN formalism is still relevant to model gravitational waves, focusing on recent synergies with other techniques and research topics. Taking the example of EFT-inspired higher curvature gravity theories, I will present a way towards building better gravitational wave tests to be used by next generation detectors.

Speaker: Laura Bernard (Laboratoire Univers et Théories (LUTH))

21 Conference Talk

Speaker: Stefania Gori (University of California, Santa Cruz)

12:00 p.m. Lunch

6:45 p.m. Public Lecture: Savas Dimopoulos (ticket required)

Thu, August 28

22 Conference Talk

Speaker: Latham Boyle (University of Edinburgh)

23 Conference Talk

Speaker: Patrick Brady (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)

10:30 a.m. Break

24 Conference Talk

Speaker: Ian Low (Argonne National Laboratory)

25 Big Bang Nucleosynthesis as a Probe of New Physics

I will discuss BBN and a new python-based tool (PRyMordial) which allows one to easily simulate it both in the context of a standard cosmological model as well as in various scenarios of physics beyond the Standard Model. I’ll discuss how BBN provides a unique probe of physics relevant for the ~ MeV scale, and how it constrains or hints at modifications to the standard picture.

Speaker: Tim Tait (University of California, Irvine)

12:00 p.m. Lunch

26 Ringing Black Holes

In this talk I will discuss one of the frontiers of both theory and data analysis in gravitational wave astronomy - understanding the ringing of black holes and probing them from real data. I will review past efforts started from Chandrasekhar, Detweiler, et al in analyzing modes of black holes and explain what we currently understand in both linear and nonlinear wave properties, as well as the corresponding detection aspect. At last I will show a few pressing problems and where we will be heading.

Speaker: Huan Yang (Tsinghua University)

27 Conference Talk

Speaker: Roni Harnik (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)

2:30 p.m. Collaboration Break

28 Conference Talk

Speaker: Renée Hložek (University of Toronto)

29 Ergoregion instability: the nonlinear story

Compact, spinning, and horizonless spacetimes can develop an ergoregion, where massless negative-energy states are quasi-trapped and drive the ergoregion instability. I will briefly review the linear mechanism and then describe recent progress in understanding the nonlinear evolution. Nonlinear mode coupling can amplify high-frequency modes through a turbulent direct cascade inside the ergoregion. Gravitational backreaction leads to an enhancement of the unstable process, and ultimately, black hole formation. I will illustrate the relevant dynamics and discuss implications for strongly gravitating horizonless systems.

Speaker: Nils Peter Siemonsen (Princeton University)

6:00 p.m. Banquet

Fri, August 29

30 Ultraswift: A coordinated effort to detect prompt EM emission from binary neutron star mergers

To date only one astronomical event has been observed in both gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves -- the merger of two neutron stars known as GW170817. This event was detected in gamma rays simultaneously with gravitational waves, but was poorly localized initially. No other counterparts were detected until localization was improved leading to an 11 hour dearth of data in other EM wavelengths. GW170817 also demonstrated that realistic neutron star mergers may have off-axis GRB observations that could be sub-threshold in modern instruments. Here we describe an ongoing coordinated effort to detect binary neutron stars before they merge using gravitational waves and to slew NASA's Swift observatory to catch prompt potentially sub-threshold GRB and x-ray emission. If successful, this ambitious project would pin down the event location allowing for prompt follow-up observations across all other wavelengths. Multimessenger observations of binary neutron star mergers (gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves) have deep implications for nuclear physics, strong gravity and cosmology.

Speaker: Chad Hanna (Pennsylvania State University)

31 The Fast Transient Radio Sky

Fast Radio Bursts are a recently discovered phenomenon consisting of brief (typically few millisecond) bursts of radio waves coming from far outside our Milky Way galaxy, indeed from cosmological distances. Their origin is unknown. I will review what is known about these mysterious sources, and how they can act as novel probes of the matter distribution in the Universe. I will focus on results from the CHIME Fast Radio Burst Project, which uses a new Canadian digital radio telescope that is revolutionizing our view of the fast transient sky. I will also introduce the CHIME/FRB Outriggers, which will enable precise sky localizations for >1000 CHIME FRBs, hence permit host galaxy ID and redshift determinations.

Speaker: Vicky Kaspi (Department of Physics, Trottier Space Institute)

10:30 a.m. Break

32 Particle Physics at the Intersection of Fields

Over the past 25 years, particle physics has grown and thrived by making connections with other fields of physics and the physical sciences in general. As we look forward to the next 25 years, the flexible toolbox of high-energy physics can be put to use on a number of problems outside the traditional application of collider physics, and we should keep an open mind and go where the data leads us. I will give several examples of fruitful interdisciplinary collaborations in particle physics from my own research career, including condensed matter physics, quantum chemistry, quantum sensing, and machine learning.

Speaker: Yoni Kahn (University of Toronto)

33 Conference Talk

Speaker: Richard Bond (University of Toronto)

12:00 p.m. Lunch

34 Conference Talk

Speaker: Mathew Madhavarcheril (University of Pennsylvania)

35 Conference Talk

36 Conference Talk

Speaker: Maxim Pospelov (University of Minnesota)

37 Closing Remarks