Programme

Programme

Day 1
08:45 – 09:15
Registration and welcome coffee
09:15 – 09:30
Welcome and opening remarks
09:30 – 10:35
Lam Hui (part 1)

TBA

10:35 – 10:55
Coeffee break & group photo
10:55 – 12:00
Lam Hui (part 2)

TBA

12:00 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:05
Yi Wang (part 1)

Cosmological perturbation theory and cosmological collider physics

We review cosmological perturbation theory, namely how inflationary fluctuations are generated and converted to curvature perturbation. Non-linear perturbations, i.e., non-Gaussianities will be emphasized, with a review of models generating large non-Gaussianities. After that, we will introduce cosmological collider physics – how to probe the particle content during inflation, and how to relate cosmological observations to particle physics models. 

15:05 – 15:25
Coeffee break
15:25 – 16:30
Yi Wang (part 2)

Cosmological perturbation theory and cosmological collider physics (cont.)

16:30 – 17:30
Panel discussion
17:30 – 19:30
Dinner

(for invited speakers and PIs among the participants)

19:30 – 21:30
Short talks
Day 2
09:30 – 10:35
Zhong-Zhi Xianyu (part 1)

Analytical approaches to cosmological correlators

This lecture will introduce several analytical strategies developed in recent years to understand and compute cosmological correlators, with a focus on their underlying analytical structure and application to cosmological collider physics. We will first review the path-integral approach and diagrammatic expansions of cosmological correlators, and then discuss a few general-purpose techniques that bypass direct Feynman integration, including the partial Mellin-Barnes representation, the differential equation method,  and family-tree decomposition.

10:35 – 10:55
Coeffee break
10:55 – 12:00
Zhong-Zhi Xianyu (part 2)

Analytical approaches to cosmological correlators (cont.)

12:00 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:05
(Pending) Austin Joyce (part 1)

TBA

15:05 – 15:25
Coeffee break
15:25 – 16:30
(Pending) Austin Joyce (part 2)

TBA

16:30 – 17:30
Panel discussion
17:30 – 21:30
Banquet

(for invited speakers and PIs among the participants)

Day 3
09:30 – 10:35
Oliver Philcox (part 1)

Observing Primordial Non-Gaussianity with Cosmological Surveys

This lecture will connect inflationary theory to observational data, focusing on the latest techniques for extracting primordial non-Gaussianity signatures in the CMB and Large-Scale Structure (LSS). I will first discuss the challenges and practicalities of constraining such signals with the CMB, and briefly present the state-of-the-art bounds from Planck. Though the CMB is a strong probe of non-Gaussianity, it’s constraining power will soon be surpassed by LSS, which requires different techniques to model. I will introduce the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structure (EFT) as a rigorous framework for modeling non-linear effects in the late-time universe, both from conventional gravitational evolution and primordial particle interactions. Finally, I will summarize the current state-of-the-field and important challenges for the next generation of surveys. 

10:35 – 10:55
Coeffee break
10:55 – 12:00
Oliver Philcox (part 2)

Observing Primordial Non-Gaussianity with Cosmological Surveys (Cont.)

12:00 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:05
Hayden Lee (part 1)

TBA

15:05 – 15:25
Coeffee break
15:25 – 16:30
Hayden Lee (part 2)

TBA

16:30 – 17:30
Closing remarks
17:30 – 19:30
Dinner

(for invited speakers and PIs among the participants)

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