23rd Simons Physics Summer Workshop: Theory, Experiment and the Emerging New Physics: July 27 – August 14, 2026

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FULL SCHEDULE BY WEEK (PDF)

PDF Schedule Week 1 PDF Schedule Week 2 PDF Schedule Week 3

Week 1 Photos

Scientific Organizer: Cumrun Vafa (Harvard),

Local Organizer: Martin Rocek (CN Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics)

The Simons Physics Summer Workshop is the Eighteenth conducted by the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook and the twenty-third in the series Simons Physics Summer Workshops. This year, the Simons Summer Workshop in Physics will focus on the interplay between ongoing experimental observations in cosmology, particle physics, and precision measurements, and theoretical models that challenge the standard frameworks of particle physics and cosmology—models that may help explain some of the puzzling results now beginning to emerge.

Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays

  • All talks will be held in the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics Lecture Hall (Room 102).
  • Breakfast will be served daily from 9:00am-10:00am in the Simons Center Cafe, 2nd floor.
  • Lunch will be served from 12:00pm-2:00pm in the Simons Center Cafe, 2nd floor.
  • Tea time will be in the Simons Center Cafe at 3:30pm *Tuesday Tea time will be at 4:30 before the concert in the SCGP Lobby

Wednesdays

  • The talk will be at Smith Point Beach at 11AM (please see Special Events above). Lunch will be served at Smith Point Beach around 12:30pm.

SPECIAL EVENTS & BANQUETS

Tuesdays: Summer Concert Series– 5PM – SCGP Auditorium

Thursdays: Banquet Dinners
(please see Special Events above)

  • Thursday, July 30, 2026 – Banquet Dinner Hosted by Luis Alvarez-Gaume – 6PM – SCGP Cafe
  • Thursday, August 6, 2026 – Special Dinner Hosted by Marilyn Simons – 6PM – Avalon Park
  • Thursday, August 13, 2026 – Special Dinner Hosted by Martin Rocek – 7:00PM – Rocek Residence

Talk Schedule Week 1


Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am Cosmic acceleration and dark energy in light of DESI and other recent cosmological observations – Part 1 Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am Cosmic acceleration and dark energy in light of DESI and other recent cosmological observations – Part 2 Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki SCGP 102
12:00pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
3:30pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am String Theory and the Dark Universe – Part 1 Georges Obied SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am String Theory and the Dark Universe – Part 2 Georges Obied SCGP 102
12:10pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
4:15pm Tea N/A SCGP Cafe
5:00pm Summer Concert Series Long Island Chamber Music Group SCGP 103

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
11:00am Cosmological tensions and decaying particles Mark Kamionkowski Smith Point County Park, 1 William Floyd Pkwy, Shirley, NY 11967

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am The Dark Dimension – Part 1 Miguel Montero SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am The Dark Dimension – Part 2 Miguel Montero SCGP 102
12:00pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
3:30pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe
5:30pm Workshop: Banquet Hosted by: Luis Alvarez-Gaume SCGP Cafe

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am Gravitational Waves in Cosmology – Part 1 Sonia Paban SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am Gravitational Waves in Cosmology – Part 2 Sonia Paban SCGP 102
12:00pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
3:30pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe


Talk Schedule Week 2


Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am Euclidean Wormholes and Axion Physics – Part 1 Gary Shiu SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am Euclidean Wormholes and Axion Physics – Part 2 Gary Shiu SCGP 102
12:00pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
3:30pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am Multifield Cosmology and the Dark Universe – Part 1 Lilia Anguelova SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am Multifield Cosmology and the Dark Universe – Part 1 Lilia Anguelova SCGP 102
12:10pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
4:15pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe
5:00pm Performance: The Price of Belonging – Assimilated but Never Accepted Leon Livshin (piano) and Sophie Shao (cello) SCGP 103

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
11:00am Puzzles, Progress, and New Constraints in Cosmological String Backgrounds Alek Bedroya Smith Point County Park, 1 William Floyd Pkwy, Shirley, NY 11967, USA

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am Can String Theory be Falsified or Verified? – Part 1 Johnathan Heckman SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am Can String Theory be Falsified or Verified? – Part 2 Johnathan Heckman SCGP 102
12:00pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
3:30pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe
6:00pm Banquet: Avalon Park Hosted by Marilyn Simons Avalon Park

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am Wormholes as red herrings: reflection positivity and the reconstruction of unitary quantum field theories – Part 1 Jacob McNamara SCGP102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am Wormholes as red herrings: reflection positivity and the reconstruction of unitary quantum field theories – Part 2 Jacob McNamara SCGP102
12:00pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
3:30pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe


Talk Schedule Week 3


Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am Single minus graviton amplitudes from the BFSS matrix model – Part 1 Juan Maldacena SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am Single minus graviton amplitudes from the BFSS matrix model – Part 2 Juan Maldacena SCGP 102
12:00pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
3:30pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am The James Webb Space Telescope and the Distance Network: New Paths to Understanding the Hubble Tension – Part 1 Adam Riess SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am The James Webb Space Telescope and the Distance Network: New Paths to Understanding the Hubble Tension – Part 2 Adam Riess SCGP 102
12:10pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
4:15pm Tea Reception N/A SCGP Lobby
5:00pm Simons Summer Concert Series: Performance by the Jazz Loft N/A 103

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
11:00am Piercing the veil of the CMB with spectral distortions Bryce Cyr Smith Point County Park Campground, 1 William Floyd Pkwy, Shirley, NY 11967, USA

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
10:00am Beyond Lambda: extracting dark energy information in an era of  tensions- Part 1 Vivian Miranda SCGP 102
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
11:30am Beyond Lambda: extracting dark energy information in an era of  tensions- Part 2 Vivian Miranda SCGP 102
12:00pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
3:30pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe
7:00pm Banquet Dinner at Martin Rocek’s House N/A N/A

10:00amThe Future of the Energy Frontier – Part 1Patrick MeadeSCGP 10211:30amThe Future of the Energy Frontier – Part 2Patrick MeadeSCGP 102

Time Title Speaker Location
9:00am Breakfast N/A SCGP Cafe
11:00am Coffee Break N/A SCGP Cafe
12:00pm Lunch N/A SCGP Cafe
3:30pm Workshop: Tea Break N/A SCGP Cafe