Related papers: Snowmass White Paper: Moonshine
String theory is the leading contemporary framework to explore the synthesis of quantum mechanics with gravity. String phenomenology aims to study string theory while maintaining contact with observational data. The fermionic $Z_2\times…
This article briefly summarizes the motivations for -- and recent progress in -- searching for cosmological configurations within string theory, with a focus on how much we might reasonably hope to learn about fundamental physics from…
After recalling the definition of black holes, and reviewing their energetics and their classical thermodynamics, one expounds the conjecture of Bekenstein, attributing an entropy to black holes, and the calculation by Hawking of the…
Implications of the recent results on neutrino masses and mixing to underlying new physics are considered. Various approaches to physics behind neutrino mass are described which include the tri-bimaximal mixing and flavor symmetries, the…
In the first part of these lectures the neutrino mixing hypothesis will be considered in detail. We will discuss the possible schemes of neutrino mixing and present the data of the recent experiments searching for effects due to…
Introduction to the theory of decoherence. Contents: 1. The phenomenon of decoherence: superpositions, superselection rules, decoherence by "measurements". 2. Observables as a derivable concept. 3. The measurement problem. 4. Density…
The introduction to this review summarizes chromosphere observation in two figures. The first part showcases the historical emphasis on the eclipse chromosphere in the development of NLTE line formation theory and criticizes 1D modeling.…
These notes, connected to a "potpourri" topics class currently underway, discuss some basic topics in analysis and connections with other areas of mathematics.
While observational cosmology has shown tremendous growth over the last decade, deep mysteries continue to haunt our theoretical understanding of the ingredients of the concordance cosmological model, which are mainly `dark'. More than 95…
The interplay between string theory and cosmology is very promising. Since string theory will yield a quantum theory of space-time and unify all forces of nature, it has the potential of addressing many of the conceptual problems of the…
String Theory is a hot topic of physics and mathematics. For the former, it stands as a huge sandbox where the formulation of difficult problems can be simplified and their hard computations carried out. For the latter, it stands as a…
This presentation is intended to give a flavour of the physics to be studied and discovered by exploiting the interface between string theory, M-theory and field theory provided by the dynamics of extended objects called `branes', and their…
Important open questions in cosmology require a better understanding of the Big Bang singularity. In string and matrix theories, light-like analogues of cosmological singularities (singular plane wave backgrounds) turn out to be…
In this talk I will review our present knowledge on neutrino masses and mixing trying to emphasize what has been definitively proved and what is in the process of being probed. I will also discuss the most important theoretical implications…
This article provides a (semi-)popular introduction to the phenomenology of neutrino masses.
Theoretical aspects of neutrino physics are reviewed, with emphasis on possible explanations of the smallness of neutrino masses and of the peculiar mixing pattern observed in the lepton sector. Some theoretically motivated frameworks, such…
We summarize progress made in theoretical astrophysics and cosmology over the past decade and areas of interest for the coming decade. This Report is prepared as the TF09 "Astrophysics and Cosmology" topical group summary for the Theory…
During 2004, four divisions of the American Physical Society commissioned a study of neutrino physics to take stock of where the field is at the moment and where it is going in the near and far future. Several working groups looked at…
We present a short review of the existing evidence in favor of neutrino mass and neutrino oscillations which come from different kinds of experiments. We focus our attention in particular on solar neutrinos, presenting a global updated…
String theory and supersymmetry are theoretical ideas that go beyond the standard model of particle physics and show promise for unifying all forces. After a brief introduction to supersymmetry, we discuss the prospects for its experimental…