Physics Sessions Initiative 2025 - Pollica

Abstract

The goal of PSI is to create a space for open scientific discussion, free from the overwhelming constraints of the canonical structure of a typical conference. The organizers, as well as many of our colleagues, believe that our field would benefit from meetings focused on important ideas and insights, rather than endless slides containing the details of people’s latest papers. As our field is entering a phase of increasing fragmentation, it is paramount to emphasise common themes and uncover unifying concepts. The main objective of these sessions will be to discuss new directions for open problems.

The PSI meetings will be structured in a minimalist fashion. Approximately 30-35 of us will meet for a week to discuss a set of five topics. Each topic of discussion will be led by two to three session leaders, who will also provide a (very short) selection of relevant literature in advance for people to study. Once again, these sessions will not revolve around the speaker’s latest work but will be focused on future ideas for a current problem.

What is expected from our participants is simple but crucial:

• Suggest topics for discussion.
• Read the (minimal) assigned literature.
• Be present for the whole week (arrival afternoon June 8th, departure morning June 14th).

Previous editions ( 2023 , 2022 and 2021 (topics and participants available following the links)) were a great success. Feel free to contact us or previous participants for further information on the meeting and its format. That original series of events took place in Crete, Greece. We have now decided to experiment with a new venue: Pollica, in the beautiful region of Naples, Italy.

Participants include:

• Max Metliski
• Alessandro Tomasiello
• Monica Guica
• Sean Hartnoll
• Adam Levine
• Gabriele Cuomo
• Curt von Keyserlingk
• Thomas Hertog
• Raphael Bousso
• Guilherme Pimentel
• Chi-Ming Chang
• Moshe Rozali
• Sumit Das
• Luigi Tizzano
• Yiming Chen
• Alan Rios Fukelman
• Joseph Minahan*
• Stathis Vitouladitis
• and more

Organizers:

• Dionysios Anninos
• Tarek Anous
• Damian Galante
• Diego Hofman

Tarek Anous (طارق عانوس)

Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) | UKRI Future Leaders Fellow

Model building for gravitating systems.