Dark Matter & Modified Gravity

Registration Deadline:13 January 2019

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Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Underdetermination between Dark Matter & Modified Gravity

"Dark Matter & Modified Gravity" is a 3-day conference taking place from 6 to 8 February 2019 at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. It aims to bring together physicists as well as philosophers, historians and sociologists of physics/science working at the interface of dark matter and modified gravity. This conference is organized by the project "LHC and Gravity" within the interdisciplinary, DFG-funded research unit "Epistemology of the LHC".

Astrophysical and cosmological observations as well as explanatory gaps in the Standard Model of particle physics imply the existence of Dark Matter and/or a modification of our theory of space and time. A decision between the Dark Matter (DM) and Modified Gravity (MG) approaches is hampered by problems of underdetermination at different levels and of different kinds. The plethora of Dark Matter and Modified Gravity approaches, and the corresponding underdetermination, even in the light of the vast amount of relevant collider based and astrophysical observations, clearly illustrates the complexity of this scientific problem. On the other hand, the overlap of the collider and astrophysical domains may allow for reducing the underdetermination, thus leading to a simplification of the model landscape. One focus of this conference is Dark Matter searches at the Large Hadron Collider and the connection between LHC results and theories of gravity. We will address the question of different kinds of underdetermination, both in choosing between the two research programs of Dark Matter and Modified Gravity, and also in choosing between different models within each program. In particular, we aim to provide an assessment of the explanatory power and the explanatory gaps of the Dark Matter and Modified Gravity hypotheses, and the extent to which these might reduce the issues of underdetermination.

Research topics include, but are not limited to:

• Is a strict conceptual distinction between DM and MG justified? How does this relate to the distinction between matter and spacetime?
• What are the explanatory successes and failures of the DM research programme, and of the MG research programme? Which models of explanation are being employed by the respective programmes, and how do those relate?
• Sociology of the DM-MG debate
• How do data, constraints and explanations at the LHC, in astrophysics and cosmology relate? Could the LHC, in principle, confirm dark matter by itself?
• Virtues and vices of simplified (dark matter) models. Do simplified models explain?
• Hybrid models, fifth forces & exotic theories that are neither MG nor DM
• Connections between dark energy and DM/MG
• Novel predictions, fine-tuning and falsifiability

Confirmed Speakers

Physics:

Philosophy:

History:

Contributing Speakers:

Registration

The organising committee invites participants from physics and from philosophy, history and sociology of physics/science, as well as anyone else who may be interested. In order to register for this conference, please email your name and affiliation to martens[at]physik.rwth-aachen.de by 13 January 2019. Registration is free. (Note that the deadline for abstract submissions has passed.)

flyer for download

Schedule 

A Google Calendar version of the schedule can be found here. A more detailed schedule including a booklet of abstracts can be found here. Participants that are already in Aachen on Tuesday the 5th of February are welcome to join us for informal drinks in Zum Goldenen Einhorn (Markt 33, 52062 Aachen) at 20:00.

Practical Information and Location Details

The venue of the conference is the Generali Room on the top floor of the SuperC building of RWTH Aachen University, Templergraben 57, 52062 Aachen. Coffee breaks, the reception on the first day, and the conference dinner on the second day will also be here. A list with suggestions for nearby lunch and dinner locations can be found here.

The following airports are nearby:

Organization & Contact

This workshop is organized by the project "LHC and Gravity" within the interdisciplinary, DFG-funded research unit "Epistemology of the LHC". For further information, please contact the organisers:

• Niels Martens (RWTH Aachen University) martens[at]physik.rwth-aachen.de
• Dennis Lehmkuhl (University of Bonn) dennis.lehmkuhl[at]uni-bonn.de
• Michael Krämer (RWTH Aachen University) mkraemer[at]physik.rwth-aachen.de
• Erhard Scholz (University of Wuppertal) scholz[at]math.uni-wuppertal.de
• Miguel Ángel Carretero Sahuquillo (University of Wuppertal) carreterosahuqu[at]uni-wuppertal.de