Gravity

…astrophysics, quantum field theory, gravity and string theory; the expected start is September 2027.

Explore path-integration techniques linking quantum mechanics, quantum field theory and gravity. Five themes connect worldline methods, strong external backgrounds, heat-kernel expansions and resurgence, on-shell quantities, and geometry in first quantisation. Discussion includes curved spaces, superspace and nontrivial topology, as well as representations of wavefunctions, scattering amplitudes and gravitational waveforms. Review lectures introduce challenges in each area, followed by invited and contributed talks, two poster sessions and extended collaborative discussions across research com

A weak attractive interaction confined to dark matter can outweigh gravity over subgalactic distances. This talk studies its effects on collapse and stable bound structures when the force is screened beyond roughly kiloparsec scales. Delaying its onset until low cosmic density avoids early-Universe and galaxy-structure constraints. For fermionic matter, the additional attraction can support much lighter particles against degeneracy pressure; a density-triggered phase transition provides a concrete delayed-activation mechanism.

…compact objects to black holes, gravity and gravitational-wave observations.

…particle physics, possible changes to gravity and the observations that could help distinguish competing theories.

Daniel Harlow discusses what attempts to reconcile gravity and quantum mechanics reveal about quantum theory itself. The conversation follows black-hole radiation, information loss, the wave function of the universe, the AdS/CFT correspondence and quantum information. It then connects these developments to quantum cosmology and questions about the structure of quantum mechanics.

…Gravity competes with turbulent motions and magnetic support before collapse produces a young star and surrounding disk. Observations from space telescopes and millimetre arrays connect these processes to the earliest stages of planetary systems.

Gravity is a constant in our lives. It provides an internalized reference to which all other perceptions are related. We can experimentally manipulate the relationship between physical gravity with other cues to the direction of “up” using virtual reality - with either HMDs or specially built tilting environments - to explore how gravity contributes to perceptual judgements. The effect of gravity can also be cancelled by running experiments on the International Space Station in low Earth orbit. Changing orientation relative to gravity - or even just perceived orientation – affects your percept

Gravity is a constant in our lives. It provides an internalized reference to which all other perceptions are related. We can experimentally manipulate the relationship between physical gravity with other cues to the direction of “up” using virtual reality - with either HMDs or specially built tilting environments - to explore how gravity contributes to perceptual judgements. The effect of gravity can also be cancelled by running experiments on the International Space Station in low Earth orbit. Changing orientation relative to gravity - or even just perceived orientation – affects your percept