Astronomical evidence for dark matter:

things to talk about:  galactic rotation curves; cluster
dynamics; strong gravitational lensing by galaxies in galaxy
clusters; weak gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters; CMB and
large-scale-structure measurements; the Bullet cluster

WIMP/Neutralino dark matter:

things to talk about:  WIMP freeze out in the early
Universe---how is the WIMP relic density related to the
annihilation cross section?  supersymmetric and other WIMP
candidates; direct detection of WIMPs; energetic neutrinos from
WIMP annihilation in the Sun; exotic cosmic rays from WIMP annihilation


Axions:

things to talk about:  the strong-CP problem; the Peccei-Quinn
solution; the relation between the axion mass and the PQ scale;
DFS versus KFSZ axions; cosmological abundance of axions;
astrophysical constraints to axion parameter constraint; direct
searches for dark-matter axions


Neutrino masses and mixing:

things to talk about:  the neutrino mass matrix; flavor versus
mass eigenstates; the possibility of CP violation with neutrino
mixing; what we learn from solar-neutrino experiments; from
atmospheric-neutrinos experiments; from KamLAND, SNO, and more
recent experiments; the LSND anomaly and mini-Boone; overview of
current experiments.  the best place to start is with a recent
review by Boris Kayser


Tests of short-range gravity and the equivalence principle:

things to talk about:  how the 1/r^2 force law might be changed
at short distances if there are large extra dimensions; how the
1/r^2 force law is tested at short distance; what are the
strong, weak, and einstein equivalence principles; how are they
measured by Eotvos-type experiments? by lunar-laser ranging?
what are the current constraints?


Double beta decay:

things to talk about:  majorana versus dirac neutrino masses;
how are the measurements done?  what are the current constraints?

Baryogenesis:

things to talk about:  the baryon asymmetry in the Universe;
Sakharov conditions for baryogenesis; baryogenesis by decaying
particles; baryogenesis by electroweak sphalerons; the
Affleck-Dine mechanism; recent asymmetric dark-matter scenarios


Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays:

things to talk about:  the GZK limit; the Hill radius;
cosmic-ray energy versus accelerator size and magnetic field;
possible astrophysical sources; possible exotic sources;
detection via surface arrays; detection by fluorescence
telescopes; measurements from the Auger observatory;
correlations of UHECRs with AGN?


extra dimensions:

things to talk about:  the ADD (Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos, Dvali)
scenario; the Randall-Sundrum mechanism; parametrizations;
constraints from short-range gravity tests; constraints from
missing-energy in accelerators; astrophysical constraints


theories for cosmic acceleration:

things to talk about:  the evidence for accelerated cosmological
expansion; how a cosmological constant explains cosmic
acceleration; the quantum-gravity expectation for the
cosmological constant; quintessence; f(R) gravity; the relation
between f(R) gravity and scalar-tensor theories; DGP gravity;
observational tests (including supernovae, baryon acoustic
oscillations, weak gravitational lensing, and cluster counts)


inflation and the CMB:

things to talk about:  the horizon problem; how inflation solves
the horizon problem; candidate inflaton fields; the predictions
of flatness and primordial perturbations; gravitational waves
from inflation; temperature fluctuations in the CMB (the power
spectrum); CMB-polarization probes of inflationary gravitational
waves

atomic tests of parity violation:

still working on this



supersymmetry searches at the LHC:

still working on this


integer/fractional quantum hall effect:

a good place to start is Steve Girvin's Les Houches lectures,
available at http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9907002  you
should be able to get through the first half, enough to get to
the Laughlin wave function.....more later



bcs theory of superconductivity:

things to talk about:  phenomenology of superconductors
(perfect conductivity; meissner effect, etc.); cooper pairs;
the bethe-goldstone equation; landau theory; BCS theory.  A good
place to start is de Genne's book, "Superconductivity of Metals
and Alloys", but there may be others as well......more later




last updated 3/28/11