KISS Dark Matter workshop

wikiwikiwiki

2009-07-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

Most of the activity is on the wiki. Reporting here as soon as some convergence has been achieved! (Or, make a request for updates!)

from big picture to specifics

2009-07-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Busy days! Lots of great talks (see pdf archive on http://www.kiss.caltech.edu/workshops/darkmatter2009/schedule.html), and discussions have concentrated what the questions are and on the terminology of the problems. This will be recapped in this morning's discussion, with specific homework laid out.

7/13 start

2009-07-13T07:02:00.001-07:00

The welcome session starts at 9am today. See you there.

Philosophical considerations

2009-07-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

(The following is cribbed from the "Workshop goals" page under http://kissdm.pbworks.com/)

The ultimate goal (as we're thinking about the problem at present), is to develop a mathematical framework, that will allow us to calculate something along the lines of 'figures of merit', both for each of many DM particle properties given an array of observables; and for the converse, of how well a single observable constraints one or more aspects of DM particle properties.

Philosophically, we would like to set the stage in a fashion that does not immediately force us to assume particle candidate A or B, within or outside of SUSY specifically. Is this practical, possible? We're trying to set it up this way, and will debate it at the workshop itself, starting on the very first day. Furthermore, it's going to be okay if we don't cover all aspects of everything in this workshop. Indeed, we are aiming to set up a framework (and terminology) that will be useful, fairly simple, and flexible/extensible, so that future model permutations and future observables can be ingested and examined in the context of everything else. Thoughts and comments on this are welcome!

Web 2.0 choices

2009-07-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

What is the most effective way to share ideas and keep conversations going, electronically, for this kind of a workshop+? The blog is linear, but is useful for catching up with highlights quickly, and making on-topic comments. The wiki has a lot more flexibility, and is already actively being worked on. So the wiki is likely to get most of the action. Stay tuned to the blog for continuing 'linear' updates of daily highlights and issues, and if interesting things develop, the ideas can be expressed more fully into the relevant parts of the wiki.

Onwards!

Invitation for community participation

2009-07-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Colleagues,

First of all, we apologize if you unintentionally receive this more than once. Nonetheless, we hope you will circulate this to others that you think may be interested.

Over the two weeks of July 13-24, there is a workshop on "Shedding Light on the Nature of Dark Matter" sponsored by the JPL+Caltech Keck Institute for Space Studies. The intent is to develop a framework that will allow numerous astrophysical, indirect, and direct measurements to constrain very general characteristics of dark matter, with an emphasis on broad extensions to the 'canonical' LCDM picture.

Though practical considerations have limited us to a modest number of resident participants, we would like to invite everybody who is interested to *actively participate* in all of the ideas and developments of our meet-up. To that end, we have established several complementary collaboration and networking means that we hope you and your colleagues will use. In particular, we have a dedicated Wikipage (to participate in), a blog (to comment on and discuss), and a twitter account (to follow).

KISS Mini-program webpage -- general information.
http://www.kiss.caltech.edu/mini-study/darkmatter/index.html

Workshop wiki -- to participate substantively, use this. An account is required, please contact Andrew Benson.
http://kissdm.pbworks.com/

Workshop Blog -- we expect several updates daily, and encourage comments and
discussions there.
http://kissdarkmatter.blogspot.com/

Workshop twitter.
http://twitter.com/kissdarkmatter

Future notes directed to the community at large will be posted on the blog, to not inundate mailboxes further. Please bookmark the link above, and follow there for highlights and more information. You may set up an RSS feed through your web-browser, if you like.

We welcome feedback and suggestions by all. Ideally, please post these on the blog itself, though personal email is always gratefully received!

Best wishes,
lm & ab

Welcome!

2009-07-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

The workshop starts in one week. Updates will be posted to this blog. We also have these communication and collaboration tools set up:

Wiki
Twitter
CVS (For LaTeX editing)

Stay tuned!