HECAP Workshop Draws 30-Plus Researchers to Probe Dark Matter and Early-Universe Physics
Updated
Updated · CERN Courier · Jun 2
HECAP Workshop Draws 30-Plus Researchers to Probe Dark Matter and Early-Universe Physics
1 articles · Updated · CERN Courier · Jun 2
Summary
More than 30 researchers met at NYU Abu Dhabi on Jan. 13-15 to examine dark matter, early-universe physics and other routes to physics beyond the Standard Model.
Dark matter discussions centered on how it formed—contrasting freeze-out with freeze-in scenarios—and on models involving multi-component dark sectors, gravity-mediated production and warped extra dimensions.
LHC searches featured prominently, with speakers highlighting long-lived dark-sector particles, displaced-vertex signatures, reinterpretation of existing collider data and prospects at the proposed Future Circular Collider.
Early-universe sessions linked reheating, phase transitions, vacuum decay and primordial black holes to potentially observable gravitational-wave signals, showing how cosmology can test new physics.
The workshop also reviewed precision probes including flavor anomalies, CP asymmetries and neutrinoless double-beta decay, underscoring the field's reliance on theory, experiments and astrophysical observations.
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HECAP 2026 Report: Dark Matter Production, Early Universe Evolution, and Global Collaboration in Physics
Overview
The HECAP Workshop 2026 at NYU Abu Dhabi brought together over 30 leading researchers to discuss the latest advances and open questions in dark matter and the early universe. Designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, the workshop focused on key topics like the reheating epoch after inflation—a crucial phase when the universe changed from nearly empty to a hot, radiation-filled state. By encouraging experts to share insights across particle physics, cosmology, and astroparticle physics, the event promoted a holistic understanding of cosmic phenomena and highlighted the importance of detailed studies of the universe’s earliest moments.