Abstract
This paper summarizes the discussions which took place during the PITT-PACC Workshop entitled "Non-Standard Cosmological Epochs and Expansion Histories,"held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sept. 5-7, 2024. Much like the non-standard cosmological epochs that were the subject of these discussions, the format of this workshop was also non-standard. Rather than consisting of a series of talks from participants, with each person presenting their own work, this workshop was instead organized around free-form discussion blocks, with each centered on a different overall theme and guided by a different set of Discussion Leaders. This document is not intended to serve as a comprehensive review of these topics, but rather as an informal record of the discussions that took place during the workshop, in the hope that the content and free-flowing spirit of these discussions may inspire new ideas and research directions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2530004 |
| Journal | International Journal of Modern Physics A |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 17 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published Online - 28 Apr 2025 |
Funding
This workshop was attended by many more people than just the organizers and the Discussion Leaders. In this context, we are particularly happy to acknowledge the insightful comments of the other registered workshop participants, specifically Ali Beheshti, Amit Bhoonah, Francis Burk, Shuyang Cao, Linda Carpenter, Morgan Cassidy, Kun Cheng, Chris Choi, Swapnil Dutta, Brenda Gomez Cortes, Murman Gurgenidze, Marcell Howard, Wenjie Huang, Tina Kahniashvili, Juhun Kwak, Monica Leys, Matthew Low, Jacob Magallanes, Sayan Mandal, Elizabeth Meador, Jeffrey Newman, Sneh Pandya, Arnab Pradhan, Zahra Tabrizi, Si Wang, Arthur Wu, Jaeok Yi, and Andrew Zentner. The authors of this document wish to thank everyone for their lively comments and questions throughout the workshop, all of which added to the richness and dynamic nature of the proceedings. The authors of this document would also like to acknowledge the Pittsburgh Particle Physics Astrophysics and Cosmology Center (PITT-PACC) for providing both financial and organizational support for this workshop. We would also like to thank the other members of the local organizing committee (specifically Amit Bhoonah, Kun Cheng, Matthew Low, and Zahra Tabrizi) and the support staff (Chris Condon, Joni George, and Gracie Gollinger) at the University of Pittsburgh for their critical assistance during the workshop. Finally, we would like to thank Tao Han, whose leadership, wisdom, advice, and support were instrumental in making this non-traditional workshop a reality. The research activities of RA are supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant PHY-2210367. The research activities of MA are supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DE-SC0021619. The research activities of BB are supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DE–SC0007914. The research activities of KRD are supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation through its employee IR/D program as well as by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DE-FG02-13ER41976/DE-SC0009913. The research activities of ALE are supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant PHY-2310719. The research activities of AG are supported in part by U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DE–SC0007914 and the GRASP initiative at Harvard University. The research activities of JTG are supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant PHY-2309919. The research activities of JH are supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under NSF CAREER Grant PHY-1848089 and under NSF Cooperative Agreement PHY-2019786 (The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions). The research activities of FH are supported in part by ISF Grant 1784/20 and by MINERVA Grant 714123. The research activities of AJL are supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant PHY-2412797. The research activities of BSE are supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DE-SC0022021. The research activities of JS are supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DE-SC0015655. The research activities of GS are supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DE-SC0017647. The research activities of KS are supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant PHY-2412671. The research activities of TLS are supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grants AST-2009377 and AST-2308173. The research activities of BT are supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant PHY-2014104. BT would like to thank Tao Han and the University of Pittsburgh for hospitality. The research activities of SW are supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DE-FG02-85ER40237. SW would like to thank Alexey Petrov and the University of South Carolina for hospitality. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors, and do not represent any funding agencies.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics
- Astronomy and Astrophysics