EXPLORE 2025 Summer School and Conference

10 Aug 2025, 09:00 → 15 Aug 2025, 18:00 Canada/Eastern

York University

Adam Smith-Orlik (York University), Aylar Sedaei (York University), Lauren Morley (York University), Sean Tulin (York University)

EXPLORE Summer School and Conference 2025: 

Echoes from the Dark Universe

 

The 4th international EXPLORE Summer School and Research Conference will take place from August 10th to August 15th, 2025 at York University in Toronto, Ontario.

The summer school will feature lectures and research activities from world-renowned physics researchers in astrophysics, astroparticle physics, high energy physics, and cosmology, exploring the themes of dark matter and black holes from observational, computational, and theoretical perspectives, as we tune in to the Echoes from the Dark Universe. 

Confirmed lecturers include:

• Prof. Asimina Arvanitaki: Stavros Niarchos Foundation Aristarchus Chair in Theoretical Physics at Perimeter Institute 
• Prof. Cliff Burgess: McMaster University & Perimeter Institute; Particle Physics and Cosmology
• Prof. Miriam Diamond: University of Toronto; Astroparticle Physics
• Prof. Maya Fishbach: Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics; Black holes and gravitational wave astronomy
• Prof. Matthew Johnson: York University & Perimeter Institute; Cosmology
• Prof. Ting Li: University of Toronto; Near-Field Cosmology 
• Prof. Katie Mack: Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication, Perimeter Institute
• Prof. Adam Muzzin: York University; Extragalactic astronomy
• Prof. James Taylor: University of Waterloo; Computational astrophysics
• Prof. Camilla Juul Hansen: Goethe University Frankfurt; Nuclear astrophysics

Special sessions will be held for student and early-career research presentations. All attendees are welcome to submit an abstract to apply to give an oral presentation.

Attendees are also welcome to participate in the following social events:

• Expedition to Toronto Islands
• Walking tour of Downtown Toronto
• Canadian National Exhibition
• Visit and escape room experience at the historic castle Casa Loma

All students (Bachelor, Master, PhD), postdocs and early career researchers who are interested to learn about and explore hot topics in theoretical and observational astrophysics are invited to participate in the EXPLORE summer school!

The number of participants is limited to 48. 

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Please note that priority will be given to participants of the current EXPLORE course. External (non-EXPLORE) registrants must send a cover letter/letter of interest in their application and will be asked to pay $50 registration fee to cover participation in social activities. 

What is EXPLORE?

EXPLORE stands for "EXPeriential Learning Opportunity through Research and Exchange” (https://dmgw.space/EXPLORE). It is an international innovative teaching and research program at Goethe University Frankfurt in collaboration with York University in Toronto, Canada, the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, Texas A&M in Texas, USA, and Tokyo University in Bunkyō, Japan. The idea behind EXPLORE is to build the bridge between learning physics in a classroom and working as a scientist. EXPLORE brings together students from Goethe University Frankfurt with students from international partner universities. Together they form the world’s first international undergraduate student collaboration in astroparticle physics!

The EXPLORE project is mentored by eight faculty supervisors:

• Rahul Kannan (York University, Canada)
• Saeed Rastgoo (University of Alberta, Canada)
• Nassim Bozorgnia (University of Alberta, Canada)
• Laura Sagunski (Goethe University, Germany)
• Jürgen Schaffner-Bielich (Goethe University, Germany)
• Sean Tulin (York University, Canada)
• Louis Strigari (Texas A&M, USA)
• Elisa Ferreria (Tokyo University, Japan)

 

EXPLOREV_Poster_compressed.pdf

Sunday 10 August

17:30 → 19:30 Welcome Dinner: Canlan Dinner, Arcade, and Skate

Welcome dinner for visiting EXPLORE students.

Conveners: Adam Smith-Orlik (York University), Lauren Morley (York University), Sean Tulin (York University)

Monday 11 August

09:30 → 10:00 Welcome: Welcome presentations

Convener: Sean Tulin (York University)

EXPLORE welcome 2025.pdf

10:00 → 11:00 Keynote: Dark Matter, First Light – Prof. Katie Mack

11:00 → 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 → 12:30 Lecture: Modifying Gravity: the View from Below – Prof. Cliff Burgess

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break – Orange Snail

14:00 → 15:30 Student Presentation session

14:00 The Milky Way and M31 Orbital History - Did the Local Group evolve in Isolation?

We use new proper motion measurements of M31 to examine the orbit and angular momentum between the Milky Way (MW) and M31. Assuming a Local Group (LG) mass consistent with measured values and that the system evolves in isolation, we show that a variety of orbits is possible. We compare to a sample of LG-like systems in the Illustris-TNG simulation and find that $\sim 13\%$ of these pairs have already experienced a pericentric passage. Using the simulated sample, we examine how accurately an isolated, two-body model describes the MW-M31 orbit, showing that $\sim 10\%$ of the analogues in the simulation are well-modeled by such an orbit. Systems that evolve in isolation, by this definition, exhibit a lower rate of major mergers and, in particular, have not experienced any major mergers since $z \approx 0.3$. Given the likely quiet recent major merger history of the MW, it is plausible that the isolated two-body model appropriately describes the orbit, though recent evidence for a major merger in M31 may complicate this interpretation.

Speaker: Odelia Hartl (Texas A&M University)

FIN_EXPLORE.pdf

14:20 From Code to Collapse: Exploring Dark Matter with Fluid Models

The Lambda CDM model has varies shortcomings when looking at the small scale structures of the universe, like the missing satellite problem or the core cusp problem. We are part of an international research collaboration where our sub-team aims for deriving an effective one- and two-fluid descriptions of dissipative, self-interacting dark matter (DSIDM). The main goal is to obtain a better description of the dissipative dark matter interactions and prove the concept by comparing the two solutions.

Our part of the collaboration task was to implement dissipation in an existing open-source code that describes one-dimensional SIDM fluid formalism. We are now working on deriving and implementing a more accurate treatment of dissipation.

So far, we have verified our code by comparing it with existing data. We have also investigated the impact of a dimensionless code calibration parameter as well as derived the first equations of the one-fluid description and compared them to the existing on.

We are now ready to complete the final stage of our research, which will involve determining whether the one- and two-fluid descriptions produce the same results and identifying the differences to existing research.
We hope that our code and theory will set the foundation for further research on what happens after gravothermal collapse.

Speakers: Lukas Lehmann (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main), Maximilian Heyne (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main)

From Code to Collapse.pdf

From Code to Collapse_with animations.pdf

14:45 Investigating Dissipative Dark Matter Interactions in a Two‑State Model

Dark matter (DM) is an invisible form of matter, accounting for most of the Universe’s mass, and has a critical role in cosmic structure formation. Despite its abundance, dark matter remains poorly understood within current fundamental physics. Its specific particle nature and interaction mechanisms remain unknown. We are researching a promising theory, dissipative dark matter (DDM), where energy is lost through inelastic collisions. In this model, dark matter particles scatter into excited states and release energy as a light force-carrier particle, carrying energy out of dark matter structures. This research investigates a two-state dark matter model, encompassing both elastic and inelastic interactions between ground-state and excited-state dark matter particles. We are focused on calculating the rate at which DDM interactions occur using a different method to solve the Schrödinger equation than previously employed, one that remains stable even in kinematically forbidden regions. These interactions may explain the gap between collisionless dark matter simulations and astronomical observations, particularly at small halo scales.

Our goal was to implement a reduced form of the Schrödinger equation different from a preexisting code, which was unstable in the kinematically forbidden regime. We wrote a Python function for the newer derivation of the Schrödinger equation and solved it as an initial value problem using Python's built-in solvers. From this solution, we calculated the inelastic and elastic cross sections. We adapted the previously derived cross‑section formula to work with this new method, deriving the required modifications by hand and incorporating them directly into my code. Finally, to make the cross-section velocity‑dependent, we implemented published formulae between particle velocity and the Schrödinger equation’s input parameters, complete with all necessary unit conversions, and ran the solver across a range of velocities and masses.

The code ran successfully and produced results that agreed with the previous implementation and the Born approximation, where the Born approximation is an analytical approximation to the Schrödinger equation. Importantly, the code remained stable and produced valid outputs in the kinematically forbidden region, where the previous implementation broke down.

In this talk, we will discuss the background motivation behind this research and the code we developed using a Python‐based solver for the coupled Schrödinger equations that reliably computes elastic and inelastic cross sections across a broad range of velocities and masses of DM particles. These DDM interaction rates will allow us to run simulations to explore DMM’s impact on halo structure and early compact-object formation.

Speakers: Alyssa Lazzer (York University), Ms Maheen Hemani (York University)

EXPLORE slide deck (1).pdf

15:10 Kinetic Heating in Neutron Stars from Dark Matter Subhalo Encounters

The nature of dark matter (DM) has been a primary interest in cosmology and beyond Standard Model physics. Leading models, such as WIMPs, theorize a coupling with the Standard Model (SM) that allow for scattering off SM particles. Direct detection experiments, such as XENON1T and LUX, search for these DM scattering events and have determined constraints on DM models, but have not yet detected a confirmed event. With constraints coming close to the neutrino floor, there are concerns about the closing parameter space for DM particle masses in the GeV to PeV range. Another approach is to explore indirect detection methods. Celestial bodies, such as neutron stars, can be used as cosmic laboratories for DM detection. If WIMPs captured by the neutron star scatter off nucleons, they can heat the star via kinetic heating. Here we consider a scenario of a neutron star undergoing kinetic heating due to encounters with DM subhalos, opening the discussion of a ”clumpy” dark matter distribution of the Milky Way that would allows us to relax some constraints imposed by direct detection experiments. We focus on asymmetric DM models that allow for scattering and explore the accumulation of particles in a neutron star over time and how it affects neutron star cooling curves.

Speaker: Ben Mendez (York University)

16:30 → 19:00 Social Event: Walking Tour Downtown

Tuesday 12 August

09:00 → 10:30 Lecture: Probing Dark Matter Through Near-Field Cosmology: The Power of Cosmic Surveys – Prof. Ting Li

EXPLORE slides Feb2024.pdf

Solid State Detectors for Low-Mass Dark Matter Searches

09:00 Dark matter in the Milky Way

Speaker: Ting Li (University of Toronto)

10:00 Mini-project: TBD

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 → 12:30 Mini-project: Characterizing Stellar Streams through Bayesian Gaussian Mixture Model – Prof. Ting Li

Mini-project: Jupyter notebook

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 15:45 Student Presentation session

14:00 Distance Measurement of the Orphan Chenab Stream Using RR Lyrae Stars

Stellar streams are trails of stars stripped during the orbit of their progenitor around a host galaxy. They can unveil valuable information about dark matter subhalos, galactic potential, and galactic evolution. In particular, the kink region in the Orphan Chenab (OC) stellar stream is a mark left by a perturbation by the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and offers constraints to the LMC mass measurements. However, the kink region lacks precise distance measurement due to the region being more than 80 kpc away.

With the Gaia catalog, previous studies have mapped the distances to the OC stream with RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) – a class of variable stars with a tight Period-Luminosity relation – but Gaia's RRLs detections drop beyond 80 kpc. Hence, we propose to use data from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to search for the fainter and more distant RRLs in the OC kink region. I will present the multi-epoch photometry performed on said DECam data and plans for RRLs identification, light-curve construction, and pulsation period determination.

Speaker: Mingzhi Jiang

Distance Measurement of the 'Kink' Region of the Orphan Chenab Stream using RR Lyrae Stars

Distance Measurement of the 'Kink' region of the Orphan Chenab Stream using RR Lyrae Stars

14:20 Discovering Stellar Streams with Graph Neural Networks

Stellar streams are thin, elongated structures in the Galactic halo, formed by the tidal disruption of bound groups of stars. They provide valuable insight into the Milky Way’s gravitational potential and dark matter substructure, as breaks in their structure can reveal past interactions with dark matter clumps.
Previous stream searches often prioritized either astrometric or photometric data, limiting their ability to fully exploit the combined available information. We present a new approach that smoothly integrates both data types from Gaia to improve stream identification.
Our algorithm uses a graph neural network that naturally handles the geometric and heterogeneous structure of streams, and applies a weakly supervised framework known as Classification Without Labels (CWoLa), which does not require labeled training data.
Tested on the known GD-1 stream, our model recovers over 96% of member stars in the supervised case and over 50% in the weakly supervised setting. We are now scaling our algorithm to run on the full Gaia dataset. Our framework supports systematic discovery of stellar streams and improved knowledge of the Galactic halo.

Speaker: Alexandros Pratsos (University of Toronto)

Characterizing Stellar Streams with Graph Neural Networks

Characterizing Stellar Streams with Graph Neural Networks

14:40 Probing Dark Matter in Milky Way Dwarf Galaxies: Modeling and Forecasts

Dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) offer a unique opportunity to probe the nature of dark matter (DM) due to their proximity and high dark matter content. In this project, we investigate whether future spectroscopic data, such as that from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), could enable us to distinguish between cusped and cored dark matter profiles in these systems. To test this, we generate mock catalogs using the Galpy library, modeling stars embedded in generalized NFW dark matter halos with varying inner slopes. These catalogs are then analyzed using spherical Jeans modeling to assess how well the original DM profiles can be recovered under controlled conditions. Our preliminary results show promising agreement between input and recovered properties. This work aims to build a realistic forecasting framework, which, if successful, could support a future proposal for DESI-like instruments and apply this methodology to real observational data.

Speaker: Mr Juan Carlos Aranda Muñoz (University of Toronto)

York_EXPLORE.pdf

15:00 Tracing the Motions and Metallicities of Globular Cluster Streams

Stellar streams are elongated trails of stars stripped by tidal forces from globular clusters and dwarf galaxies. These tidal features offer a powerful way to probe the formation history of the Milky Way and its dark matter substructure. This work aimed to develop a pipeline to characterize the kinematic and chemical properties of stellar streams associated with globular clusters, using spectroscopic data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Milky Way Survey. This data was processed using a Bayesian Mixture Model to select the stream's high-probability members. So far, we have added five globular cluster streams to our catalogue: C-19, Sylgr, Fjorm, Gaia 10, and Gaia 6. We estimated the mean line-of-sight velocity and metallicity [Fe/H] dispersions for the five streams, the latter of which ranged from -3.58dex to -1.40dex. These and the resulting 6-D stream tracks can provide insight into the nature of the stream’s progenitors (e.g., globular cluster vs. dwarf galaxy) and potential perturbations from past interactions with dark matter subhalos. The results show improved results compared to galstream stream tracks, suggesting that our approach is robust and capable of being scaled to other streams. We plan to systemically apply our approach to ~15 streams observed by DESI.

Speaker: ALEJANDRA CALDERON LINARES (University of Toronto)

Tracing_the_Motions_and_Metallicities_of_GCS.pdf

15:20 A numerical approach to Dissipative Self-interacting Dark Matter

One of the first models for Dark Matter (DM) has historically been the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) Model. This model works well on large scales, however, it breaks on smaller scales. To remedy this, a fix has been proposed in the form of Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM), which can accurately reproduce some of the structure of galaxies. This approach does not fulfil every possible criterion for a DM candidate, which justifies a further extension to the model.
We consider a Dissipative SIDM model as proposed in [1] and calculate both elastic and inelastic scattering cross-sections to improve larger-scale fluid-based simulations (similar to [2]). To make this possible, one has to numerically solve the Schrödinger equation, and extract the scattering amplitudes.
In this talk, we will discuss our solution to the problem, its architecture and some of the caveats we had to work around. Furthermore, we cover validating, debugging and optimising code to make it fast and correct. Finally, there will be a comparison of our solution to existing analytic approximations as well as larger-scale numeric simulations from other papers and give a small outlook to a more general case that could extend this model further.

Speakers: Felix Alexander Quintus Groh (Goethe University Frankfurt), Maximilian Arthur Klotzbach (Goethe University Frankfurt)

EXPLORE_Research_Presentation_Summer_School.pdf

17:30 → 20:25 Social Event: Escape room adventure

Wednesday 13 August

09:30 → 10:10 Student Presentation session

09:30 CERES metal-poor accreted star candidates: novel approaches to Galactic archaeology

The Milky Way is a living mosaic of stars of different origins: some were formed in-situ, while others were accreted from dwarf galaxies that have since been disrupted. To reconstruct the galaxy’s formation history, these accreted populations must therefore be identified and characterized. These ancient relics are mainly located in the stellar halo, but the debris from different progenitors often overlaps in dynamic space, making it difficult to disentangle their individual contributions.

We have therefore turned to the CERES (Chemical Evolution of R-process Elements in Stars) sample, comprising 52 metal-poor giant stars with metallicities between $-3.6 \le \mathrm{[Fe/H]} \le -1.5$, to search for accreted members using a chemodynamical approach. We determined precise abundances for light elements, including alpha-elements, as well as neutron-capture species up to Eu. By combining this rich chemical inventory with Gaia-based orbital parameters, we were able to assign some CERES stars to known merger remnants such as Gaia-Enceladus, Sequoia, and Thamnos. This chemodynamical analysis enables us to identify additional candidate members of these progenitors and to reconstruct their disruption histories, even when their kinematic signatures overlap.

Speaker: Dominik Plonka (Goethe University Frankfurt)

Chemical Evolution of R-process Elements (CERES).pdf

Chemical Evolution of R-process Elements (CERES).pptx

09:50 Binary Stars as Sources of Chemical Anomalies in Stellar Clusters

Globular clusters (GCs) are often regarded as simple stellar populations with
uniform ages and chemical compositions. However, observations, particularly from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), reveal peculiar abundance patterns, known as multiple populations (MPs). MPs are characterized by enhancements in He, N, and Na, alongside depletions in O and C. The origin of these abundance variations remains an open question in stellar population studies.
This work explores the role of binary stellar systems as a potential source of MPs in GCs. Previous studies have demonstrated that mass transfer in binary systems can produce chemically enriched material consistent with observed MPs. A study from our group simulated isolated binaries, showing that expelled material from interacting binaries exhibits signatures of hot hydrogen burning, consistent with observed abundance spreads in MPs.
Not only does mass transfer between individual binary systems play a role in the formation of MPs, binary systems are remarkably prevalent in clusters and have been shown to be highly sensitive to changes in their clustered environments. For example, denser, more massive clusters induce more rapid and extensive changes in their binary systems.
My research lies at the intersection of binary evolution and their host cluster environment, focusing on how binary systems contribute to the emergence of MPs. More specifically, I will modify the physical characteristics of isolated binary models by varying primary mass, orbital period, and mass ratio. I will investigate the resulting yield due to such dynamical changes and compare them with observational data to assess the appropriateness of the model parameters.
My results will significantly contribute to the ongoing debate about the sources
of enriched material in GCs by highlighting the critical role of binary star systems.

Speaker: Zayna Khadour (McMaster University)

KhadourZ_EXPLORE_2025.pdf

KhadourZ_EXPLORE_2025.pptx

10:10 → 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 → 11:30 Lecture: The First Stars, an end to the dark era – Camilla Juul Hansen

11:30 → 12:00 Coffee Break

12:00 → 13:00 Lecture: Computing the Universe – Prof. James Taylor

13:00 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 18:00 Social Event: Toronto Island Beach Day

Thursday 14 August

09:00 → 10:30 Lecture: Solid State Detectors for Low-Mass Dark Matter Searches – Prof. Miriam Diamond

EXPLORE slides Feb2024.pdf

Solid State Detectors for Low-Mass Dark Matter Searches

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 → 12:30 Mini-project: Statistical Analysis of Rare-Event Search Data: Signals vs Backgrounds – Prof. Miriam Diamond

Mini-project: Jupyter notebook

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 15:25 Student Presentation session

14:00 The PICO Experiment

Dark matter is hypothesized to make up 85\% of the matter of the Universe, yet, despite much cosmological evidence for its existence, its fundamental nature remains unknown, making it one of the most pressing open questions in modern physics. SNOLAB, 2000 metres underground in a nickel mine near Sudbury, Ontario, hosts the PICO-40L detector, which uses bubble chamber technology for spin-dependent direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The chamber consists of a quartz jar, filled with superheated C$_{3}$F$_{8}$, and is surrounded by four cameras. Particles passing through the C$_{3}$F$_{8}$ with energy above the set thermodynamic threshold produce one or more bubbles. The cameras see these bubbles and save a sequence of images of the bubble forming. A limitation of the detector is the cameras' blind spots in the lower region of the detector. Events in this region are not well understood because they cannot be seen clearly in the images, making position reconstruction difficult. Understanding these events and backgrounds is pivotal, as PICO-40L serves as an engineering run for the next-generation PICO-500 detector, which is under assembly at the moment, and is expected to be operational in 2026. This talk will overview PICO before delving into the work I have conducted to better understand backgrounds in preparation for PICO-500. This work includes a piece of software that optically identifies plume-like features from the camera blind spots, and will give a summary of additional analyses I have performed aimed at improving our understanding of the backgrounds of PICO-40L.

Speaker: Zachary Doucet (University of Alberta)

EXPLORE_2025_Final_Draft.pdf

14:20 Constraining Cosmology with Next-Generation Gravitational Wave Detectors

Next-generation gravitational wave (GW) detectors are expected to detect hundreds of thousands of events per year. This will provide a rich dataset to not only study the binary black hole (BBH) source population but also test cosmological models. Each GW event offers a direct estimate of the luminosity distance to the source. When coupled with the redshift, this enables the construction of a redshift–distance relation to infer the Hubble constant, H₀. We begin by simulating a catalog of luminosity distances and BBH masses. Through the “spectral sirens” method, we exploit intrinsic features in the BBH mass function to infer the redshift to the source. We examine how factors such as peak evolution, measurement errors in mass and distance, and the number of detected events influence the resulting H0 posterior. We demonstrate that with a sufficiently large sample of detections and realistic observational uncertainties, this approach can achieve percent-level precision on H₀. Furthermore, we show that it is possible to decouple the evolution of the BBH source population from the inferred cosmological parameters. These results highlight the promise of spectral sirens as a complementary cosmological probe in upcoming gravitational-wave surveys.

Speaker: Isaac Rosenberg (University of Toronto)

rosenberg_midsummer_2025.pptx

14:40 Fast Radio Bursts as Cosmic Probes: Illuminating the Invisible Universe

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration flashes of radio waves originating from extragalactic — and possibly cosmological — distances. While their progenitors remain a subject of active investigation, the propagation of FRBs through cosmic media renders them powerful tools for astrophysical and cosmological inquiry. In this talk, I will introduce the key observational properties of FRBs, and explain how these observables encode information about the matter they traverse. I will then focus on recent advances in using FRBs to probe the large-scale distribution of baryons, test models of cosmic reionization, and constrain the properties of dark matter. In particular, I will discuss how FRBs can be used to search for signatures of compact dark matter through gravitational lensing, and how their dispersion may reveal the presence of exotic dark-sector particles or interactions. With the advent of wide-field radio surveys such as CHIME/FRB, ASKAP, and future facilities like DSA-2000 and SKA, the growing FRB population offers an unprecedented opportunity to turn these cosmic flashes into precise probes of the invisible Universe.

Speaker: Aylar Sedaei (York University)

MSc Research Evaluation.pdf

MSc Research Evaluation.pptx

15:00 Minihalos and Miniquasars

The formation and evolution of the early Universe is the subject of ongoing research, with many open questions such as the formation of supermassive black holes. It is thought that dark matter minihalos provided the necessary conditions for the primordial gas to collapse. While the simplest dark matter model, cold dark matter, can explain the structure of the Universe on a large scale, an alternative model such as dark matter that can undergo collisional and small dissipative interactions may be better suited to explain certain small scale observations. Using these alternative models for dark matter, we aim to model the joint evolution of gas and dark matter in the early Universe to explore whether minihalos can collapse into intermediate-mass black hole seeds. We run spherically symmetric hydrodynamic collapse simulations with the code SPHerical, including modified dark matter physics and radiative feedback. The cooling and heating of the primordial gas is computed using two different gas libraries, Grackle and Cloudy, that provide accurate net cooling rates. The cooling rates are then interpolated and incorporated in the SPHerical code. Simulations can then be run and the growth of collapsed mass and accretion luminosities are tracked to explore the impact of different dark matter parameters on early miniquasar activity.

Speakers: Aster Schnell (York University), Finn Karstens (Goethe Universität)

EXPLORE Summer School Presentation.pdf

EXPLORE Summer School Presentation.pptx

15:30 → 17:00 Keynote: Superradiant interactions of cosmic relics – Asimina Arvanitaki

17:00 → 20:00 EXPLORE Banquet Dinner: La Luce

Friday 15 August

09:00 → 10:00 Lecture: Lecture: Enigmas of the Distant Universe from Three Years of JWST: Black Hole Stars, LCDM Breakers, and PopIII Galaxies – Prof. Adam Muzzin

10:00 → 11:00 Lecture: Gravitational waves from the stellar graveyard – Prof. Maya Fishbach

11:00 → 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 → 12:30 Lecture: A CMB Photon’s 13.8 Billion Year Journey – Prof. Matthew Johnson

12:30 → 13:00 Closing session and award presentations

13:00 → 14:30 Lunch Break

15:00 → 18:00 Social Event: Canadian National Exhibition (Optional)