Organisation: Ralf Bender (Garching) und Kollegen

During the last decade a consistent quantitative picture of the universe has emerged from a wide range of observations, including the microwave background, distant supernovae and the large-scale distribution of galaxies. In this standard model of the universe, normal baryonic matter contributes only 4% to the overall density, 96% are dark components in the form of dark matter (26%) and dark energy (70%). Particularly, the existence and amount of dark energy is completely unexpected and raises fundamental questions about the foundations of modern physics. Is dark energy merely a cosmological constant, as first discussed by Einstein, is it a new kind of field that evolves dynamically with the expansion of the universe, or is a new law of gravity needed?

Observers are intensely analysing current surveys or design new ones that will illucidate the properties of Dark Energy. At the same time, theoreticians are producing new ideas about its nature and possible origin. The conference aims to bring together observers, modelers and theoreticians from particle physics and astrophysics to present and discuss latest results and explore possible routes for future research.

Invited Speakers
Luca Amendola, Pierre Astier, Hans Böhringer, Ed Copeland, Ruth Durrer, Georgi Dvali, Daniel Eisenstein, Carlos Frenk, Joshua Frieman, Günther Hasinger, Wolfgang Hillebrandt, Wayne Hu (tbc), Bruno Leibundgut, Roy Maartens, Yannick Mellier, Joe Mohr, Slava Mukhanov, Hans-Peter Nilles, John Peacock, Brian Schmidt, Peter Schneider, Roman Scoccimarro, Andy Taylor, and Christof Wetterich.

Topical talks will be selected from among the applicants. Ample space for posters close to the conference hall is available. The conference talks and posters (in full length) will be published on a maintained webpage, no formal proceedings are planned.

Homepage der Jahreskonferenz
http://www.mpe.mpg.de/events/dark-energy-2008/