Topics

• Fundamental processes at the intersection of quantum, nuclear and particle physics.
• Weak interactions and nucleosynthesis in astrophysical systems.
• Nuclear structure, nuclear heavy-ion physics, isospin, and angular momentum.
• Nuclear astrophysics and understanding the evolution of the early universe.
• Neutron stars, quarkyonic matter, dark matter, and binary astrophysical systems.
• Quark, top-quark, lepton flavour, electroweak (EW), and Higgs physics.

Abstract
The origin of neutrino masses remains one of the most pressing open questions in particle physics. While conventional approaches rely on extending the Standard Model with heavy fields or new symmetries, an alternative idea has recently emerged: neutrino masses may arise through refraction in the background of ultralight dark matter. In this framework, neutrinos acquire dynamic, effective, time-varying masses as they propagate through a coherent oscillating field, leading to distinctive imprints on oscillation experiments, beta-decay searches, and astrophysical neutrino signals. In this talk, I will introduce the basic mechanism of refractive neutrino masses and discuss its phenomenological consequences for laboratory, astrophysical, and cosmological probes and highlight how upcoming experiments may provide the first opportunities to test this novel connection between neutrinos and the dark sector.

Abstract

The recent successful detection of gravitational waves has been a century long Odyssey involvinga remarkable experiment and an elegant theory. In the latter aspect, it was made possible by a critical understanding of physical effects of gravitational waves and an improved understanding of the problem of two body motion in general relativity. This talk is a personal broad brush overview of how an unforgiving experiment drove an exquisite theory to create a sophisticated data analysis infrastructure to detect gravitational waves and to decipher their properties.