Cosmological Signals from the Dark Ages to the Present

Contents of this page: Scientific Overview, Organizers, Scientific Organizing Committee, Registration, Important Dates

Scientific Overview:

The early Universe, from the dark ages through cosmic dawn, reionization, and beyond, holds the key to understanding the first luminous structures and their role in shaping cosmic history. Rapid advances in theory, simulations, and observations are converging to reveal this exciting period for the first time.

Our goal is to foster collaboration and synthesis across disciplines to interpret current and upcoming data, refine theoretical frameworks, and chart the next decade of discovery in high-redshift cosmology.

Topics to be covered include:

• Formation of the First Luminous Structures: The first stars, star clusters, and black holes.
• Theory of the 21-cm Signal: Simulations and predictions for the dark ages, cosmic dawn, and the epoch of reionization.
• Observations of the High-Redshift Universe: Current and upcoming surveys targeting 21-cm emission, line intensity mapping, and high-redshift sources.
• Synergies Across Probes and Simulations: Integrating theoretical models, numerical simulations, and multi-wavelength observations.
• Connecting the Early Universe to Current Observations: Linking the astrophysics and cosmology that can be studied with the first galaxies to JWST and various cosmological probes.

Conference poster: pdf

Organizers:

Rennan Barkana [Webpage] (Tel Aviv University)
Anastasia Fialkov [Webpage] (University of Cambridge)
Smadar Naoz [Webpage] (University of California Los Angeles)

Scientific Organizing Committee:

Zoltan Haiman (Columbia University, Institute of Science and Technology Austria)
Marc Kamionkowski (Johns Hopkins University)
Leon Koopmans (Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen)
Adrian Liu (McGill University)
Naoki Yoshida (University of Tokyo, Kavli IPMU)
Matias Zaldarriaga (Institute for Advanced Study)

Registration:

Conference registration is now open at the Aspen Center for Physics website. The registration process includes submitting information about a requested talk/poster. The deadline to apply is September 30, 2026. Here are the links to the conference listing and to the registration application.

Important Dates:

September 30, 2026	Deadline for registration (including abstract submission)
October 14, 2026	Talks determined
March 7-12, 2027	Conference