Every winter, elite teams of the most accomplished physicists in the world head to the Winter Conferences of the Aspen Center for Physics to wrestle with the most cutting-edge questions in their fields.  This always means something special for students, teachers, and science enthusiasts!  Why? Because the world's pre-eminent physicists share their insights with the public at the Science Cafes and Winter Lectures.

You know those fantastic Maggie and Nick DeWolf Winter Physics Lectures at the Wheeler Opera House?  Well, we have created a family-friendly, fun, and informal pre-lecture gathering, where everything is accessible to the bright middle schooler on up -- from the food, to the physicists, to the informal conversations. The Science Cafes are designed to bring the thrill of exploration, the joy of discovery, and the excitement of sharing big ideas (and cookies) to every student, adult, and family in the Roaring Fork Valley!

Every Wednesday at 5PM at the Wheeler Opera House, prior to the deWolfe lecture, Café goers have a chance to hear young physicists share their expertise and talk about how they got to where they are in their careers.  Participants then have a chance to ask informal questions and chat with these eminent physicists not only about their Workshop topic, but any topic from string theory to their favorite happy hour spot in Aspen. Not only is it a wonderful experience in itself, it is the perfect "warm-up" for those who want to acquire the rich context that will enhance their appreciation of the deWolfe lecture.

Our upcoming Physics Cafe discussions will explore the following topics (being studied at the Aspen Center for Physics Winter Conferences) in a way that is exciting, entertaining and clear to any non-physicist!:

Condensed Matter/Quantitative Biology

January 3 - 9, 2011

Materials and the Imagination

Organizers:
Terence Hwa, University of California, San Diego
Randall Kamien, University of Pennsylvania 
Cherry Murray, Harvard University 
Subir Sachdev, Harvard University 
Vincenzo Vitelli, Leiden University 

Progress in soft physics often relies upon finding questions that can be answered -- part of the reason that the field is so difficult to define and naturally spreads into other areas and disciplines. For instance, the theory of polymers can be used to think about flux phases of superconductors, the renormalization group can be used to study population biology, and liquid crystal physics has had a profound influence on our understanding of melting. This Aspen Winter Workshop will explore current issues in soft matter as well as soft-inspired biophysics and hard-condensed matter.

Conference Website:
http://www.physics.upenn.edu/~kamien/acp2011/

Biophysics
January 9 - 14, 2011

Single Molecule Biophysics

Organizers:
Steven Block, Stanford University
Thomas Perkins, JILA

This will be the 6th biennial workshop on Single Molecule Biophysics (SMB) to be held at the Aspen Center for Physics (ACP), building on the successful conferences series started in 2001. The meeting highlights recent progress in the field of single molecule biophysics on both its experimental and theoretical frontiers. Topics vary somewhat every year. Biological systems covered in past meetings have included mechanoenzymes (myosin, kinesin, dynein), nucleic acid-based enzymes (polymerases, topoisomerases, helicases, etc.), rotary motors (ATP synthases, flagellar motors), nucleic acids (DNA, RNA, ribozymes), and various aspects of molecular physiology (folding/unfolding, binding, signaling, and other biostructural changes). Featured experimental techniques have included fluorescence, optical trapping, magnetic tweezers, scanned-probe microscopy, and approaches to super resolution microscopy. This conference traditionally admits a mixture of experimentalists and theorists. Biologists and physicists with either new-found or longstanding interests in biophysics are encouraged to apply. All levels of accomplishment are welcome: the meeting features a lively mix of both students and professors. A strictly-for-fun ski race will be held, along with other meeting activities. The SMB workshop has been oversubscribed in the past, so a higher priority will be assigned to applicants presenting important new findings and who commit to remain for the full duration of the meeting (Jan. 9-15, 2011). In the likely event of oversubscription, a limit of two representatives from each participating scientific group (or collaboration) will be adopted. We will attempt to award each participating group (or collaboration) one short talk based on the abstracts submitted. All attendees are also invited to present posters. Prospective participants should submit the following (in addition to the required personal information):

• A short abstract (<200 words) of the proposed scientific contribution along with a title plus the names and affiliations of any co-authors. Abstracts will be ranked and used as a basis for admission.
• Indicate if you wish the abstract to be considered for a meeting talk: otherwise, a poster presentation will be assumed by default.
• Indicate that you intend to attend the full meeting, if accepted. If only a partial stay is necessary, please be sure to state the reason.

In years past, limited funds have been raised to help defray a portion of the expenses for junior participants, or for those traveling a very long way. Fund-raising continues and we hope to maintain this tradition. In addition, one junior applicant will receive a merit-based scholarship award from a special endowment fund for the ACP Winter Meetings. For further information, please go to: jila.colorado.edu/smb

Ocean Biophysics 
January 16 - 22, 2011

Microenvironments Modulating Biological Interactions in the Ocean

Organizers:
Roman Stocker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thomas Kiørboe, Technical University of Denmark
Pete Jumars, University of Maine 
George Jackson, Texas A&M 
Mimi Koehl, University of California Berkeley 
Thomas Powers, Brown University

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing realization that small-scale interactions play a crucial role in the ecology of aquatic organisms. Unraveling these requires an interdisciplinary effort that considers the intimate coupling of physics, chemistry, and biology. This Aspen Winter Workshop will tackle key microscale themes by bringing together biologists, chemists, ecologists, physicists, engineers, and mathematicians for a highly interactive meeting. For more information, please go to: web.mit.edu/aspenoceansymp or aspenoceansymp@gmail.com

Condensed Matter Physics 
January 22 – 28, 2011

Contrasting Superconductivity of Pnictides and Cuprates

Organizers:
Paul Canfield, Iowa State University and USDOE Ames Laboratory
Sudip Chakravarty, University of California, Los Angeles 
Joerg Schmalian, Iowa State University and USDOE Ames Laboratory

The aim of this workshop is to explore and understand the physics of recently discovered Fe-based high-temperature superconductors and contrast and compare them with the cuprates. The superconductivity in iron pnictides, with transition temperatures in excess of 55 K, was discovered in early 2008. It is clear that pnictides should not be discussed in isolation, as the tremendous theoretical and experimental developments in the area of cuprates over the last two decades form a valuable resource. For more information, please visit: http://home.physics.ucla.edu/calendar/conferences/cmsc-2011/index.htm

Condensed Matter/Particle Physics 
January 31 – February 5, 2011

Strongly Correlated Systems and Gauge/Gravity Duality

Organizers:
Michael Hermele, University of Colorado, Boulder 
Shamit Kachru, Stanford University & SLAC 
Andreas Karch, University of Washington 
Shivaji Sondhi, Princeton University

In the past few years, there have been several developments which suggest that the time may be ripe for renewed, signicant contact between the high energy theory and condensed matter theory communities. One center of this new interface has grown out of the AdS/CFT correspondence, and its generalizations to non-conformal and non-Lorentz invariant theories. This correspondence can be used to compute phase structure, correlation functions, and transport properties in strongly coupled field theories, including theories which are quantum critical. On the other hand, several of the most difficult and topical questions in condensed matter physics arguably involve systems where strongly coupled dynamics of a field theory at finite charge density (and perhaps in a background magnetic field) holds the key to understanding novel phenomena. This conference will bring together workers in condensed matter physics and high energy theory to explore the developing interface between these two fields, and discuss methods of attacking these questions which use both more traditional techniques as well as the new ideas emerging from gauge/gravity duality (and other new ideas being developed directly in the condensed matter community). For more information, please go to: http://www.phys.washington.edu/users/karch/Conferences/Aspen/acp2011.html

Astronomy 
February 6 – 12, 2011

Indirect and Direct Detection of Dark Matter

Organizers: 
Gianfranco Bertone, University of Zurich 
Matthew Buckley, Fermilab 
Jeter Hall, Fermilab 
Simona Murgia, SLAC-KIPAC
Stefano Profumo, University of California, Santa Clara 
Kathryn Zurek, University of Michigan

It is an exciting time for dark matter. Direct and indirect searches have yielded very interesting constraints on the nature of dark matter. In addition, tantalizing signals from both space- and ground-based experiments (e.g. PAMELA, WMAP, Integral, Fermi, DAMA/LIBRA, and CoGeNT) could be interpreted as a signal of dark matter annihilation/decay or interaction. While these results might provide crucial information about the nature of dark matter, the resolution of these claims requires better understanding of the astrophysical and instrumental backgrounds. Improved results from current and upcoming direct and indirect searches will continue to shed light on these puzzles.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together experimentalists and theorists to share knowledge on astrophysical backgrounds, the most recent experimental results, and the latest theoretical work at a time of great opportunity and change in the field of dark matter.

Particle Physics 
February 12 - 18, 2011

New Data from the Energy Frontier

Organizers:
Florencia Canelli, University of Chicago & Fermilab 
R. Sekhar Chivukula, Michigan State University
Joe Incandela, University of California, Santa Barbara 
Elizabeth Simmons, Michigan State University
Jesse Thaler, MIT
Lian-Tao Wang, Princeton University

The search for new physics at the TeV scale is entering an exciting era with many new experimental results expected.  By early 2011, the Tevatron will collect more statistics and produce results of major importance.  At the same time, the LHC will be in its first year of running at an unprecedented energy scale.

In this 2011 Aspen Winter Conference on particle physics, we will bring together experimentalists and theorists, creating an ideal environment to present and discuss new results and ideas. The conference will be formulated to encourage close collaborations and active exchange of information, which is crucial for making progress at the energy frontier. For more information, please go to: http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=103979