April 2026 Newsletter

Dear DPF members,

Please find below the monthly DPF newsletter for April 2026. This newsletter will be archived on the DPF website. If you would like an announcement included in the May 2026 newsletter, please contact the DPF Secretary/Treasurer. Please keep requests to 300 words and submit them by the 10th of the month for consideration.

DPF is the primary community organization for particle physicists in the United States. You can directly support our activities by making a donation at this link.

Best wishes,

Ken Bloom, DPF Secretary/Treasurer, kenbloom@unl.edu

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Next DPF community meeting May 21-22

DPF is organizing its next online community meeting, to be held on May 21 and 22, 2026. A draft agenda can be found at https://indico.global/event/17474/. Register to attend the meeting by Zoom at this link.

This series started when HEPAP was dissolved and we realized the need to maintain communication between the federal funding agencies and the community. The previous community meeting was held on Dec 18-19, 2025 (https://indico.global/event/15767/).

There is a major difference this time. The DOE Office of Nuclear Physics and Office of High Energy Physics are merging to become the Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics within the DOE Office of Science. As a result, we decided to organize the May 22 meeting jointly with the APS Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP). Gina Rameika, who will direct the new merged office, has agreed to join us on that day, as well as Saúl Gonzalez, NSF MPS deputy directorate head.

More information will follow on how to register to attend the online meeting.

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DPF26 abstract submission now open!

The 2026 edition of the APS Division of Particles and Fields (DPF) meeting will be held at Fermilab on July 20-24, 2026. Abstract submission is now open at https://indico.fnal.gov/event/72820/abstracts/ through May 4.

Registration for the meeting will be open soon. Low-cost housing ($50/night) will be available in dormitories at nearby Benedictine University. We look forward to seeing you there!

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Nominations for APS Prizes and Awards Due Soon!

Nominations for APS Prizes and Awards are due June 2, 2025. Dissertation award nominations are due August 31, 2025. You need to be a member of DPF and APS to nominate.

The Robert R. Wilson Prize recognizes and encourages outstanding achievement in the physics of particle accelerators. The prize consists of $10,000, an allowance for travel to the meeting at which the prize is awarded, and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient. It is presented annually. This award is given jointly by the Division of Physics of Beams and the Division of Particles and Fields

The Meenakshi Narain Mentoring Award recognizes exceptional mentoring in particle physics. The mentoring recognized could be in the form of teaching, research, or science-related activities, and the award is intended to acknowledge current and career-spanning achievements. The award carries with it a prize of $5,000, a certificate citing the contribution made by the recipient, plus travel expenses to attend the APS April Meeting, where the prize is bestowed. It will be presented annually.

The W.K.H. Panofsky prize recognizes and encourages outstanding achievements in experimental particle physics. The prize consists of $10,000, an allowance for travel to the meeting at which the prize is to be awarded, and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient. It is presented annually.

The Henry Primakoff Award for Early-Career Particle Physics recognizes outstanding contributions made by early-career physicists and helps promote the careers of exceptionally promising physicists. The prize is given annually and will consist of $3,000 and a certificate citing the contributions of the recipient, plus an allowance for travel to an APS meeting to receive the award and deliver an invited lecture.

The J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics recognizes and encourages outstanding achievement in particle theory. The prize consists of $10,000, an allowance for travel to the meeting of the Society at which the prize is to be awarded, and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient. It will be presented annually.

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Phenomenology Symposium 2026 (PHENO 2026)

May 11 - 13, 2026, Pittsburgh, PA
Registration deadline: May 1, 2026

The 2026 Phenomenology Symposium (PHENO 2026) will take place during May 11-13, 2026,organized by the PITT PACC at the University of Pittsburgh.

The Symposium will cover current issues in particle physics phenomenology, theoretical developments, and recent experimental results, ranging from low energy phenomena over collider physics to astro-particle physics and cosmology. The Symposia are attended by experimental and theoretical physicists in roughly equal numbers, with a large number of junior participants. The broad plenary and parallel sessions provide an excellent forum for discussions. There will be a “Forum on early career development” on Monday, May 11 at lunchtime.

The registration and parallel talk submission are open now. Parallel talk submission deadline is April 24, 2026. For further information, please visit the web site at https://indico.global/event/16413/

We look forward to seeing you at Pheno 2026!

Pheno 2026 organizers:

Brian Batell, Kun Cheng, Christopher Condon (Technical Support), Arnab Dasgupta, Ayres Freitas, Joni George (Contact), Gracie Gollinger (Technical Support), Tao Han (chair), Sam Homiller, Adam Leibovich, Zahra Tabrizi

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54th SLAC Summer Institute

Dear Colleagues:

The 54th SLAC Summer Institute will take place during the week of 10-14 Aug 2026; the theme is “Quantum Probes for a Quantum Universe”.

Advances in quantum sensors are opening up exceptional science opportunities in a wide range of fundamental physics areas, including dark matter, axion, gravity and the neutrino sector. Their exquisite performance has greatly extended the parameter space that can be studied experimentally, and further advances will continue to push the boundaries of our knowledge of fundamental physics. The lectures at the 54th SLAC Summer Institute will cover the principles of quantum sensors, their application in experiments to date and future prospects, providing a balance between technology and science.

The Institute lectures are primarily aimed at senior graduate students and postdocs while senior researchers are also welcome. No prior experience with quantum sensing is required. Presentation of topical results, participant projects, Q&A sessions, and social events supplement the morning lectures to create an invigorating environment for all participants.

The full program and further details can be found on the SSI website:

https://indico.slac.stanford.edu/e/ssi2026

For answers to questions, please contact us at ssi@slac.stanford.edu.

We hope to see you at SLAC this summer for SSI 2026!

The SSI 2026 Program Consultants and Directors,

Chelsea Bartram, Noah Kurinsky, Richard Partridge, Emmanuel Schaan, Su Dong, Kelly Stifter, Yun-Tse Tsai, Charlie Young, and Tom Rizzo (chair)

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RPC 2026, September 14-18, 2026

RPC 2026 will take place on September 14-18, 2026, at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. General information is available on the conference website (https://rpc2026.uerj.br/) and on the event page (https://indico.global/event/15349/). This edition will be especially meaningful as it will be the first time the RPC Conference is held in Brazil and in South America.

The meeting is devoted to resistive plate chambers (RPCs) and related gaseous detector technologies, with topics spanning detector performance in high-energy physics experiments, production and quality assurance, instrumentation techniques, alternative gas mixtures and longevity studies, physics and simulation, and applied research. We believe these themes may be of interest to DPF members working on detector R&D, instrumentation, collider experiments, and related applications.

Abstract submission is open until June 24, 2026, and early registration will remain open until August 1, 2026.

Best regards,

Dr. Sandro Fonseca de Souza
Dr. Gilvan Augusto Alves
Chairs of the Local Organizing Committee, RPC 2026
info.rpc2026@uerj.br

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