Jointly organized by Beihang University, Tsung-Dao Lee Institute (TDLI) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and supported by the National Key Laboratory of Dark Matter Physics, the 4th International BSM Workshop: Building for Tomorrow was successfully held at Tsung-Dao Lee Institute in Shanghai from August 25 to 27, 2025. The workshop brought together more than 60 experts, scholars, postdoctoral researchers, and students from institutions and universities including Peking University, Nanjing University, Sun Yat-sen University, KAIST, the University of Tokyo, and Tohoku University, among others.
At the opening ceremony, Prof. Yuichiro Nakai, Tenured Fellow and Associate Professor and at TDLI, delivered the welcome address. He emphasized the importance of international collaboration and the engagement of young scholars in advancing the field.
The scientific program covered a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from foundational theory, phenomenology to experimental exploration, fully reflecting the diverse approaches to physics beyond the Standard Model. Highlights of the presentations included:
- Multi-axion dynamics. Exploring the evolution of topological defects, opening up new directions for research on axion cosmology.
- New mechanism to produce heavy dark matter. Proposing a scenario that cosmic phase transition can naturally produce heavy dark matter. A new source of gravitational waves from the phase transition is found.
- Scattering entanglement entropy. Discussing a relation between the dynamics of the electroweak phase transition and the entanglement entropy defined in scattering processes. Extremizing entanglement entropy may be a principle of the nature!
During the discussions, participants engaged in in-depth exchanges on model building, numerical simulations, experimental design, and observational strategies, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary methods and international collaboration in bridging theory and experiment.
The successful organization of this workshop not only fostered academic exchange and knowledge sharing in the field of BSM physics but also provided a valuable platform for young researchers to present their work and build collaborations. Looking ahead, TDLI will continue to promote international cooperation, and work hand in hand with the global community to explore the frontiers of particle physics, realizing the vision of “Building for Tomorrow”.
Written by Wen Wang
Photo by Yufei Zhang
Editor on Duty: Yan Cheng