International Master classes in Particle Physics
Master classes are a unique opportunity for high-school students, where they can hunt particles at the Large Hadron Collider [LHC] and analyse real data from the experiments. Each year, in spring, research institutes and universities around the world open their doors and invite students for daylong visits. This year’s International Master classes were organized in March, under the auspices of the International Particle Physics Outreach Groups [IPPOG], and attracted more than 10 000 students.In the Master class, students gained insight into the international organization of modern research in…
Updating the European Strategy for Particle Physics
On 21-26 January 2013 the European Strategy Group met in Erice, Italy to draft an update of the medium and long-term European Strategy for Particle Physics to be submitted shortly for approval by the CERN Council. The Erice “retreat” followed the Open Symposium of Krakow, Poland, in September 2012.
This timely strategy document comes soon after the discovery of the long awaited Higgs-like boson at the LHC and coincides with the LHC shutdown until the end of 2014…
Vienna Conference on Instrumentation
The Vienna Conference on Instrumentation [VCI] will take place n 11-15 February 2013 and will present the newest developments of detectors for particle, astro-particle and nuclear physics and their applications in biology, medicine, neutron scattering and synchrotron radiation.
The Conference will have plenary sessions with invited talks giving en overview of new detector development. The Conference Organizers particularly encourage contributions relating to associated detector electronics…
SpacePart12
The 4th International Conference on Particle and Fundamental Physics in Space [SpacePart12] will be held on 5-7 November 2012 at CERN. The event, part of a series, which has been held since 2002, brings together space scientists and space policy makers from around the world to exchange views on the developments of space related science and technology programs.
Scientific topics of SpacePart12 will be: the 100th anniversary of Cosmic Ray discovery; status and open issues linking particle physics and the observation of the universe; the multi-messenger universe; the dark universe; …
Debating future of particle physics
The Open Symposium on the European Strategy for Particle Physics was held in the beautiful town of Krakow on 10-12 September this year. This event – organised under the aegis of the European Strategy Preparatory Group – attracted around 500 particle physicists from across the world, with the aim of discussing the next research instruments and other future prospects for high energy physics.
The wide-ranging programme focused on the recent discovery of the Higgs-like particle at CERN…
ICFA appoints Lyn Evans Linear Collider Director
Lyn Evans has been appointed as the Linear Collider Director, the International Committee for Future Accelerators [ICFA] announced late last month. Evans, the first to hold this position, will bring together the governance of two existing accelerator programs: the Compact Linear Collider [CLIC] and the International Linear Collider [ILC].
“The international particle physics community is fortunate to have Lyn at the helm of this new organization,” says Pier Oddone, ICFA chair and Fermilab Director…
The long-awaited discovery – an interview with Guido Tonelli
On 4 July this year – following the announcement of the new particle discovery from CERN – European Physical Society president Luisa Cifarelli interviewed Guido Tonelli, former spokesperson of CERN’s CMS Collaboration.
Hello, Guido.
With respect to today’s exciting announcement, how are you feeling?
It is very difficult for me to describe today’s emotions. For people that have been searching…
New edition of the Review of Particle Physics now online
The latest issue of the Review of Particle Physics has been published online last month. The review – often referred to as the “the Bible of particle physics” – comprehensively covers the fields of high-energy and astroparticle physics.
This current edition contains the latest data on such current research topics as Higgs bosons, supersymmetry, B mesons, neutrinos, dark matter, dark energy, the Big Bang and the early universe. In total, the 2012 publication covers 2,568 new measurements and contains 112 comprehensive review articles…
Higgs? CERN sees new particle consistent with elusive boson
CERN’s ATLAS and CMS experiments have observed a new particle – consistent with the elusive Higgs boson – in the mass region around 125-126 GeV/c2, it was announced during a seminar at the Swiss-based laboratory on 4 July.
“The five sigma signal – at around 125 GeV – we’re seeing is dramatic. This is indeed a new particle. We know it must be a boson and it’s the heaviest boson ever found,” said CMS experiment spokesperson Joe Incandela. “The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this reason that we must be extremely diligent in all of our studies…
“Relativistic heavy ion collisions” town meeting
A one-day town meeting on relativistic heavy ion collisions will be held on 29 June this year in the Council Chamber at CERN, Geneva. The event is in anticipation of, and aims to gather input for, an update to the European Strategy for Particle Physics.
Topics under discussion at the meeting will include soft probes, flow and hydrodynamic response of the medium; hard probes and quarkonia; and future opportunities for colliders and fixed target experiments…
Particle physics outreach database launched by IPPOG
A database of resources and tools for particle physics education and outreach has been published by the International Particle Physics Outreach Group. The collection aims to help and inspire physicists, communicators and teachers with useful and imaginative ways of teaching students and the public about particle physics.
“The idea behind the database was to create a basket of tools where people can go and dip in and use them for their own needs,” says Lisa Mc Carthy, the IPPOG staff member who helped to set up the database.
Submissions to the resource library can be made by anyone – after registering – extending the IPPOG tradition of sharing outreach tools, practices and successes.
The database can be searched by a number of parameters, including the learning topic, nature, intended audience and language. The site also features a rating system – similar to those seen on sites such as amazon and youtube – through which submissions may be reviewed by the community, with popular items earning featured status.
The database is still in its early stages, and the creators are inviting users to provide feedback, and make suggestions as to how it could be improved. Comments should be sent to IPPOG by email ippog [dot] outreach [at] cern [dot] ch.
For more information on IPPOG, please see our article “International Particle Physics Outreach Group meeting”.
Symposium on Strategy for Particle Physics
The CERN Council Open Symposium on the European Strategy for Particle Physics will be held in Kraków, Poland, on 10-12 September this year. The event, held in anticipation of the Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, aims to review the status of particle physics research and the preparation for future facilities.
The physics community was encouraged to submit input prior to the symposium. Such is published…
