Learned societies worldwide to plan the future of particle physics
Three community driven initiatives in 2013 have provided an opportunity to high-energy particle “to build a compelling science case for major research facilities in Asia, Europe and the US. They identified ways to increase the scientific return on society’s investment and to spread the benefits of forefront physics research to developing countries.”
An article in the January/February 2014 CERN Courier describes how learned societies have provided valuable input into the planning process for future high-energy particle physics facilities.
In January 2013, a working group of the CERN Council met in Erice, Italy, to draft an updated strategy for medium and long-term particle physics. This led to an official document “The European Strategy for particle Physics”, formally adopted in a special meeting hosted at the European Commission in Brussels in May 2013.
This was followed by the Asia Europe Physics Summit [ASEPS] in July 2013 in Chiba, Japan. The European Physical Society [EPS] and the Association of Asian Pacific Physical Societies [AAPPS] jointly organised 2 workshops to look at the international strategic planning for large research facilities. These workshops (in the form of round tables) were attended by leaders in the respective physics communities to discuss strengthening the collaboration between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
The Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society organized the 2013 US Community Summer Study. Using the results of a bottom up study commissioned in 2012, the 2013 Community Summer Study involved nearly 1000 physicists from the US plus many participants from Europe and Asia. Roughly 30 small workshops were held in 2013 to prepare for the “Snowmass on the Mississippi” session at the University of Minnesota, which was attended by several hundred physicists in over 9 days in ate July-early August 2013.
