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…
International Particle Physics Outreach Group meeting
The European Particle Physics Outreach Group [EPPOG] was established 15 years ago, under the joint auspices of the European Committee for Future Accelerators and the European Physical Society’s High Energy Particle Physics Board. In 2011 it evolved into the International Particle Physics Outreach Group [IPPOG], reflecting the international nature of the group. IPPOG’s principle aim is to maximise the impact of education and outreach efforts relating to particle physics, through information exchange and the sharing of expertise…
Asian experiments unlock neutrino oscillation mystery
Two reactor experiments, China’s Daya Bay and Korea’s RENO, have made the best measurement of the neutrino mixing angle, θ13, an essential property for neutrino research. The discovery of a non-zero θ13 at approximately 9˚ – which was published in March and Apri this year – completes our picture of neutrino mixing. This quite large value for the mixing angle will make it easier to conduct future long baseline neutrino experiments. This, in turn, may lead to a better understanding of the matter-antimatter asymmetry seen in the Universe…
Quark Matter 2012
The 23rd International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions [Quark Matter 2012] is being held at the Washington Omni Shoreham Hotel, in Washington DC, on 13-18 August this year.
Topics under discussion will include: electromagnetic probes; future experimental facilities, upgrades, and instrumentation; global and collective dynamics; hadron thermodynamics; heavy flavour and quarkonia; jet correlations and fluctuations; new theoretical developments; pre-equilibrium and initial state physics…
Heavy Ion Collisions in the LHC Era
The Heavy Ion Collisions in the LHC Era international conference will be held in Quy Nhon, central Vietnam, from 15-20 July this year. The event, which will focus on the proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at LHC and RHIC energies, will include an optional half-day excursion and the possibility for a post-conference tour in northern Vietnam.
Topics being covered at the conference include: collective dynamics; jet quenching; heavy flavour and quarkonia production; electroweak probes; QCD at high temperature and density & phase diagram…
