Perrine Royole-Degieux | 4 August 2011The year 2012 will be a crucial one for particle physics. Physicists expect the Large Hadron Collider and astroparticle physics experiments to draw a clearer picture of the field so that, at the end of the year, the CERN Council could vote on an update of the European strategy for particle physics and, in this way, announce Europe’s top priorities for the five years to follow.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: astroparticle physics, CERN, CLIC, Europe, European Strategy for Particle Physics, ILC
Barbara Warmbein | 3 March 2011European accelerator and detector sciences kick off the AIDA project, a four-year plan that will allow easier coordination and collaboration among the continent's particle physics institutes.
Category: Feature | Tagged: AIDA, Europe, European Union
Barbara Warmbein | 20 January 2011A device used the linear collider’s hadronic calorimeter could soon help detect cancer. It would also be the central part of what is likely going to be the world’s smallest calorimeter – so tiny that it can fit on the tip of an endoscope to be inserted into a person’s stomach. Since January 2011, a consortium of some 60 scientists from 13 institutes all across Europe is officially building the world’s first in-body calorimeter, funded by the European commission in its 7th Framework Programme with about 6 million Euros over a period of four years.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: calorimeter, Europe, Framework Program, PET, technology transfer
Sakue Yamada | 20 January 2011First of all a Happy New Year to all readers! We have now come over the middle point of the Letters-of-Intent (LOIs) process to produce a detailed baseline design (DBD) of the ILC detectors. The first half was very productive. Starting from the call for LOIs and establishing the advisory scheme, the International Detector Advisory Group (IDAG), we came through the validation, which included both hard work for preparation by many people and elaborated examination by IDAG. Much work on detector R&D and physics simulation is now being continued to be integrated into two detector systems by the two validated groups. While further efforts are needed towards the completion of DBD, it is timely to make an interim report now, and we are already working on it.
Category: Research Director's Report | Tagged: DBD, detailed baseline design, Europe, regional contact
11 November 2010The Spanish National Network for Future Linear Colliders met in Valencia, Spain on 25 and 26 October. Representatives from all Spanish groups involved in R&D activities on detectors and accelerators for future colliders, as well as physicists from theory groups, attended the meeting which showed big advancements developed in all the activities of the Spanish groups, both in accelerators and detectors. The challenge of organising the next global Linear Collider Workshop in 2011 at Granada was also very well received by the Spanish community.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: Europe, Spain
Barbara Warmbein | 11 November 2010Germans enjoy punctuality, and Germans like to plan ahead. Though these may sound like tired clichés, the German particle physics community recently lived up to international expectations and met for a workshop to set the strategy for particle physics in Germany in the years to come. The physicists were asked by their funding agency, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, to map out the future and present their interests and priorities — next year the European Strategy for Particle Physics will plan a strategy that takes into account the latest results from the LHC. As one of the major players in Europe, Germany wants to be prepared. The overall strategy process will conclude in September 2012 with a new strategy for Europe.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: Europe, Germany
Barbara Warmbein | 14 October 2010After four plus one years of running time, a total budget of 21.5 million Euros, participating institutes from Helsinki to Valencia and from Novosibirsk to Glasgow and many research infrastructures successfully in place, the EU-funded infrastructure programme for ILC detector R&D EUDET comes to a close at the end of the year. Participants met for the very last EUDET meeting at DESY last week. But instead of self-congratulatory speeches and boasting summaries, most of the talks listed future plans and outlined future milestones beyond the scope of EUDET.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: AIDA, detector R&D, EUDET, Europe
16 September 2010An important milestone was reached on the way to the European XFEL superconducting linear accelerator: the start of the industrial production of the superconducting accelerator structures. Yesterday and today, kick-off workshops took place to coordinate the future collaboration of DESY with two industrial firms. The superconducting accelerator structures are a joint contribution of DESY and INFN Milano, coordinated by DESY.
Category: Feature | Tagged: DESY, Europe, XFEL
17 June 2010The University of Hamburg and DESY have won a shared Alexander von Humboldt professorship for the development of accelerators and particle physics. The renowned award goes to Professor Brian Foster, currently head of Particle Physics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research announced today. Assuming successful conclusions to negotiations, Foster will receive up to 5 million Euros over a period of five years to fund research into the development and realisation of acceleration technologies for particle physics and continued analysis of data from DESY's flagship accelerator, HERA.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: award, DESY, Europe, Germany, Hamburg
Barbara Warmbein | 13 May 2010The Advanced European Infrastructures for Detectors at Accelerators (AIDA) proposal has received top grades from the European Commission, meaning that the multi-disciplinary multi-institutional detector development project will definitely go ahead. Out of 47 submitted proposals, AIDA came second with a score of 14.5 out of 15. The only catch is that the EC cut the proposed funding from 10 to 8 million Euros, reducing the full funding to just under 28 million Euros over four years. The project partners are now in the process of redefining the scope of the project in order to match the new budget, but are planning to keep as much as possible to the originally foreseen work. The coordinators and the EC are currently in a negotiation phase and the starting date of AIDA is expected for early 2011.
Category: Feature | Tagged: AIDA, detector R&D, Europe
