Particles physics: news
Events, News, Publications
A premier at the European Research Center for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva-Meyrin: 24 teenagers and young adults from all over Switzerland spent over two weeks in October at CERN to learn and conduct experiments on site. The “Swiss High-School Students Internship Program 2021” (HSSIP) promotes the next generation of researchers in particle physics.
Image: Andrej Maraffio
Ingo Sick, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. of the University of Basel, passed away on 30 May 2021, two days after his 82nd birthday. During his postdoctoral period at Stanford University with Nobel Prize winner Robert Hofstadter, he experienced the beginnings of electron research with the world's best electron accelerator at the time, SLAC. This domain of research was to remain with him forever.
At first glance, particle physics appears to be a clearly defined sub-discipline of physics. On closer inspection, however, we see a differentiated research landscape with a broad spectrum of questions. The Swiss Institute for Particle Physics (CHIPP), the umbrella organisation for Swiss particle physics, has now drawn up a roadmap of the research priorities for the coming years and decades.
Image: CHIPP
Last year, Gabriel Cuomo successfully defended his PhD thesis in theoretical particle physics at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). For this academic achievement, the Sicilian-born physicist, who now lives and researches in New York, receives the Doctoral Students Award of the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics (CHIPP). The prize will be awarded at the beginning of September in Innsbruck on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Swiss Physical Society (SPS) together with the Austrian partner organisation.
Image: G. Cuomo
The European Research Centre for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva is currently working on making the measurement data from four large-scale experiments available to the public via internet. This form of 'open science' benefits particle physicists around the globe, but also students or high school students - for example in Switzerland.
Image: B. Vogel
The workshop focuses on the physics at the low energy, high precision frontier without neglecting complementary approaches. It aims at highlighting present activities and future developments. The Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) itself offers unique opportunities for experiments in this realm: it houses the world's most powerful proton cyclotron and the highest intensity low momentum pion and muon beams and the ultracold neutron source.
Image: PSI, Switzerland
At the beginning of April, the US research laboratory Fermilab published a new result for the magnetic dipole moment of the muon. The result caused a broad media response because it deviates from the theoretical predictions and thus questions the previous understanding of the laws of nature. Researchers from the Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics (AEC) at the University of Bern were involved in the theoretical predictions. Prof. Martin Hoferichter, theoretical physicist at the AEC, explains the background.
Image: M. Hoferichter![Comparison between RK measurements. The measurements by the BaBar and Belle collaborations combine B+→K+ℓ+ℓ− and B0→KS0ℓ+ℓ− decays, where ℓ is a lepton. The previous LHCb measurements and the new result [4], which supersedes them, are also shown.](http://portal-cdn.scnat.ch/asset/40d25219-cf32-5d7f-a344-d4356ccc9252/Screenshot%202021-03-23%20at%2007.10.12.png?b=7f50075d-36d9-5913-bc44-fac8e7e34457&v=9bd7e834-a6a8-55b6-a09e-b7a43d64781f_100&s=ZXCr4RK3qEJY7uCaZs-9pRZZZ8OZ8EVj3Rtyhyf2-qP-evQun65d57tCLxGqXtaTEoil2Qpqb3qILXWzeagdRAk0VyPfdvD6i55sqpj1txNkByqDDgqtsu4QPc8YaVnoTVyp_QF8cXZ9TucqIpINFjwWWfLF-52KvErWu9a54Gs&t=168762a9-a047-48ef-8189-ae1810223337&sc=2 "Comparison between RK measurements. The measurements by the BaBar and Belle collaborations combine B+→K+ℓ+ℓ− and B0→KS0ℓ+ℓ− decays, where ℓ is a lepton. The previous LHCb measurements and the new result [4], which supersedes them, are also shown.")
Almost ten years ago, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) made headlines with the discovery of the Higgs particle. These days, the LHCb experiment at CERN has published results that also have the makings of a real scientific sensation: studies of the so-called beauty quark suggest that there could be a fifth, super-weak force in addition to the four known forces of nature (electromagnetism, gravitation, strong and weak interaction). However, CERN researchers still have a lot of work ahead of them to confirm this spectacular hypothesis. At the forefront: particle physicists from the University of Zurich and EPF Lausanne
Image: LHCb, CERN
Until his retirement in 2017, Martin Pohl was a physics professor at the University of Geneva and worked on particle physics research projects for almost half a century. Drawing on this wealth of experience, a book has been written in which Pohl knowledgeably traces the developmental strands of this fundamental discipline. The culmination is the 'Standard Model' of particle physics - for Pohl a scientific highlight and a burden at the same time.
Image: Martin PohlThis community roadmap presents the visions for future research in particle and astroparticle physics in Switzerland and formulates the needs of these fields in terms of research infrastructure in the years 2025-2028 and beyond. It was established under the auspices of the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics (CHIPP), which issued its first roadmap already in 2004 and conducted dedicated roadmap-planning workshops in 2018 and 2020.
Swiss Particle Physics researchers are very proud to announce that UZH people worked directly on this measurement and had a leading role on this analysis, EPFL and UZH are very prominent in LHCb in both analysis and hardware.
The technical know-how that physicists use in research could soon serve in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. An international team of scientists with strong Swiss participation has developed a ventilator in record time that could help in the future against lung diseases like Corona, especially in countries with a precarious medical infrastructure.
In the laboratories of modern physics the elementary components of matter are studied. To do this, scientists sometimes build artificial atoms to help them understand the laws of matter. A research team at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Villigen/AG) uses a specifically modified helium atom to determine the exact mass and other properties of pions. Pions could help to understand more precisely where atomic nuclei get their mass from.
Presents a novel combination of essays with contributors from big research organizations, funding agencies and experts in economics
Claudia Merlassino was born in Genoa, studied physics in Milan and completed her doctorate at the University of Bern in October 2019, since then she has been doing research at Oxford University in the UK. At the age of 28, the Italian experimental physicist has already made a remarkable journey as a researcher. She is now receiving the PhD prize in Swiss particle physics - among other things for her findings in the context of the most massive of all elementary particles.
The delta+ is a type of baryon, the family of sub-atomic particles to which the more well-known proton and neutron belong. A team of physics enthusiasts at the International School of Geneva is working intensively on these extremely unstable elementary particles. In September they will travel to Hamburg for an experiment at the renowned particle physics research institute DESY. They owe this extraordinary research trip to winning this year's “Beamline for Schools” (BL4S) competition at CERN.
Axions are elementary particles with extremely low mass. So far they exist only in the brains of theoretical physicists, nobody has observed them. Really? Measurement results at detector XENON1T in Italy make one sit up and take notice.
The ALICE, CMS and LHCb collaborations present new measurements that show how particles containing charm quarks can serve as “messengers” of hadrons and the quark–gluon plasma, carrying information about these forms of matter. This media update is part of a series related to the 2020 Large Hadron Collider Physics (LHCP2020) conference, taking place 25–30 May 2020.
Positron emission tomography (PET) helps medical doctors to detect cancer and many other diseases. A team of researchers led by ETH Professor Günther Dissertori is working on a new generation of PET scanners that could in future be of great use in pharmacological research and in the treatment of Alzheimer's patients. The technical innovation is based, among other things, on fundamental research at CERN.
FCC - these three letters stand for the vision of a new ring accelerator that could be built at the European particle physics laboratory CERN in Geneva. With this long-term goal in mind, Swiss physicists founded the CHART research initiative five years ago. Now the demonstrator of a powerful magnet is available. If the tests are successful, a very first step towards decisive progress in infrastructure for basic research, but also in applications such as, e.g., innovative instrumentation for medical therapies will be achieved.
Scientists at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) have spent around ten years building the Spectrometer / Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX). Since 10 February, the research instrument is travelling to the Sun. It will provide accurate measurements of the solar atmosphere and the solar wind and will also cover the polar regions of the Sun that cannot be observed from Earth.
With its European particle physics laboratory CERN, Geneva attracts many researchers to Switzerland. This was also the case with François Drielsma (28). In a doctoral thesis supervised by Prof. Alain Blondel (University of Geneva), the Belgian-born scientist investigated a completely new way to build a particle accelerator.
Particle physicists from all over Europe are currently discussing the future of European particle physics, when the current ring accelerator LHC will be decommissioned around 2035. Next May, the decision could be taken launch technical and financial feasibility studies for the construction of a new, even more powerful particle accelerator.
This week’s drafting session marks final discussions for the update of the European strategy for particle physics
Elementary particle physics and the large-scale CERN research facility have repeatedly inspired artists to engage with modern scientific research. The latest example is the movie 'Les Particules' by French-Swiss filmmaker Blaise Harrison (39). In this art piece scientific research serves as an escape and dream world for an adolescent.
Lesya Shchutska (pronounced: Schutska) is 33 years old and already Professor of Elementary Particle Physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). "At the moment I can't imagine doing anything other than physics," says the researcher, who deals with particles that so far only exist in the minds of theoretical physicists.
In deep underground tunnels of former mines near the Japanese Alps, teams of scientists with Swiss participation are researching various types of elementary particles. Over the next few years, powerful research instruments will be put into operation with which scientists want to discover the nature of neutrinos. The hoped-for results could lead to solving of deep puzzles in our understanding of the universe.
Hardly any elementary particle occurs more frequently in the universe than the elusive neutrino. The investigation of the almost massless tiny particle is a focus of current elementary particle physics. Perhaps the most important contribution to the understanding of neutrino has been made over twenty years by the Japanese Super-Kamiokande detector, in which several Swiss research groups are involved. A visit to the Japanese mountains.
Neutrinos are ubiquitous yet elusive particles that could shed light on the early evolution of the universe. As one of the world’s major laboratories for neutrino physics, Fermilab partners with leading organizations around the globe to get a firmer grasp on these subtle particles.
In 2025, the 'Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment' (DUNE) will be launched in the north of the USA, with which physicists want to learn more about neutrino - a still mysterious elementary particle. An important component of the DUNE experiment is currently being prepared by scientists from the University of Bern.
Michał Rawlik, scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) is awarded the CHIPP Prize 2019. The 29-year-old researcher receives the award for his doctoral thesis on the electric dipole moment of the neutron. The experiment he co-developed could one day help answer the question of why there is much more matter in the universe than antimatter.
From 2026, the performance of the large-scale experiments at the European particle physics laboratory, CERN, in Geneva will be significantly increased. The preliminary work for the upgrade of the large particle accelerator LHC and the associated detectors is currently in full swing. An important contribution is made by the University of Bern, where doctoral student Armin Fehr (26) and his colleagues are working on a component for the ATLAS detector. This component will enable the read-out of the greatly increased data rates from 2026 onwards.
CERN in Geneva is the leading particle physics laboratory worldwide. Large particle accelerators based on the most innovative technologies are used there for fundamental research. One year ago, the innovation park “PARK INNOVAARE” in Villigen (AG) launched, together with CERN, the BIC of CERN program: it supports start-ups and high-tech micro-companies using CERN technologies for commercial applications. These days the second call for proposals has started.
The LHCb collaboration at CERN has seen, for the first time, the matter–antimatter asymmetry known as CP violation in a so-called D0 meson. LHCb is one of the four large experiments performed at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with Swiss participation of Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and University of Zurich.
Gravity accompanies us in our everyday lives—from early morning, when we get out of bed, to late evening, when we drop tiredly onto the mattress. Although no other force of nature shapes our lives as much as gravity, we still know little about it. Many scientists around the world are working to uncover the secrets of gravity. One of them is researching in Canton Aargau: the 32-year-old particle physicist Anna Soter.
Professor Laura Baudis (U. Zurich) was elected Chair of the SAC by representatives of the member countries of the group which coordinates research in Astroparticle Physics in Europe. Professor Teresa Montaruli (U. Geneva) was elected Chair of the General Assembly.
In spring 2020 the European particle physics community will decide on a new European Strategy highlighting the strategic long-term goals in this important field of fundamental research. In December 2018 Swiss scientists – organized by the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics / CHIPP – have formulated their input to the new European Strategy. Günther Dissertori – professor at ETH Zurich, member of the CHIPP Executive Board and incoming Scientific Delegate of Switzerland in the CERN Council – explains the main points of the Swiss strategic input.
Neutrinos are electrically neutral and very light elementary particles, which interact only weakly with other matter and are therefore difficult to observe. From 2025, a new neutrino experiment in the US aims contributing to a better understanding of the neutrinos. At the University of Bern physicists are currently working on the prototype for a detector to be used in the upcoming experiment.
PiA offers 24 entertaining physics experiments to do yourself again this year. Due to the great interest from abroad, physics will be available in English during Advent, just like last year.
Laetitia Laub was born and raised near Lausanne. She studied mathematics and physics at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). Since August 2017, the 24-year-old junior scientist is writing her doctoral thesis in theoretical physics at the University of Bern. In her thesis she deals with the anomalous magnetic dipole moment of the muon and the reaction of this particle in the magnetic field. "Many people are currently working on this theoretical problem with the aim of further reducing the calculation error of the dipol moment. This is also because a better experimental value for the dipole moment will be probably found at Fermilab in the US and J-Parc experiment in Japan soon, " says Laetitia Laub.
At the end of August, climate change and the future energy supply of Switzerland were among the topics of several keynote speeches at the Annual Meeting of the Swiss Physical Society (SPS) and the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics (CHIPP) in Lausanne. Maurice Bourquin, former professor of physics at University of Geneva, gave a keynote lecture about the ongoing transformation of the Swiss energy system. Professor Bourquin was also Rector of the University of Geneva (1999 - 2003) and President of the CERN Council (2001 - 2003). The 77 year-old scientist’s speech was titled: “Thorium-based systems – A new direction for nuclear waste elimination and energy production.” In the interview that follows, Professor Bourquin explains why he still believes in nuclear power.
In order for physicists at CERN to carry out their experiments for the understanding of matter, the large particle accelerator LHC must be operated with the utmost precision. Ensuring this precision both now and in the future was the overriding goal of a doctoral thesis that Claudia Tambasco recently completed at the EPFL in Lausanne. For this work, the young researcher was today (28.08.2018) awarded the prize of the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics (CHIPP) at a ceremony in Lausanne.
Geneva, 28 August. Six years after its discovery, the Higgs boson has at last been observed decaying to fundamental particles known as bottom quarks. The finding, presented today at CERN by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is consistent with the hypothesis that the all-pervading quantum field behind the Higgs boson also gives mass to the bottom quark. Both teams have submitted their results for publication today.
Am 22. August bringt die Schweizerische Nationalbank die neue 200-Franken-Note in Umlauf. Auf der neuen Banknote wird die wissenschaftliche Schweiz durch die Elementarteilchenphysik repräsentiert. Die Auswahl dieses Sujets ist Ausdruck des hohen Stellenwerts, den die teilchenphysikalische Grundlagenforschung in der Schweiz geniesst.
Many Swiss physicists are now in Seoul (Korea) for the very prestigious conference ICHEP2018. We report here their latest findings and contributions to the conference.
Anyone who studies physics at the University of Zurich knows Lea Caminada for her lectures. Most of the time, however, you will not find the particle physicist on the Irchel campus, but at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen in the canton of Aargau doing research. There, the 36-year-old scientist develops sophisticated measuring instruments, which are then used at CERN for cutting-edge research. In a questionnaire, Lea Caminada gives an insight into her everyday life as an experimental physicist.
On 15 June, the European Particle Physics Laboratory (CERN) in Geneva officially celebrates the upcoming upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). By the year 2026, the performance of the world's largest particle accelerator will be significantly improved by many technical optimizations in order to empower new insights into the nature of matter.
Swiss high school students participated at the second European Physics Olympiad in Moscow (Russia) from May 28 to June 1 this year.
ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN describe for the first time the interaction of the two heaviest elementary particles of the Standard Model. Members of the Department of Physics of the Swiss institutes: the University of Geneva, the University of Zurich (UZH) and ETH Zurich have been involved in the analysis in a leading manner.
Results from XENON1T, the world’s largest and most sensitive detector dedicated to a direct search for Dark Matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), are reported today (Monday, 28th May) by the spokesperson, Prof. Elena Aprile of Columbia University, in a seminar at the hosting laboratory, the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), in Italy.
Five of Switzerland’s best-in-physics high school students will take part in the European Physics Olympiad, which will be held at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in Russia from May 28 to June 1 this year.
In 2021, the European research satellite Euclid will be launched into space. With Euclid, scientists from Switzerland and 15 other countries want to gain a better understanding of dark matter and dark energy. These two 'things' fill large parts of the universe in the view of modern astronomy, but neither dark matter nor dark energy have been directly observed so far. Researchers at the University of Zurich have prepared a complex computer simulation of dark matter in preparation for the Euclid mission. This mission is of great interest not only to astronomers and astrophysicists but also to particle physicists since particle physics is on the quest for the discovery of the nature and structure of dark matter with its own experiments.
If you are looking for unknown things, you usually do not know which way to go to find the unknown. This dilemma is also faced by scientists who want to advance into previously unknown areas of elementary particle physics. And yet they have to find a consensus on which experiments promise the greatest gain in knowledge in the next years and decades. For this purpose, the Swiss particle physicists are currently working on a new research roadmap.
The large particle accelerator LHC at CERN in Geneva enables scientists to get precious clues to understand the nature of matter in the next two decades of data taking. The power and performance of this huge research apparatus needs to be constantly improved for this task. A silicon sensor, which the junior researcher Claudia Merlassino is currently testing at the University of Bern, is planned to be used from 2025 in a large LHC experiment: ATLAS.
CERN in Geneva is the world's largest facility for the study of fundamental particles. The equipment that usually serves science can sometimes be used for practical purposes too. That's for example the case for the protons emerging from the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB): they are used in the large particle accelerator LHC for scientific experiments. The protons can also be used to produce isotopes that are useful in radiation medicine. Such isotopes are produced in the recently opened facility CERN-MEDICIS.
This fall at the Paul Scherrer Institute, the construction of a new particle physics experiment will begin to determine the electric dipole of the neutron. It will replace a previous experiment, which has performed the so far most sensitive measurement in recent years and for which data evaluation is still ongoing. The new experiment, co-developed by ETH Ph.D. student Michał Rawlik, can detect almost inconceivably small features of magnetism. A successful outcome of the experiment would help explain why there is so much more matter in the universe than antimatter.
Researchers of the Baryon-Antibaryon-Symmetry experiment (BASE) at CERN have achieved a remarkable success: They have determined the magnetic moment of the antiproton with a previously unattained accuracy. The measurement is more precise than the best measurement for the magnetic moment of the proton.
In 2012, the Higgs particle was detected by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN. Since then, one often hears that the Standard Model of particle physics is complete. "Not quite true!" says Alain Blondel, professor of physics at the University of Geneva. There is still the neutrino, which, as it is known today, does not fit into the Standard Model. Exciting news about the elusive particle was published recently: New observations by the T2K neutrino experiment in Japan provide first indications shedding light to a central question of modern physics: Why does the universe consist only of matter while the associated antimatter is missing?
Particle physics is a basic science that forms our image of matter and the universe. However, the findings of this discipline also have practical applications that directly influence our daily lives. One example is the company DECTRIS AG in Baden-Dättwil. At the joint annual conference of the Austrian Physics Society (ÖPG), the Swiss Physical Society (SPS) and the Swiss Institute for Particle Physics (CHIPP) in Geneva in August, the company presented its latest business ventures.
The experimental detection of dark matter is one of the great challenges of current fundamental research in physics. This year’s prize of the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics (CHIPP) is awarded to the physicist Dr. Johanna Gramling for her latest contributions to the search for this mysterious component of matter.
The international T2K Collaboration strengthened its previous hint that the symmetry between matter and antimatter may be violated for neutrino oscillation.
After a half-year break, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will go into operation again in June. During the last few months, intensive maintenance work on the particle accelerator has been done. The physicist community is hoping to gain new insight into the building bricks that make up our world.
The highly complex research of elementary particle physics is for most people not immediately comprehensible. An artistic approach can help overcome the inaccessibility of this discipline and make particle physics understandable. This is the basic idea of the art @ CMS program, which is celebrating its five-year anniversary this year.
As complicated as particle physics may be, experiments such as those conducted at CERN make it clear how researchers in this discipline work. . However, theoretical physicists, whose work is based on mathematical models, have more difficulty explaining their work. A project from ETH Zurich attempts to provide easy-to-understand insight into a current field of research in theoretical physics.
During the recent service pause of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a key component of the CMS experiment was replaced at the beginning of March: the new pixel detector is even more powerful than its predecessor – raising hopes for new insights in elementary particle physics.
The laws of particle physics apply regardless of place and time, but the laws can’t be explored or their applications studied equally well in any location. Particularly in poorer countries, cost-intensive research projects face big challenges. Against this background, there is a ray of hope that the first Synchrotron in the Middle East for the production of high-brilliance X-ray radiation, called SESAME, will be launched during summer 2017. Switzerland has contributed to the success of this project.
The Chinese writer Cixin Liu has landed an international bestseller with the novel 'The Three-Body Problem'. Now his story about the fight between the Earth and the Trisolaran population is also available in German translation. In the dress of a science fiction novel, the 53-year-old author expresses his deep conviction: without fundamental research in physics, technical progress remains on the line.
Bahar Behzadi, physics teacher at the Freies Gymnasium Zürich, participated with her pupils in the last year's competition "Physics in Advent". The class performed excellently in the competition and was granted a visit to the Swiss Science Center Technorama in Winterthur. In the interview, the 44-year-old teacher reports on her experiences.
Laura Baudis, Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Zurich, recently talked about the extremely difficult search for Dark Matter at the TEDxCERN event in Geneva. In the talk, which is available as a video recording, she gives a well understandable insight into one of the hotest topics of current particle physics research.
Once more, clever pupils from all over Switzerland are invited to the pre-Christmas competition 'Physics in Advent'. Starting on December 1st, participants are asked to solve a simple physical task every day. Special prices for individual pupils as well as for whole school classes are provided. Indeed, teachers from Swiss schools are invited to participate in the competition with their class. One of the prizes is a class trip to CERN.
The abbreviation CMS stands for one of the currently largest physics experiments worldwide. Günther Dissertori, a particle physicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, was recently appointed to the three-headed spokesperson-team of the CMS experiment, which is located at the large particle accelerator at CERN in Meyrin near Geneva. The 47-year-old scientist has to cope with a task that can be compared to the management of an international company with 4,000 employees.
Is there an elementary particle carrying magnetic charge? This fundamental question is being addressed by an experiment currently performed at CERN near Geneva. Recently the MoEDAL research collaboration published its first findings. No discovery has been made so far, but now the experiment will enter in its hot period. Prof. Philippe Mermod and his team at the University of Geneva play a vital role in the search for the hypothesized fundamental magnetic particle.
Marco Valente is a PhD student, born in Ticino and is currently working at the University of Geneva. He is evaluating the performance of a method from which it is expected to improve important measurements of the ATLAS experiment at CERN. For his current studies, the 23 years old researcher has just been awarded with a poster prize given by the Swiss Physical Society (SPS).
The prize of the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics (CHIPP) 2016 goes to Mohamed Rameez. The 27-year-old neutrino researcher who just has earned his PhD at the University of Geneva has been awarded for his outstanding contributions to the IceCube Collaboration.
The deuteron — one of the simplest atomic nuclei, consisting of just one proton and one neutron — is considerably smaller than previously thought. This finding was arrived at by an international research group that carried out experiments at the Paul Scherrer Institute, PSI. The new result is consistent with a 2010 study by the same group, in which the researchers measured the proton and found a significantly smaller value than previous research using different experimental methods. The result from 2010 formed the basis for what has been known since then as "the proton radius puzzle". The new measurement of the deuteron’s size has now given rise to an analogous mystery. It is possible that this will lead to an adjustment of the Rydberg constant, a fundamental quantity in physics. Another possible explanation is that a physical force as yet unknown is at work. For their experiments the researchers used laser spectroscopy to measure so-called muonic deuterium: an artificial atom consisting of a deuteron orbited by an exotic elementary particle known as a muon. The experiments took place at PSI because the world’s most powerful muon source, available here, was needed to produce sufficient muonic deuterium. The researchers have published their new study of the deuteron’s size in the renowned journal 'Science'.
A highlight of the traditional Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau, Germany, which ended on July 1st, was a distinguished panel on particle physics that tried to glimpse beyond the standard model.
Over 30 Nobel Laureates will debate this year in Lindau, Germany with about 400 young scientists from nearly 80 countries. The 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting from June 26th to July 1st is dedicated to the field of physics with a special focus on particle physics including neutrino physics. Prof. André Rubbia (ETH Zurich) is one of the leading neutrino experts in Switzerland. In the interview the 50-year-old researcher gives a glance at the hot topics of current research in worldwide neutrino physics and highlights the contribution of Swiss particle physicists.
The Higgs particle was detected by the CERN large particle accelerator in 2012. Now there are hints that CERN’s worldwide unique particle accelerator will help physicists discover a new elementary particle. Excitement is rising.
The outreach portal of CHIPP - the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics - has now been migrated to the new thematic portal of SCNAT on particle physics. This is an important step towards a better visibility of particle physics among the other fields of natural sciences.
The experimental detection of gravitational waves this spring confirmed with much fanfare Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Until the phenomenon of gravitation is fully understood, however, physics has a Herculean task before it. A giant next step is the LISA experiment, which is being carried out with participation of the University and ETH Zurich.
Ein frei und kostenlos zugänglicher Einführungskurs ermöglicht interessierten Personen einen unkomplizierten Einstieg in die Welt der Teilchenphysik. Dr. Mercedes Paniccia und Prof. Martin Pohl vom Departement für Nuklear- und Teilchenphysik der Universität Genf haben den Kurs aus 57 Videolektionen gestaltet. Bislang ist der Kurs in französischer Sprache verfügbar.
Nein, ganz einfach ist Teilchenphysik nicht zu verstehen. Doch wenn man die richtigen Worte und Bilder findet, können auch Kinder schon eine Vorstellung von der Welt der Elementarteilchen gewinnen. Das zeigt die Sendung 'Rosanna checkt's' des Schweizer Fernsehens, die am 29. September ausgestrahlt wurde.
Am letzten September-Wochenende feierte die Akademie der Naturwissenschaften Schweiz in Sitten ihren 200. Geburtstag. Für vier Tage machte die Wissenschaftstournee 'Forschung live' in der Kantonshauptort des Wallis Halt. Ein Programmpunkt der Jubiläumsveranstaltung war die zweimalige Aufführung des Dokumentarfilms 'Particle Fever' über die Entdeckung des Higgs-Bosons am CERN.
Vom 26. bis zum 29. August feiert die Akademie der Naturwissenschaften Schweiz (SCNAT) in Aarau mit der Wissenschaftstournee 'Forschung live' ihren 200. Geburtstag. Aus diesem Anlass wurde am Aarauer Open Air Kino der US-amerikanische Dokumentarfilm 'Particle Fever' über die Entdeckung des Higgs-Teilchens am CERN gezeigt. Ein Highlight des Filmabends setzte die Physikerin Lea Caminada (Universität Zürich). Die Forscherin sprach zum Auftakt der Filmvorführung über die Tätigkeit am CERN und über ihr Selbstverständnis als Naturwissenschaftlerin. Impressionen von einem gut besuchten Filmabend auf dem Gelände der Pferderennbahn Schachen in Aarau.
Am 23. August 2015 läuft im Rahmen der Wissenschaftstournee «Forschung live» am Aarauer Open Air Kino der Film 'Particle Fever' über die Entdeckung des Higgs-Teilchens. Live dabei: die Zürcher Teilchenphysikerin Lea Caminada. In einer einführenden Talkrunde wird die CERN-Wissenschaftlerin den Kinobesucherinnen und -besuchern über sich und ihre Arbeit als Physikerin Auskunft geben. In ihrer aktuellen Forschung befasst sich Lea Caminada mit Detektortechnologie und arbeitet darauf hin, die Eigenschaften des 2012 entdeckten Higgs-Teilchens noch besser zu verstehen.
Am 9. August 2015 wurde am Open Air Kino Luzern der Dokumentarfilm 'Particle Fever' (Regie: Mark Levinson) über die Entdeckung des Higgs-Teilchens am CERN gezeigt. Es war die erste Aufführung der amerikanischen Produktion in einem Schweizer Kino, noch bevor sie drei Tage später am Filmfestival in Locarno lief. Die Kinopremiere war Teil der Wissenschaftstournee 'Forschung live', mit der die Akademie der Naturwissenschaften Schweiz am zweiten Augustwochenende in Luzern ihren 200. Geburtstag feierte. Zum 'Forschung live'-Event in der Leuchtenstadt gehörten neben dem Filmabend eine Ausstellung am Kornmarkt in der Altstadt und beim Bahnhof, zudem Veranstaltungen in zahlreichen Luzerner Institutionen. Hier einige Fotoimpressionen von dem anregenden 'Particle Fever'-Filmabend vor der bezaubernden Kulisse des Luzerner Seebeckens.
The Large Hadron Collider LHC, CERN´s largest particle accelerator, restarted operating in early June after an almost two year shutdown. It is delivering new data that will enable physicists around the world to gain completely new insights into the composition of matter. Tobias Golling (39) is one of the participating scientists. His academic career took him to Freiburg, Heidelberg, Bonn and the Chicago Fermilab. Since fall 2014 he has been Associate Professor at the University of Geneva as well as researcher at the LHC´s ATLAS experiment. According to Golling the data that the LHC will deliver in the coming months and years could take our understanding of modern physics a big step forward.
In Goethe´s renowned play “Faust” polymath Heinrich Faust poses the question “whatever holds the world together in its inmost folds”. In his search for an answer he even commits himself to the realm of magic. Lilian Witthauer, particle physicist from Basel, deals with this same big exact question in her doctoral thesis. She found her answers not with the help of magic but through elaborate experiments with particle accelerators. As a reward for the superb quality of her scientific work she received the CHIPP Prize 2015 on July 29th 2015.
The Swiss Academy of Sciences is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. On this occasion we will screen the movie ‘Particle Fever’, that describes the discovery of the Higgs-Boson at CERN. The screening will take place in three Swiss cities in August and September. The Higgs-Boson is one of the most spectacular finds in the field of natural sciences in recent years.
If physics ever makes it to the movie theatres it is usually in the form of a science fiction. Not so in the British movie “The theory of everything”. The production of James Marsh (director) and Anthony McCarten (script) is a biopic: In its center stands the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and the relationship with his first wife Jane. The movie depicts the physical decline of the scientist, who is suffering from Motor Neuron Disease. It recounts how Hawking’s devoted wife cares selflessly for him, without regard for her own needs, and how she stays truthful to him.
The panel discussion with Ruth Durrer (Professor for physics at the University of Geneva) and the Geneva artist Christian Gonzenbach on Wednesday December 10, 2014 promised to be passionate and insightful. It kept this promise. The talk was moderated by Elisabeth Chardon, journalist with the daily newspaper ‘Le temps’.
Vom AMS-Experiment zur Vermessung der Kosmischen Strahlung erhoffen sich Astroteilchenphysker Hinweise auf die rätselhafte Dunkle Materie, die unser Weltall ausfüllen muss, deren Natur aber bislang ungeklärt ist. Zwar liefern die neusten Resultate des AMS-Experiments noch keinen Durchbruch. Doch gewähren die Resultate, die unter Mitwirkung der Universität Genf zustanden gekommen sind, einen Einblick in die Kosmische Strahlung von bisher ungekannter Präzision.
What are the chances and the limits when communicating about particle physics with a broader public? CERN physicist Hans Peter Beck, media scientist Mike Schäfer and social psychologist Clara Kulich discussed this question at the Swiss Science Center Technorama in Winterthur. The debate was prompted by the documentary ‘Particle Fever’. The movie, directed by the US-American Mark Levison, describes the discovery of the Higgs-Boson. Its premier in German-speaking Switzerland took place in the Swiss Science Center Technorama in Winterthur on October 1st 2014.
How do modern physicists conduct their research? Mark Levison’s documentary ‘Particle Fever’ gives an answer to this question. The movie’s premier in German- speaking Switzerland will take place in the Swiss Science Center Technorama in Winterthur this Wednesday. We had the chance to see ‘Particle Fever’ beforehand. A review.
Das CERN in Meyrin bei Genf oder das Human Brain Project in Lausanne und Genf sind zwei wissenschaftliche Ozeandampfer mit zahlreichen Wissenschaftlern und erheblichen finanziellen Mitteln. Wer profitiert davon? Diese und weitere Fragen wurden während einer Debatte in der Microcity von Neuenburg diskutiert.
Im Mai 2014 wurde in Neuenburg die Microcity eröffnet. Mit diesem Zentrum für Mikrotechnik wollen der Kanton Neuenburg und die ETH Lausanne den Forschungsplatz Neuenburg stärken. Doch wie behauptet sich Neuenburg gegen Grossforschungsprojekte wie das Europäische Labor für Teilchenphysik in Genf (CERN) oder das in Lausanne angesiedelte EU-Leuchtturmprojekt Human-Brain-Project? Dazu ein Gespräch mit dem in Bern lebenden Wissenschaftspublizisten Dr. Eduard Kaeser.
A panel with prominent participants discussed the influence of CERN on Switzerland and its society at the joint annual conference of the physics-organizations CHIPP and SPS at the University of Fribourg on July 2nd 2014. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) the debate focused on CERN´s enormous contributions but also its missed chances.
ETH doctoral candidate Marco Peruzzi has been awarded the CHIPP prize 2014 at the CHIPP annual meeting in Fribourg. The 26-year old physicist of Italian descent analyses the so called diphoton decay in the CMS experiment at CERN. His research is a valuable contribution to a better understanding of the Higgs-particle.
Olivier Schneider, Professor für Teilchenphysik an der ETH Lausanne (EPFL), ist Präsident des 'Swiss Institute of Particle Physics' (CHIPP), einer Organisation, welche alle in der Schweiz tätigen Teilchenphysiker umfasst. Anlässlich des 60 Jahr-Jubiläums, das das CERN in diesem Jahr feiert, erläutert Olivier Schneider im Interview die Bedeutung des CERN für die Schweiz.
In wenigen Monaten startet am Fermilab bei Chicago (USA) ein aufsehenerregendes Experiment, mit dem Physiker abklären wollen, ob neben den drei bekannten Typen von Neutrinos ein vierter Typ besteht. Bemerkenswert an diesem Experiment ist auch die personelle Zusammensetzung der Kollaboration: Die rund 120 beteiligten Forscherinnen und Forscher stammen vorwiegend aus den USA, aber die wissenschaftliche Leitung des Experiments obliegt aber einem Schweizer, nämlich dem Berner Physikprofessor Michele Weber.