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CERN Academic Training Programme 2006-2007
Proposed Topics

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High Energy Physics
Theory and general subjects
Phenomenology and experiments
Instrumentation
Applied Physics
Applied Physics and Technologies for CERN Accelerators and Detectors
Other Topics in Science and Technology
Last Updated on Monday, 27-Mar-2006 08:58:33 CEST

Copyright © CERN -- Academic Training

Applied Physics

A0 Applied Physics and Technologies for CERN Accelerators and Detectors - Academic.Training@cern.ch

A1 New Techniques for Accelerating Particles - Academic.Training@cern.ch
Modes for accelerating particle will be reviewed. In the first lecture, a recall of the standard way used in the LHC (superconducting cavitives)will be carried out, outlining the physical limitations for linear machines such as CLIC or ILC.

In the second and third lectures the physical principles of plasma and laser acceleration will be given, together with an outline of experimental activity going on the the laboratories.

New topic, proposed for 2006.
It falls more within AB; given recent attitudes in declining to contribute to one of our cycles, it may be difficult to find contributors again this time. But we can try.... Seed by Ezio and Steffano?
21-mar-2006: abstract by Ezio
A2 Nanotechnology - Marco.Silari@cern.ch
Nanotechnology is a new approach that refers to understanding and mastering the properties of matter at the nano-scale. At this level, matter exhibits different and often amazing properties and the borders between established scientific and technical disciplines fade. Hence the strong interdisciplinary character that is associated with nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology offers possible solutions to many current problems by means of smaller, lighter, faster and better performing materials, components and systems. It is also expected to make some essential contributions to solving global and environmental challenges by realising more specific-to-use products and processes, save resources and lower waste and emissions.

In the four billion years of its existence, nature has created some astounding solutions to the problems it has encountered. One typical feature: life structures its matter down to the finest detail, right down to the level of the atom. This is what nanotechnologists also aim to do. The lectures will review some of the instruments, processes and applications of nanotechnologies, like scanning probes, material design on the nanoscale, nanoelectronics and information technology, transport, energy end the environment, medicine and biology, sport and leisure.

New topic, proposed for 2006.
Survey through those fields taking direct benefit from it.
19-mar-2006: abstract by Marco
A3 Ultra-high vacuum technology for accelerators - Academic.Training@cern.ch
The lectures will start with a review of the basics of vacuum physics required to build Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) systems, such as static and dynamic outgassing. Before reviewing the various pumping and measurement devices, including the most modern one like Non Evaporable Getter (NEG) coatings, an overview of adequate materials to be used in UHV systems will be given together with their treatment (e.g. cleaning procedures and bake out). Practical examples based on existing or future accelerators will be used to illustrate the topics. Finally, a short overview of modern vacuum controls and interlocks will be given.
Topic proposed and run in 2002.
A regularly popular subject. We could rescue lecture material and speakers from the CAS Acc.School; the name of Benvenuti was mentioned as a possible lecturer. Ezio and Steffano to work on him?
15-mar-2006: From Steffano - in 2002 Benvenuti, Hilleret, and Strubin were the speakers, but this could be updated as a function of the availability of lecturers from the CAS course.
A4 Collective Effects in Circular Accelerators - Michel.Martini@cern.ch
Single-bunch and coupled-bunch instability mechanisms will be reviewed in both longitudinal and transverse planes. The resistive-wall impedance will be discussed in the particular case of the LHC collimators, which reveal a new physical regime. Stabilization by Landau damping, feedbacks, or linear coupling between the transverse planes will also be treated. Benchmarking of analytical predictions with some instability codes will be shown as well as several experimental results.
Proposed in 2005.
15-Feb-2005: Format (several speakers? 5 sessions?) to be consolidated nearer the time.
feb-2006: carried over for consideration
A5 Applied Superconductivity - Stefano.Sgobba@cern.ch
The course, intended for non-specialists, will cover fields of applied superconductivity such as science and technology of superconductors and their applications, electronics (including analog and digital circuits, large-scale superconducting devices), materials.
Proposed in 2000 and 2004.
WG members propose to merge it with E3 by becoming one (maybe the first) of its lectures. Stefano proposes to address this with Ezio Todesco (proponent of E3).
3-Feb-2005: Ezio proposes to keep it split from E3. Stefano supports this and is confident to find a lecturer through his contacts.
Feb-2006: carried over from last term for consideration
A6 Airbus' Super Jumbo 380 and CERN's LHC, an analogy - Michel.Goossens@cern.ch
Europe is confronting huge technological challenges. Making such a huge plane fly requires different new and advanced technologies (new materials, real-time informatics, complex CAD/CAM systems, new logistics for putting the plane together with components arriving from all over Europe, etc.) to be developed. Hence a comparison to what we are doing for the LHC here at CERN, where we face a lot of the same problems, be it in different areas, is interesting.
Proposed in 2005.
15-Feb-2005: Michel does not have particular contacts. Stefano knows somebody from Lufthansa/HH who could give one of the lectures (in the area of materials). To be discussed in the light of voting results.
feb-2006: carried over for consideration,

B0 Other Topics in Science and Technology - Academic.Training@cern.ch

B1 Alternative Energies - After petrol is gone - Miguel.Marquina@cern.ch
Solar energy is just one of a range of options being considered to become major supply for the world energy needs. A series of lectures sponsored by the Academic Training Programme has already addressed this source. Therefore setting aside solar energy, what might be next after petrol? Fusion, Eolic, Biomass? None of those pretend to replace the petrol-based economy; probably none of them can achieve that by themselves.

What kind of blend will be required over the next decades? At which pace will each technology yield acceptable enough results to turn into production?

New topic, proposed for 2006.
To follow on the "Solar Energy" cycle being held this year. We will resort to CIEMAT contacts again
B2 Mega Civil Engineering - Steffano.Sgobba@cern.ch
Very large civil engineering undertakings are a catalyzer and a result of development both in industrialised and industrialising countries. The Channel tunnel, the Vasco da Gama cable stayed bridge in Portugal, the Laerdal world's longest road tunnel opened in 2000 in Norway, the link across the strait of Messina, the building in progress of the world's largest rail tunnel in Switzerland that will stretch 57 kilometers, the re-route of part of the Madrid M-30 motorway underground, requiring the largest tunnel boring machine ever built to date in the world, are particularly challenging recent or present European projects. Futuristic projects, such as the "sky city" concept for a multilevel use of urban spaces, might deeply modify human life in urban areas.

The course will review and discuss the technical and economical aspects of these projects, and present the emerging challenges of future "megaprojects".

New topic, proposed for 2006.
Ideas for speakers would come naturally from those involved in current constructions
Challenges in the construction of particularly large
  • bridges: http://www.didyouknow.org/bridges.htm
    http://bridgepros.com/projects/Strait_of_Messina_Bridge/
  • skyscrapers:
    http://www.skyscraper.org/tallest/tallest.htm
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1655977,00.html
  • tunnels:
    http://home.no.net/lotsberg/
    http://www.swisspolitics.org/fr/news/index.php?page=dossiers_inhal t&dossier_id=153
21-mar-2006: abstract by Steffano
B3 Alinghi and the America's Cup - Technological challenges - Marco.Silari@cern.ch
In 2007 the Alinghi team will defend the American Cup won in New Zealand on the Mediterranean Sea. Designing modern racing boats at top level of performance present many technological challenges. Complex physical modelling and advanced numerical tools are needed to simulate the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic flow around the hull and sails, the wave generation on the water surface and fluid-structure interaction with the mast and sails. The numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations by means of state-of-the-art numerical codes provides a qualitative evaluation of the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic flows and a quantitative prediction of the forces exerted on the boat. The accurate simulation of the wave pattern on the water surface generated by the boat yields estimates of the wave resistance of the boat affecting her speed. The results of such simulations provide information on the optimal choice of hull shape, keel, tabs and rudder blade.
New topic, proposed for 2006.
We will resort to the advice of CERN's Sailing Club for possible lecturers
26-mar-2006: abstract proposed by Marco
B4 Pandemies, with a historical perspective - Miguel.Marquina@cern.ch
Spanish influenza (1918), AIDS, Ebola, Avian Flu, Chikungunya... Medicine and the Pharmaceutical industry do not seem to be out of job. We have considered interesting to address in a cycle of lectures the "dynamics" of pandemias, how the combats are undertaken at each occasion and how the associated technologies have been "mutating" to conform and retain their efficiency in fighting new bursts.

Our intention is to invite experts from WHO to offer us a basic scientific understanding of the phenomena.

New topic, proposed for 2006.
The natural source of lecturers is at OMS. Miguel met recently Isabelle Nuttall, Programme Manager at WHO. Maybe her or one of her colleagues as lecturer.
B5 Present Trends in Economics - Academic.Training@cern.ch
What are the main transformations that world economy has undergone in the last 20 years ? A tentative analysis of the different models for the economic development that are being implemented on the planet is carried out, with special enphasis on Europe, China, India, Japan, US and the emerging countries.

The influence of globalization on the ways of producing, distributing and consuming goods is presented. Boundary conditions imposed on the production and on the consumption by the social, political, and cultural structures of the different societies are discussed.

New topic, proposed for 2006.
We think of asking Davide about his lecturers of the "Physicists in Finance" session, and pull the rope from there
B6 Technological Aspects in Biometrics for Human Autentication - Fritz.Szoncso@cern.ch
The technology of biometrics is used for human identification and authentification. It is proposed to extend this sytem to cover our passports and many other security systems where authentification is mandatory. Cost will play an important role when discussing the feasibility of these systems. Lectures will cover biometrics technologies, vulnerability because of erratic storage or outdated storage of data after accidents or other similar events, limitations in security and all aspects of secure storage, transmission from and to the passport/ID-card or other, protection against intrusion into the databases and possible cloning of biometric data.
Proposed in 2004. Some WG members support retaining this topic in spite of its low score at last term. To be confirmed by Fritz Szoncso that he can continue being the proponent of this topic.
8-Feb-2005: Fritz has identified someone at Philips who could lecture the topic.
Feb-2006: carried over for consideration.

High Energy Physics

T0 Theory and general subjects - Academic.Training@cern.ch

T1 Superstrings for Pedestrians - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
These lectures for a general audience will give a non-technical overview about superstring theory, its promises and challenges: quantum gravity and black holes, extra dimensions, branes and the naturalness of physical laws.
T2 Supersymmetry - from Concept to Predictions - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
These lectures for a general audience will give an overview about the ingredients and techniques of supersymmetry. Why is it believed to be a key ingredient of the `theory of everything'? How does the concept of `super'symmetry translate into predictions that can be tested? What are the various steps and assumptions to arrive at cross-sections, and what is the physical meaning of the free parameters?
T3 Cosmology and Particle Physics - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
Cosmology made huge progress in the last years, thanks to obervations from WMAP and other measurements. We have now an understanding of the amount of visible and dark matter, as well as dark energy. These lectures will describe the link between particle physics and measurements than can be made at accelerators to test this Cosmological "Standard Model"
T4 Condensed Matter and its Anologies with Techniques used in Particle Physics - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
Vast progress in theoretical solid state physics has been made by constructing models which mimic the low-energy properties of solids. Many techniques used in this field have direct parallels with those used in particle physics. These lectures will show some of these, sometimes surprising, analogies.
T5 Black Holes, Neutron Stars and other Heavy Stellar Objects - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
These lectures will review our state of the art knowledge on the formation and existence of heavy stellar objects, such as black holes and neutron stars.
T6 Extra Dimensions at Colliders and in Cosmic Rays - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
Why is gravity so light? Is it because gravity funnels itself most of the time into ADDitional space dimensions or is it killed by the warping of the bulk? Since 1998 many models have fluorished making testable predictions for colliders or on ultra high energy cosmic rays. After the first searches at LEP, Tevatron and HERA, the LHC will come into the arena, reaching perhaps the transplanckian regime.
T7 High Energy Beams from Outer Space: Cosmic Rays and Gamma-ray Bursts - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
Cosmic rays have been known to us for more than 90 years and their origin is still quite mysterious, although perhaps not for much longer. They are still extensively studied with balloons, all kinds of flying objects, such as satellites and space stations, besides fixed detectors both above and below ground. Their maximum energies are unrivaled on earth and can reach almost one billion times that of the LHC, but vast detecting surfaces and worldwide collaborations are necessary to obtain sizeble rates. Gamma-ray bursts, luminous candles flashing enormous powers over short times, provide a tool for observing the frontiers of the universe and a key to the explanation of the CR mystery.
T8 The Physics of Electroweak Symmetry Breaking - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
The LHC will explore the energy range where we expect new physics responsible for the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking. Getting ready for real data, we review the existing theoretical ideas, with special emphasis on new developments: strong dynamics, composite Higgs bosons, Little Higgs, Higgsless models, progress in extra dimensions and supersymmetry.

P0 Phenomenology and experiments - Academic.Training@cern.ch

P1 LHC Detector: Getting Ready for Physics - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
This series of lectures discusses the issues, problems, ideas and time scales for the commissioning of the LHC detectors with physics data. This process will involve different phases such as: cosmics, single beams, first collisions, early physics. The lectures will cover the definition of the phases, the issues involved, what can be learned from the different phases and how the experiments (both the pp and heavy ions detectors) are planning to address them. The understanding of the detector, including also the triggers and the analysis software, and the role of the early physics, e.g. to understand the background of discovery channels, will be addressed.
P2 B Physics: Studying CP Violation and More - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
Results from B factories have established the CKM mechanism as the leading source for flavour and CP violation. We discuss what has still to be learned in B physics at the LHC and superfactories, what are the perspectives for new-physics searches, and how these results are related to other flavour experiments. Also, the recent theoretical developments and present challenges will be presented.
P3 The Hunt for the Higgs Particle - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
Already excluded from below by LEP and disfavoured from above by existing data, the value of the Higgs(es) mass(es) will be necessarily uncovered by the LHC. But also scenarios where no Higgs is caught in the powerful nets of ATLAS and CMS should be considered as a discovery.
P4 Physics at Linear e+e- Colliders - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
The next possible large accelerator project, that would complement the LHC, would be a high energy e+e- linear collider. These lectures will discuss in detail the measurements, particularly for the Higgs sector and new physics, that can be made at a linear collider, both for a TeV class linear collider such as the ILC, and a multi-TeV collider such as CLIC.
P5 Neutrino Physics: Present and Future - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
Neutrinos have provided direct evidence for physics beyond the Standard Model and experiments are revealing an unexpected structure of their mass matrix. After reviewing the present status of experimental results and theoretical understanding, we will discuss the open questions in neutrino physics and how future experiments will address them.
P6 QCD: Are We Ready for the LHC? - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
No search for new physics at the LHC can be performed without a reliable and detailed description of the QCD background processes. Therefore, as the LHC starts operating, the first priority will be the measurement of these processes and the comparison with Monte Carlo event generators. These lectures will first introduce the basic concepts of QCD, especially in relation with collider physics, and then describe the present status in our ability to simulate collisions at the LHC.
P7 Heavy Ion Physics: what is the New State of Matter at High Densities - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
The field of relativistic heavy-ion physics will be reviewed, with the emphasis put on the highlights from RHIC recent and abundant output at BNL. The still ongoing yield of important results from the SPS programme will be described as well and the present overall picture will be drawn. The expectations from ALICE/LHC will be outlined.
P8 The Atomic Nucleus: a Bound System of Nucleons and its Surprisingly Many Facets -
These lectures aim at presenting a number of key experiments highlighting the basic properties that have put our understanding of the atomic nucleus on a firm basis, also pointing out the vast increase in possibilities to explore nuclei at the extremes of nuclear stability with present-day radioactive beams. The developing contact zones between nuclear physics and other disciplines in basic research will also be presented

I0 Instrumentation - Academic.Training@cern.ch

I1 Monte Carlos for the LHC - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
In roughly two years from now, when the first data of the LHC will be available, Monte Carlo programs will be intensively used to compare with and to tune to data, in order to make predictions in search regions of phase space. What is the present status of these MC programs? When is it better it use a specialized program than a more general workhorse. What is available eg. at NLO? These and other questions will be addressed in these lectures.
I2 Gravitational Wave Detectors - deroeck@mial.cern.ch
New gravitational wave experiments (LIGO, VIRGO, LISA) are being constructed and some start operation. These are based on interferometry, both on earth and in space. Cryogenic resonant bar detectors, such as Nautilus and Explorer, have been taking data for some years. In these lectures a review of gravitational waves in theory, and gravitational wave experimentation in the past, present and future will be given.
I3 Light Sources for Physics - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
The advances in Synchrotron Radiation (SR) sources have opened a new window to experimental techniques. For example existing, and under construction, ultrahigh brightness sources allow ultrahigh resolution spectroscopy and spectromicroscopy, the availability of coherent x-rays allow refraction x-ray imaging, Free Electron Lasers (FEL) are used for microscopy beyond lambda/2 (SNOM) to beat the diffraction limit. New sources, in particular the SASE FEL but also the proposed Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) or "table top" inverse Compton scattering sources, promise to open more possibilities to experiments with more brightness, power or very short pulses A review is proposed of the characteristics of different classes of SR sources(existing, being constructed or planned) together with concrete example of their typical experimental application.
I4 Telling the Truth with Statistics - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
These lectures will start from the basics in statistics, and give an overview of the methods and pitfalls of using statistics eg. for significance estimates and error determinations. This is particularly topical in the wake of the coming LHC collisions, and the searches for signals of new physics in those data.
I5 Triggers and Event Selection at the LHC - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
The LHC experiments will face unprecedented demands for their real time event selection systems: pp experiments will, in particular, need to reduce the event rate from the O(10**8) collision rate to an O(10**2) recording rate. This series of lectures will address: - a summary of the physics aims of the LHC experiments and the challenges of the event selection systems - the experiment strategies for event selection (and rate and data volume reduction) - the architectures and the technical solutions adopted by the LHC experiments. The lectures will address the requirements and the solutions of all 4 LHC experiments
I6 Detectors for Searches of Dark Matter: Where do we Stand - deroeck@mail.cern.ch
The mass density of the universe seems to be dominated by particles whose nature is unknown. As the existence of new particles is postulated not only by cosmology but also by particle physics, there is a big effort to detect them and to determine their physical properties. However, as the interaction rate between Dark Matter particles and ordinary matter is extremely low, detectors have to be extremely sensitive. This lecture series will review the evidence for dark matter in the Universe, as well as the candidates for Dark Matter and their smoking gun signals. An overview of Dark Matter searches and the highly-sensitive detectors used for them, will be given. The lectures conclude with the discussion of recent tantalizing claims of possible detection of Dark Matter candidates.

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