Particle physics in a Benedictine monastery
From 2-12 September, 55 students from Germany, Switzerland and Austria studying for PhDs and diplomas in particle physics came together in the monastery at Maria Laach in Germany to attend the 35th Maria Laach School on High Energy Physics. This year the school concentrated on two of the most prominent issues in current particle physics: LHC physics and cosmology.
Maria Laach is a working monastery and the high-energy physics school is the only non-Christian, and by far the biggest, group to which the monastery offers hospitality in its guest wing. The school therefore offers a unique experience to most of the participants, beginning each day at 5.15 a.m. when the bells of the world-famous romanesque church at Maria Laach call the monks for their morning prayer. The school's participants are allowed to attend these impressive religious services, and also to join the monks in their refectory for traditional meals at lunch and dinner.
"It is the combination of intense, high-level scientific discussions of cutting-edge particle-physics topics and the integration of the participants into the tradition of an active monastery that makes the unique atmosphere of the Maria Laach school," Siggi Bethke of MPI Munich, the chairman of this year's school, explained.
This year's lectures proved to be just as exceptional as the location. Ansgar Denner from PSI presented an in-depth explanation of electroweak symmetry breaking and CERN's Michelangelo Mangano discussed the physics challenges and opportunities at the LHC from a theoretical perspective. The experimental view was presented by Kerstin Hoepfner from Aachen, and John Ellis from CERN gave an overview on theories beyond the Standard Model. The rapidly evolving field of astroparticle physics was illuminated in a colourful and well-animated computer presentation by Werner Hofmann from MPI Heidelberg, who also gave an entertaining review of the past 20 years of particle physics, from the perspective of a physicist in the year 2023. Michael Turner from Chicago showed the fascinating developments in cosmology and illustrated their implications for the fate of our universe with a stunning set of transparencies. Lessons to be learnt from B-physics were presented by Bernhard Spaan from Dresden, and the physics prospects of a future linear collider were exemplified for the TESLA case by Markus Schumacher of Bonn.
The afternoon sessions saw tutored exercises and the students' presentations of their own work. In the evenings, after-dinner talks served to broaden discussions by also dealing with non-physics issues. Among other topics, science journalism, the computational challenges associated with lattice quantum chromodynamics, and the question of how particle-physics funding will evolve in the frame of ongoing European integration were discussed. The guest monk, Father Athanasius, triggered an evening-long discussion on the question of how the traditional concept of life realized in a Catholic monastery still fits into our modern view of the world. The fact that the school has been conducted in an uninterrupted series for the past 35 years, and that the number of applicants by far exceeds the number of available places, illustrates that the concept and the unconventional spirit of the school remains up to date. The lecture notes from this year's school are available at http://maria-laach.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/2003.