Description of Topics
Four main topics will form the backbone of the school:
1) Theoretical Physics,
2) Experimental Subatomic Physics,
3) Accelerators and Technologies, and
4) Information Technology and GRID.
Each topic is further divided into an initial set of recaps of
essential background knowledge, followed by four main lecture themes,
and finally a dedicated theme on computing-related aspects of the
topic, including Monte Carlo generators, GRID, and high-performance
computing. The latter will be structured partly into hands-on practical
sessions. Further, each main topic will contain a number of hooks for
student projects. These will be completed in groups, with a single
lecturer (mentor) assigned to each group. These groups will also
provide opportunities for discussing questions arising from the lecture
material. The groups will be assigned on arrival, and time will be
reserved for this activity each working day during the school. These
daily discussion sessions will provide a framework for mentoring
students from different backgrounds. Each group will deliver a short
presentation at the end of the program.
Finally, six special “star” lectures will be organized during the
school, to highlight the edge of current research and topics of special
interest to the host region. These will be more pedagogical in nature,
and could be opened to a wider audience, e.g., from the host
institution and its surroundings. There will be one such talk for each
of the three main scientific themes.
A further two slots are reserved for presentations focusing on physics
in Africa, and may involve bringing in additional lecturers to the
school specifically for this purpose. The last slot is to be used as an
eye opener to a topic not directly overlapping
with those of the school; examples could be fusion energy, medical
physics, climate physics, or a topic particularly relevant to the local
host area.
The lectures will be divided into full and half days, spread evenly
across the program. On full days, there will be 6 hours of lectures. On
half days, there will be 3 lectures and either hands-on exercises or
work on student projects in the afternoon. To round off the afternoon
session on half days, a Q&A session or star lecture will be
scheduled in the late afternoon / evening. Not counting the arrival and
departure weekends and allowing one free/excursion day per week, we
arrive at 16 days of school program. 5 afternoons will be required for
the practical exercises, and 4 afternoons will be dedicated to work on
the student projects, for a total of 9 half days and 7 full days.
Leaving 1 hour aside for welcome and practical information, for a total
of 68 lecture hours.
1.1 Theoretical Physics
The theoretical physics (TH) theme will be concentrated in the first
half of the school. The focus is on theoretical nuclear and particle
physics, with the emphasis on particle physics, and the main purpose is
to describe the Standard Model of particle physics, including its
foundations in quantum field theory. Additional main topics will be
physics beyond the Standard model, the interplay with astro-particle
physics and cosmology, particle physics phenomenology, and computer
physics.
We assign 17 lecture-hours and one practical session in total to the TH
theme (including its “star” lecture).
1.2 Experimental Subatomic Physics
The Experimental Subatomic Physics (EP) theme deals with what we know
about subatomic physics from experiments and how we know it. It will be
divided evenly over the duration of the school. A significant part of
it will focus on reviews of the existing body of experimental
knowledge, including particle physics, heavy-ion physics, and nuclear
physics. Further, a course on data analysis will give participants an
introduction to how raw data are transformed into final measurements,
including calibrations, backgrounds and uncertainty estimations. The
participants will also be given a thorough review of the extremely
versatile range of modern particle detectors, such as those employed by
the LHC experiments.
We assign 21 lecture-hours and 3 practical sessions in total to the EP
theme (including its “star” lecture).
1.3 Accelerators and Technologies
The Accelerators and Technologies (AT) theme will cover beam optics,
accelerators, the physics
of particle beams, instrumentation, and related technologies, including
highlights on the Large Hadron Collider, on cryogenics and materials
science, synchrotron radiaton, on medical physics applications (e.g.
hadron therapy) and magnetic confinement.
Special attention will be given to Knowledge and Technology Transfer.
We assign 22 lecture-hours and one practical session in total to the AT
theme (including its “star” lecture).
1.4 Information Technology and GRID
The Information Technology (IT) theme mainly deals with practical
sessions on GRID computing. Special theoretical and experimental topics
will be included in practical sessions
on doing the Monte Carlo simulation on the GRID. Introduction to ROOT
and practical sessions on data analysis using ROOT on simulated data
obtained from the GRID practical.
We assign 15 lecture-hours and one practical session in total to the IT
theme.