Dates : 26 November - 2 December 2017
Venue : NITheP Seminar Room, NITheP, Marais Road, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Scientific
By its nature, science is constantly evolving, and new research fields continuously emerge, in part out of the convergence of fundamental questions of several established fields, the combination of their technologies, and the fertile interaction of scientists of different training. The relatively new fields of high energy physics, relativistic heavy-ion collisions, particle and nuclear astrophysics, gravitation and cosmology provide interesting examples of such vitality.
Hot and dense nuclear matter plays an important role in the quark-hadron transition shortly after the big bang, in the element production in stars and the interior of neutron stars. The properties of such matter under extreme conditions can be studied in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Several countries operate facilities or have plans to build new accelerator systems, such as FAIR at Darmstadt and NICA at Dubna, to investigate hot and dense nuclear matter in heavy-ion collisions. Current experiments are conducted at GSI in Darmstadt, the RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) in Brookhaven and at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN in Geneva. The primary aims of the experiments at the high-energy frontier are: (i) to study a new state of matter, the 'quark-gluon-plasma' (QGP) and to infer its equation of state and transport properties; (ii) and to study the physics of the Standard Model and beyond.
This workshop is aimed at providing experimental and theoretical tools to allow deep understanding of the open problems in the physical processes occurring in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions and in the astrophysical and cosmological matter. The workshop is cross-disciplinary, being widely recognized that no advance in the understanding of the Universe is possible without the cooperation of different disciplines, from elementary particle physics to nuclear physics, astrophysics and cosmology, each with its own approach and computational tools.
The topics of the workshop have been chosen in the young and fast expanding fields at the interphase between nuclear, particle, astrophysics and cosmology. The idea is to bring together internationally highly recognized experts in the field with young scientists and students. In the morning the experts give introductory and review lectures of general and special topics, while the afternoon is mainly devoted to seminars of the participants, leaving time for discussions and special topical schools.
School Topics:
- Quantum Field Theory
- Statistical and Thermal Physics of Hot and Dense Nuclear Matter
- Particle Physics and High Energy Physics
- Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics
- Relativistic Fluid Dynamics and Transport Theory
Workshop Topics:
- Equation of state and transport properties of hot and dense nuclear matter
- Space time evolution of hot and dense nuclear matter
- LHC Physics and SA-CERN Program
- Heavy-ion collisions at high baryon densities and GSI-FAIR
- High energy Astrophysics
- Physics and Astrophysics of compact stars
Physics Case of the School and Workshop
With the participation of South African scientists at CERN and with South Africa hosting SKA, there is a strong need for a school to prepare physics and astrophysics students, and emerging researchers, in these fields. Students and emerging researchers from the previously disadvantaged universities are encouraged to attend the school and the workshop. The school lectures will be at an introductory level on the above topics to prepare them for research in the fields of the School and the Workshop.
