The Cockcroft Institute has a unique track record in the coordination of pan-European training networks and has coordinated no less than 5 such initiatives over the past decade.
Defining new training standards in antimatter research is the declared goal of AVA (Accelerators Validating Antimatter physics) The project aims to enable world-class research with low energy antiprotons within a Marie Skłodowska Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) involving universities, industry and research centres across Europe.
AVA’s work in training is paramount as “Antimatter research boldly goes towards Physics Final frontier”, says CI scientist Professor Carsten P Welsch, who coordinates the network from the University of Liverpool.
AVA’s latest training event was an International School on Low Energy Antimatter Physics, attended by more than 60 participants. This international event took place over 5 days at CERN in Switzerland form the 25th to the 29th of June 2018. All AVA Fellows, several scholarship holders and a number of external participants attended and learned about cutting edge research in low energy antimatter physics.
The week’s activities included exciting lectures from experts working at the AD (Antiproton Decelerator). They covered the fundamentals of accelerator design and operation, invasive and non-invasive diagnostic techniques, spectroscopy measurements, antimatter gravity studies, as well as electron cooling. Study sessions where in place to allow follow-up discussions and encourage the attendees to ask questions.
One seminar by Professor Hubert Reeves, a well-known science communicator, was organised in CERN’s Globe of Science and Innovation and was open to the general public. It was a great success with all of the 250 places booked and can now be watched via the event webpage in French or English.
In addition to lectures and seminars, the attendees also received tours around CERN’s unique AD and SC (SynchroCyclotron) facilities, enabling them to see first-hand the important research that AVA is doing. A poster session on the Thursday afternoon encouraged networking and allowed for one to one discussions with other researchers.
Friday was dedicated to special industry sessions where companies involved in AVA presented the particular research challenges they have been facing. This gave School participants a better insight into how cutting-edge R&D is carried out in different sectors.
Poster session at the AVA school.
The AVA School’s innovative approach has set high standards for future events. The various contributions of industry partners ensured that participants received insight into both academic and industrial aspects associated with antimatter research.
“Research within AVA has the potential to open up an entirely new realm of unseen Physics. Our School provided an excellent overview of the numerous challenges this community is currently facing and was an excellent addition to the long list of international training events we have organized over the years.”, says Professor Welsch.
In order to find out about similar events in the future, please follow the QUASAR Group’s Twitter channel or subscribe to the AVA newsletter MIRROR.
Links
All lecturers can be accessed via the following link: https://indico.cern.ch/event/677170/
AVA Project: