13.08.2012 —

From 8th to 12th October 2012, one of the worldwide leading conferences in the field of quark and hadron research will take place in Garching Research Center. Host of the tenth conference on “Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum” will be the Physics Department of the Technical University Munich (TUM) with support from the Excellence Cluster Universe. 

More than 350 scientists from all over the world will gather in Munich to discuss our progress in the understanding of the strong interactions that bind quarks and gluons inside the nuclei. Quarks are the fundamental constituents of matter. They combine to form composite particles called hadrons, which are held together by the strong force – one of the four fundamental forces of nature. The most stable hadrons are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei.

The quarks inside these hadrons interact through the exchange of so-called gluons. This interaction has the characteristic to become very strong at the energy scale of hadrons, hence the name "strong force". This means that the gluons bind the quarks so tightly together, that they cannot be isolated as individual entities. They are literally confined inside the hadrons. This phenomenon is known as “quark confinement” and is one of the most important still open problems in particle physics.

Progress in the understanding of this phenomenon as well as other aspects of strong interactions have a big impact on a broad spectrum of important problems. These include astroparticle physics and cosmology, as well as the search for new physics at large accelerators and in low energy experiments. Furthermore, mathematical solutions, tools and techniques have been developed in order to handle strongly interacting systems. These provide spin-off applications to many fields including solid state physics.

“Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum” will take place at a very important time for particle physics: A new particle, likely the Higgs boson, has been discovered at the large hadron collider (LHC) at CERN and we are increasingly restricting the parameters for physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The 10th “Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum” offers the opportunity to discuss perspectives and the future of strongly coupled theories.

There will be a press conference on Tuesday, 9 October 2012, 2 pm, at the Institute for Advanced Study, conference room 0, ground floor, Lichtenbergstr. 2a, 85748 Garching Research Center. You will receive a separate invitation shortly before the designated date.

Further information and registration under: http://www.confx.de/press

Press contact:                                                                            
Alexandra Wolfelsperger                                                     
Public Outreach                                                                        
Excellence Cluster Universe                                             
Tel.: +49 89 35831-7106                                                    
E-Mail: alexandra.wolfelsperger@tum.de                 

Contact Chair of Organizing Committee: 
Prof. Dr. Nora Brambilla
Professor for theoretical physics 
Technische Universität München
Tel.: +49 89 289-12353
E-Mail: nora.brambilla@mytum.de

nora.brambilla@mytum.de