Science Week 2013

2 Dec 2013, 09:00 → 5 Dec 2013, 18:00 Europe/Berlin

New seminar room, basement (Max-Planck Institut for Extraterrestrial Physics)

Andreas Burkert (USM), Andreas Müller (TUM), Stephan Paul (TU-München)

For the 7th time, the Cluster hosts its annual 'Science Week'. From 2 December to 5 December 2013 Cluster scientists and invited guests will present their current research work in the fields of astrophysics, cosmology, particle and nuclear physics. The Science Week is an interdisciplinary event and directed to all scientists who want to gain insight into the current state of all Cluster research areas A-I. Everybody is welcome.

** Talks are online as PDF files  **

The detailed program can be found at the link "Timetable".

** No Registration for participants necessary **
** No Fees **

Scientific posters:
Use the templates to be downloaded below ("Material") and send poster title and author/s list to andreas.mueller@universe-cluster.de 

List of Posters PosterList_ScienceWeek2013.pdf

poster template Adobe illustrator template_illustrator_2013.ai

poster template LaTeX LaTeX.zip

poster template pdfLaTeX pdfLaTeX.zip

poster template powerpoint template_powerpoint.ppt

Monday 2 December

09:00 → 09:10 Opening

Speakers: Andreas Burkert (LMU), Prof. Stephan Paul (TU-München)

09:10 → 09:40 Direct and indirect constraints on physics beyond the standard model

David will give an overview of constraints on physics beyond the standard model of particle physics obtained from low-energy quark flavour experimens and their interplay with high-energy direct searches for new phenomena at the LHC.

Speaker: David Straub (TUM)

Slides ScWe2013_Straub.pdf

09:40 → 10:10 Simulations of cosmic structure and gravitational lensing

Gravitational lensing observations provide unique ways to gain insight into the origin and evolution of cosmic structure, the nature of dark matter and dark energy and their connection to the luminous matter. However, to fully exploit the statistical precision of large lensing surveys, accurate theoretical predictions are needed as well as a thorough understanding of the uncertainties and biases of the methods used to interpret the observations. Stefan will discuss numerical simulations of structure formation and gravitational lensing and how these help us to connect theory and lensing observations.

Speaker: Stefan Hilbert (MPA)

Slides ScWe2013_Hilbert.pdf

10:10 → 10:40 Chiral symmetry and low-energy pion-photon reactions

This talk reviews the description of pion-Compton scattering and pion-pair production in Chiral Perturbation Theory, the effective field theory of QCD at low energies. In addition to the strong interaction effects controlled by chiral symmetry and a small-momentum expansion, the QED radiative corrections to these processes are also worked. These results are relevant for the analyses of high-statistics experiments performed by the COMPASS collaboration at CERN.

Speaker: Prof. Norbert Kaiser (TUM)

Slides ScWe2013_Kaiser.pdf

10:40 → 11:00 Coffee break

11:00 → 11:45 AWARDEE: The GRAVITY interferometer and the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster

Speaker: Oliver Pfuhl (MPE)

Slides ScWe2013_Pfuhl.pdf

11:45 → 14:00 Lunch break

14:00 → 14:30 Stringy geometries in the context of double field theory

As extended objects, strings posses additional symmetries, like T-Duality, which do not exist for point particles. These stringy symmetries can completely change our notion of geometry: Spaces which appear singular and ill defined for a point particle can be completely well defined for a string. In the talk Falk will give an introduction to this new kind of geometry (also called non-geometry). Furthermore, he will show how one can use double field theory to study new effect which are not present in ordinary geometry.

Speaker: Falk Hassler (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Hassler.pdf

14:30 → 14:45 Coffee break

14:45 → 15:15 Search for supernova Fe-60 in the Earth's microfossil record

Approximately 2.1 to 2.8 Myr before the present our planet was subjected to the debris of a supernova explosion. The terrestrial proxy for this event was the discovery of live atoms of Fe-60 in a deep-sea ferromanganese crust. The signature for this supernova event should also reside in magnetite (Fe3O4) magnetofossils produced by magnetotactic bacteria, which live in the ocean sediments, extant at the time of the Earth-supernova interaction. We have conducted accelerator mass spectrometry measurements, searching for Fe-60 in the magnetofossil component of a Pacific Ocean sediment core. This talk will present the results of this first search and, time permitting, discuss our new search for this signal in a second Pacific Ocean sediment core.

Speaker: Prof. Shawn Bishop (TUM)

Slides ScWe2013_Bishop.pdf

15:15 → 15:45 International Linear Collider - status and plans

The discovery of a Higgs boson at the LHC has accelerated and focused the planning for the future of high-energy particle physics. A central component of this future program is a high-energy linear electron-positron collider, the International Linear Collider ILC, which will be able to explore the Higgs sector with an accuracy beyond the capabilities of the LHC, provide complementary discovery potential for new physics and will perform precision measurements of the top quark and other Standard Model particles. Frank will discuss the highlights of the physics program of the ILC, and present the current status of the project, with its possible realization in Japan.

Speaker: Dr Frank Simon (Max-Planck-Institut für Physik)

Slides ScWe2013_Simon.pdf

15:45 → 16:15 Nuclear structure of exotic nuclei

Nuclear astrophysics aims at describing the origin of the chemical elements in the Universe as well as of the various nuclear processes occurring in astrophysical objects. The nuclear structure of extremely short-lived exotic nuclei plays an essential roles in the dynamics of many stellar objects and their associated nucleosynthesis. Especially a detailed knowledge on very neutron-rich nuclei is required for an understanding of the origin of heavy elements in the Universe by the astrophysical r-process. In this talk, we discuss highlights of recent experimental advances in determining the properties of exotic nuclei up to mass A=140 and the further need for near future experiments on the heaviest elements.

Speaker: Dr Roman Gernhaeuser (TUM)

Slides ScWe2013_Gernhaeuser.pdf

Tuesday 3 December

09:00 → 09:05 Introduction to C2PAP

Speakers: Guenter Duckeck (LMU), Prof. Joseph Mohr (LMU / MPE)

09:05 → 09:40 C2PAP and SuperMUC: Status and Update

Speaker: Arndt Bode (LRZ)

Slides ScWe2013_Bode.pdf

09:40 → 09:55 C2PAP computing facility – Why to use it

C2PAP staff I - profiles, expertises, interests

Speaker: Aliaksei Krukau

Slides ScWe2013_Krukau.pdf

09:55 → 10:10 Numerical algorithms for astrophysics

C2PAP staff I - profiles, expertises, interests

Speaker: Margarita Petkova (TUM)

Slides ScWe2013_Petkova.pdf

10:10 → 10:30 Coffee break

10:30 → 10:45 Random numbers in particle physics

C2PAP staff II - profiles, expertises, interests

Speaker: Frederik Beaujean (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Beaujean.pdf

10:45 → 11:00 Computing in experimental particle physics

C2PAP staff II - profiles, expertises, interests

Speaker: Jovan Mitrevski (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Mitrevski.pdf

11:00 → 11:15 On the importance of archiving data and prospects for C2PAP

C2PAP staff II - profiles, expertises, interests

Speaker: Marion Cadolle (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Cadolle.pdf

11:15 → 11:30 Magnetic hydrodynamical simulations on the C2PAP cluster

Speaker: Klaus Dolag (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Dolag.pdf

11:30 → 11:45 ATLAS computation on the C2PAP cluster

Speaker: Rod Walker (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Walker.pdf

11:45 → 13:30 Lunch break

13:30 → 14:00 Triggered star formation and the destruction of giant molecular clouds

Most galaxies, including the Milky Way, form stars much too slowly. The star formation rate in the Milky Way is more than one hundred times slower than it would be if gravity were to the only driver of star formation. For decades, it has been thought that the effects of feedback from massive would destroy star-forming clouds before they had finished converting their gas to stars, thus lowering the overall star formation rate. However, many observers also claim that stellar feedback triggers the formation of more stars. Jim will show a series of hydrodynamic simulations of giant molecular clouds in which he studies the influence of the ionizing radiation and winds from the most massive stars and examines how much damage feedback is able to do the clouds, and whether it also sometimes triggers the formation of additional stars.

Speaker: James Dale (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Dale.pdf

14:00 → 14:30 Stellar and dark matter halos in early-type galaxies

Models predict that the faint outer halos of early-type galaxies (ETGs) continuously grow by accretion of smaller systems, a process that has been observed in some nearby bright galaxies. Observations of kinematic tracers have shown that the rotation properties of ETG halos are correlated with those in their inner parts, and are consistent with model ETGs extracted from cosmological simulations. ETG halos are dominated by dark matter. Dynamical mass determinations find flat and slightly falling circular velocity curves in massive and lower-mass ETGs, respectively, in line with X-ray and lensing observations and with cosmological simulations, giving dark matter fractions at 5 half-light radii of 30-80%.

Speaker: Prof. Ortwin Gerhard (MPE)

Slides ScWe2013_Gerhard.pdf

14:30 → 15:00 How hadrons change their properties in medium

The presence of a strongly interacting environment (the nucleus) around hadrons may lead to a significant change of their vacuum properties (mass, lifetime). This expectation is drawn from the assumption of the restoration of the spontaneously broken chiral symmetry at non-zero baryonic densities. To measure these effects a systematic study of hadron production in vacuum (p+p, pion+p reactions) at rho_0 (p+Nb reaction) and at an increased baryonic density for heavy ion collisions is performed. This physics case is one part of the scientific program of HADES and FOPI, two detectors, located at GSI, which use particle beams with an energy of up to 3.5 GeV in proton-induced reactions. Two main groups of particles are currently studied within these experiments. Light, unflavoured vector mesons (rho, omega, phi) and strange hadrons (kaons, lambdas). The main access to information from vector mesons is retrieved by their decay into di-leptons. Neutral kaons, on the other hand, are investigated by their decay into pion pairs. In this talk, Eliane will present comparisons between the vacuum properties of the mentioned hadrons and their behaviour at rho_0. In the field of anti-kaon nucleon interaction the situation is more complex due to the presence of a resonance (Lambda(1405)) close to the threshold. As the interaction of anti-kaons and nucleons at rho_0 in the investigated energy range occurs in the vicinity of this resonance, a precise understanding of the Lambda(1405) is the fundament for a more complex modelling of anti-kaon nucleon interaction. Based on this fundament a bound state of an anti-kaon and two nucleons was predicted as a result of the strong attraction between the particles. How much of this theory remains when we confront this prediction with the data we have measured will be presented.

Speaker: Mrs Eliane Epple (TUM)

Slides ScWe2013_Epple.pdf

15:00 → 15:30 Coffee break

15:30 → 16:00 SUSY after the Higgs discovery: theoretical status and perspectives

The first three-year running period of the LHC has been a remarkable success with the discovery of a new particle and many other new insights. Frank will discuss the impact of these new findings for supersymmetric (SUSY) models and their phenomenology. Prospects for a potential SUSY discovery at future LHC runs and in complementary direct and indirect dark matter searches will be addressed.

Speaker: Dr Frank Steffen (MPP)

16:00 → 16:30 SUSY after the Higgs discovery: experimental status and perspectives

The discovery of a new scalar particle with a mass of around 126 GeV and properties that are compatible with those of the Higgs boson in the standard model is the highlight of the first run of the Large Hadron Collider from 2010 to 2012. Being the last missing piece of the current standard model of particle physics the measurement of the Higgs mass not only allows to overconstrain the standard model parameters for the first time, but also presents new severe constraints for physics models that go beyond the standard model such as supersymmetry (SUSY). While it is possible to accommodate the new found Higgs boson as the lightest of the five Higgs bosons predicted by minimal supersymmetry, its mass is rather high with respect to the predictions by many minimal supersymmetry models. Thus the Higgs discovery on the one hand challenges existing models used in experimental searches for supersymmetry, but on the other hand helps to narrow down the parameter space and reduce the large number of viable models. In this talk we will see how the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider search for supersymmetry, what are the recent results from these searches, and how the Higgs boson can be incorporated in Higgs-aware models used to interpret the findings.

Speaker: Dr Alexander Mann (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Mann.pdf

16:30 → 17:00 Comments on the black hole information paradox

We discuss the assumptions leading the information paradox for black holes and why they may not be justified.

Speaker: Prof. Ivo Sachs (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Sachs.pdf

17:00 → 17:30 Nebular spectroscopy of type Ia supernova

Supernova cosmology is entering an era where the use of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) as cosmic distance indicators is no longer limited by statistical, but by systematic uncertainties. Part of these systematics are related to the still unknown progenitor systems and explosion mechanism of SNe Ia. Here, Stefan reports on an attempt to tackle this problem with the help of late-time spectroscopy of SNe Ia. Taken at phases when the ejecta have expanded enough to be completely transparent to optical photons, spectra allow to probe the properties of the ejecta's innermost layers. Asphericities arising from the progenitor system or explosion mechanism are thus revealed. For a few unusual SNe Ia that are part of our sample, our late-time spectra provide for the first time insight into the composition of the inner ejecta, a valuable piece of information which can help to decipher the nature of these peculiar objects.

Speaker: Stefan Taubenberger (MPA)

Slides ScWe2013_Taubenberger.pdf

17:30 → 18:00 New limits on neutrinoless double beta decay in Ge-76: Results from GERDA Phase I

The study of neutrinoless double beta decay is the most powerful approach to the fundamental question if the neutrino is a Majorana particle, i.e. its own anti-particle. The observation of the lepton number violating neutrinoless double beta decay would establish the Majorana nature of the neutrino. Until now neutrinoless double beta decay was not observed. The GERmanium Detector Array, GERDA is a double beta decay experiment located at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory, Italy. GERDA operates bare Germanium diodes enriched in Ge-76 in liquid argon supplemented by a water shield. The Phase I of the experiment was recently completed with an accumulated exposure of 21.6 kg yr and a background level of 0.018 cts/(keV kg yr). In the Phase II, now under construction we aim to reach an order of magnitude lower background with about 20 kg additional detector mass. Jozsef will present the results of the Phase I of the experiment and discuss some major upgrades for Phase II.

Speaker: Jozsef Janicsko

Slides ScWe2013_Janiscko.pdf

18:00 → 19:30 Poster session with dinner buffet and drinks

Wednesday 4 December

09:00 → 09:30 LHC - what has been accomplished, what lies ahead?

The Large Hadron Collider is the current flagship facility of the energy frontier in particle physics. Colliding high energy, high intensity proton and lead beams, its aim is to unlock the secrets of the symmetries of nature and investigate particle interactions under never-before seen conditions. With the first run ending in February this year, what progress have we made on these goals? On the one hand, we have confirmed the existence of a new, apparently fundamental, boson required by theory of the standard model. This observation led to the award of the 2013 Nobel Prize for physics to Francois Englert and Peter Higgs. On the other hand, there is at yet no sign of other particles widely predicted to exist by the physics community. In this presentation, Mike will review these and other results coming from the LHC, and illustrate some of the future plans for the LHC.

Speaker: Mike Flowerdew (MPP)

Slides ScWe2013_Flowerdew.pdf

09:30 → 10:00 Status of the Wendelstein Observatory

The installation of the telescope at the Wendelstein Observatory is briefly reviewed and the current status of telescope and instrument is described. First astronomical tests and first results as obtained during the just started comissiong phase will be discussed for the telescope itself as for its first scientific instrument, the wide field CCD imager.

Speaker: Dr Ulrich Hopp (LMU / MPE)

Slides ScWe2013_Hopp.pdf

10:00 → 10:30 Black holes in disc galaxies: twists and surprises from modelling

This talk will be split in two parts. First, Eric will argue that the central dark mass in NGC1277 is not over-massive, as claimed in the recent Nature paper by van den Bosch et al. Second, he will present some results from a recent very high resolution numerical simulation of a Milky-Way-like system which reveals some intriguing evolution process associated with the fueling of gas from kpc to sub-parsec scales around a super-massive black hole.

Speaker: Prof. Eric Emsellem (ESO)

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee break

11:00 → 11:45 AWARDEE: Light dark matter in theory and experiment

Speaker: Martin Winkler

Slides Winkler.pdf

11:45 → 13:30 Lunch break

13:30 → 14:30 HIGHLIGHT: An almost perfect Universe - results from the Planck mission

The Planck satellite has mapped the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with unprecedented precision. An accurate determination of many cosmological parameters was possible and a number of early Universe scenarios could be constrained. The Planck mission, its main scientific results, and the anomalies seen in the CMB sky will be discussed in this talk.

Speaker: Torsten Ensslin (MPA)

Slides ScWe2013_Ensslin.pdf

14:30 → 17:45 General Assembly of Cluster members

15:30 Cluster talk by Stephan Paul

Slides Vortrag_ScienceWeek2013.pdf

Thursday 5 December

09:00 → 09:45 Overview Research Area D

Speaker: Prof. Laura Fabbietti (TUM)

Slides ScWe2013_RA-D_Fabbietti.pdf

09:45 → 10:30 Overview Research Area C

Speakers: Gerhard Buchalla (LMU), Stefan Schoenert (TUM)

Slides ScWe2013_RA-C_Schoenert+Buchalla.pdf

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee break

11:00 → 11:45 Overview Research Area A

Speaker: Gia Dvali (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_Dvali.pdf

11:45 → 13:30 Lunch break

13:30 → 14:15 Overview Research Area B

Speakers: Prof. Dorothee Schaile (LMU), Wolfgang Hollik (MPP)

Slides ScWe2013_RA-B_Schaile+Hollik.pdf

14:15 → 15:00 Overview Research Area E

Speaker: Prof. Hans Boehringer (MPE)

Slides ScWe2013_RA-E_Boehringer.pdf

15:00 → 15:30 Coffee break

15:30 → 16:15 Overview Research Area F

Speaker: Prof. Barbara Ercolano (LMU)

Slides ScWe2013_RA-F_Ercolano.pdf

16:15 → 17:00 Overview Research Area G

Speaker: Walter Henning (TUM)

Slides ScWe2013_RA-G_Henning.pdf

17:00 → 17:30 Cosmology with galaxy clustering

One of the primary goals of cosmology is to connect the observed distribution of tracers of the large-scale structure (such as galaxies) with the initial conditions predicted by models of the early Universe (such as inflation). Given the extremely complicated process of galaxy formation, the most promising approach in this endeavor is an effective perturbative description involving bias parameters to be determined from observations or models. Fabian will present a rigorous definition of the well-known "peak-background split" approach, and describe how it can be used as a general framework in order to infer the history of the Universe and the physics of inflation from large-scale structure statistics.

Speaker: Fabian Schmidt (MPA)

Slides ScWe2013_Schmidt.pdf