Universität Heidelberg Receives New Research Training Group in Particle Physics

A new Research Training Group to explore topical issues in particle physics research is being set up with the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy of Heidelberg University in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics. The “Particle Physics Beyond the Standard Model” group for doctoral training was approved for DFG funding to an amount of approx. 3.5 million euros over a period of four and a half years. This will enable 30 junior researchers to build bridges between the various areas of theoretical and experimental particle physics through their doctoral projects. The Research Training Group will take up its work in April 2014.

The group will focus on the exploration and uniform description of the effects in particle physics from very low to the highest energy scales. “The discovery of the Higgs particle, honoured with this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics, gives us the opportunity to unite questions from the different areas of particle physics through a common theory and thus gain new insight into the fundamental structures of nature,” says Prof. Dr. Tilman Plehn from the Institute for Theoretical Physics, who will share the role as spokesperson with Prof. Dr. Stephanie Hansmann-Menzemer of the Institute for Physics. Both scientists regard the training group as another step in moving toward an integrated training programme for both theoretical and experimental particle physicists. “Heidelberg is traditionally one of the leading international centres in elementary particle physics. This Research Training Group enables us to channel our commitment to research directly into development of outstanding young researchers in the coming years, thereby further strengthening the future of our field of research as well as Heidelberg as a centre of science.”