Announcements

From March 8 to March 11, 2010 the yearly workshop "Beyond the Standard Model" is taking place at the Physikzentrum Bad Honnef. This workshop is dedicated to research topics reaching from particle physics and cosmology to string theory. The deadline for registration is February 10, 2010. The topics and speakers of the pedagogical lectures are

• K. Choi (KAIST): Susy Breakdown and Mediation at the Time of the LHC
• F. Quevedo (Trieste): Recent Developments in String Phenomenology
• D. Schwarz (Bielefeld): Cosmic Microwave Background: Past, Present and Future
• A. Sen (Allahabad): String Theory and Black Hole Physics

The workshop is organized by Prof. A. Klemm from the Bethe Center.

The next Bethe Colloquium will take place on 21. Januar (3:15 pm):

• Matthias Neubert    (Universität Mainz)
• Effective field-theory tools for LHC physics
• Hörsaal I, Physikalisches Institut
• Slides as PDF File

Bonn University physics students together with Prof. Herbert Dreiner and Michael Kortmann presented their award winning show at the Weltmaschine Exhibition at Heidelberg University in December, 2009. In an entertaining and edifying manner the physics from atoms, to elementary particles, to cosmology was presented with many live experiments for an audience of young and old, as also reported in the Rhein Neckar Zeitung. The particle physics show will also be on tour in 2010.

The next Bethe Colloquium will take place on 10. December (3:15 pm):

• Eduardo de Rafael    (Marseille, CPT)
• Present Status of Lepton Anomalous Magnetic Moments
• Hörsaal I, Physikalisches Institut

The next Bethe Colloquium will take place on 19. November (3.15 pm):

• Subir Sarkar    (University of Oxford)
• Cosmology beyond the Standard Model
• Hörsaal I, Physikalisches Institut

Abstract: Precision observations of the cosmic microwave backround and of the large-scale clustering of galaxies have supposedly confirmed the indication from the Hubble diagram of Type Ia supernovae that the universe is dominated by some form of 'dark energy' which is causing the expansion rate to accelerate. Although hailed as having established a 'standard model' for cosmology, this raises a profound problem for fundamental physics. I will discuss whether the observations might be equally well explained in inhomogeneous cosmological models that do not invoke dark energy and will be tested by forthcoming observations.