Bethe Center for Theoretical Physics

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.

The next Bethe Colloquium will take place on 22. October (3.15 pm):

• Hermann Nicolai    (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics)
• The hyperbolic algebra E10: searching for a fundamental symmetry of space - time - matter
• Hörsaal I, Physikalisches Institut

The Bonn Physikshow has been what one might want to call a block buster for science education and entertainment since 2002. For these past seven years, Professor Herbert Dreiner, Michael Kortmann and second year physics students have been presenting every year a new two-hour show where the students demonstrate and explain fun and fascinating physics experiments to an audience of mainly young middle school students. The show mostly covered topics in classical physics. More recently a new show has been developed on the topic of elementary particle physics and adressed at students age 15 and older.

On 22 July 2009 the European Physical Society has honored Prof. H. Dreiner and M. Kortmann for this outstanding project with the special outreach prize. It has been recognized that Prof. Dreiner's and Mr Kortmann's commitment has not only motivated and attracted a young audience to physics, but has also set up an educational tool addressed at physics students who develop and perform the show.

The 19th International IUPAP Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics will take place in Bonn from August 31 to September 5, 2009. This conference is interdisciplinary in nature and brings together physicists working on the few-body aspects of physics, emphasizing recent developments in nuclear, particle, atomic, and molecular physics. The topics of the current conference include: Nuclear forces and few-nucleon systems, Light nuclei and electroweak probes, Few-hadrons systems (including quark models), Few-atom systems (including ultracold gases), Strange and exotic systems (including hypernuclei), Nuclear structure, clusters and halos. For more information, see the conference website.

The next Bethe Colloquium will take place on 25. June (3.15 pm):

• Karlheinz Langanke    (GSI Darmstadt)
• Supernova dynamics and nucleosynthesis
• Hörsaal I, Physikalisches Institut

With his Bethe Colloquium on "The LHC: the world's most powerful microscope and telescope", Professor John Ellis (CERN) attracted a broad audience reaching form theoretical physicists to experimental physicists at the University of Bonn. It was recorded by the uni-bonn.tv, including an interview with Prof. Ellis on prospects and challenges for particle physics in the next years.

The next Bethe Colloquium will take place on 14. May (3.15 pm):

• John Ellis    (CERN)
• The LHC: the world's most powerful microscope and telescope
• Hörsaal I, Physikalisches Institut

On June 30th, Professor Stefan Pokorski from Warsaw University was talking about "Gravitino dark matter and high reheating temperature" in a special Theory Seminar. Prof. Pokorski is a frequent visitor of the Theory Department of the University of Bonn. In 2004 he was visiting Bonn as a Humboldt laureate holding a joint position at Bonn and the University of Hamburg.