Minutes of Academic Training Committee Meeting
held on 18 June 2013
Present:
L. Alvarez-Gaume, M. Campanelli, M. Dimou, A. Ferrari, M. Prola-Tessaur,
U. Raich, A. de Roeck, T. Wengler
1.
Reports from ATC lectures 2012-2013

Beyond Feynman Diagrams by Lance Dixon
Sponsor: Christophe Grojean
Lance gave 3 very nice lectures on modern technics to compute processes with many
final-state particles. I insisted with Lance that the first lecture should be introductory
and accessible to non-experts and he perfectly fulfilled my request. The two other
lectures were more technical but still pedagogical and very well prepared and
delivered. The attendance was good (~80 people on the first day, ~60 the second day
and ~40 the third day) with a good balance between theorists and experimentalists
and a good fraction of students and fellows.

Implications of LHC Data to New Physics by Alex Pomarol Clotet
Sponsor: Christophe Grojean
Alex gave a nice and comprehensive overview of the past and current constraints on
deviations away for the Standard Model. He first presented the constraints using an
effective field theory approach and discussing the bounds on the Wilson coefficients
of the higher dimensional operators. He then focused his attention on the
implications of the discovery of a Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV and the
measurements of its couplings for the leading models aiming at solving the hierarchy
problem (MSSM, composite Higgs). The attendance was good (~70 people on the first
day, ~50 the second day and ~40 the third day) with a good balance between theorists
and experimentalists and a good fraction of students and fellows.

Progress in Flavor Physics by Gino Isidori
Sponsor: Mario Campanelli
G. Isidori gave three lectures on the current status of measurements and theories in
b-physics, giving special emphasis on the interpretations of b-physics results in terms
of theories beyond the Standard Model. The audience was constant, about 30 people,
more than half of them coming form the LHCb collaboration. Again there was the
complaint by some of the participants that the information about these lectures had
not been spread enough.

Pertubative QCE by Aude Gehrmann-De Ridder
Sponsor: L. Senatore
Aude gave three very nice lectures on perturbative QCD, starting from basics in the
first lecture, describing material such as asymptotic freedom, to reach more technical
material in the second lecture, such as deep inelastic scattering and describing jet
structures, to conclude in her third lecture with material very related to LHC physics,
such as Z-production, Higgs production and di-photon production. The lectures were
performed in the main auditorium, which makes it difficult to assess attendance. I
would say approximately 40 people in the first lecture, and 30 for the second and
third. Attendance was made mainly by experimentalists. People asked questions and
they were clearly following the lectures and finding them fruitful. In a smaller room
there would have probably been more questions.

The Nuclear Physics Programme at CERN by David Jenkins
Sponsor: Thorsten Wengler
The lectures covered the nuclear physics programme at CERN, in particular the ISOLDE
and nTOF facilities. David is involved in both experimental programmes, which clearly
showed in his presentations. Given the usual mixed audience of experts and nonexperts, David did an excellent job of leading into each topic with a basic motivation
of the physics involved, before discussing the experiments and the results. As a nonexpert, I found the lectures quite easy to follow, while still learning many new things
about this area of experiments at CERN. David has a very clear style of presentation,
and does not rush through the material, which worked well for this audience. There
were between 30 and 40 people in each lecture. In summary, David Jenkins was an
excellent choice of speaker for these lectures, I would have no hesitation to
recommend him for a similar event in the future.
2.
Results of the ATC questionnaire 2013-2014
TOPICS
Renewable Energy Production
Understanding Statistics
Dark Matter: Theory and recent Results on Searches
The Making of Antimatter
Challenges Beyond the Standard Model
Theory of Games
Neutrino Physics
No. of Votes
202
183
183
168
167
164
141
After discussion, it was decided that 9 series of lectures would be sufficient and that
the lectures should be spaced out at around 1-2 per month between September and
June 2014.
Two topics were chosen last year but they did not manage to take place so it was
decided that they will be the first two series of lectures in September/October:
September:
October:
LHC Controls – Uli Raich will be the sponsor.
Higgs (speaker: Marumi Kado) – sponsor A. De Roeck/M. Campanelli.
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3. Lectures fees
The question was raised about the financial support for speakers coming from the
local area (i.e. Geneva, Lausanne); the present lecture fee was considered as being
insufficient. A proposal was made to change the rate from 150 CHF to 250 CHF per
lecture. To be discussed with Rolf Landua for approval (Action: L. Alvarez-Gaume).
4.
Next meeting
The date of the next ATC meeting will be communicated at a later date.
Maureen Prola-Tessaur
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