The Helmholtz International School “Quantum Field Theory at the Limits: Physics of Heavy Quarks and Hadrons” was held in the International Conference Hall from 22 July to 2 August. About 90 scientists from Armenia, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Romania, and Chile took part in the event.

The programme of the School covered the following topics: flavor physics and CP-violation; physics beyond the Standard Model; effective theories and models in heavy quark physics; b-hadrons and their decays; top quark physics; XYZ states; strong-field QED; high-intensity plasma physics; production and transport of heavy flavours in nuclear collisions.

The School included 38 hours of lectures and 12 seminars. 21 lecturers from leading institutes of Germany, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Russia were invited for this purpose.

Participants of the School presented 9 reports. They were evaluated, and then 25 best JINR researchers were chosen. Lectures and reports are available on the website of the School.

It is planned that proceedings of the School will be published in a special issue of the “Particles” journal.

In the frames of the School, an excursion to the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions was organized. K. Gikal and V. Semin guided a fascinating tour around a new accelerator DC-280.

Following the tradition, the School was held in a friendly atmosphere, allowed its participants to meet their colleagues and leading scientists of the field from various countries, to discuss results of their research, and to launch joint projects. Feedbacks of participants prove this.

Kundan Vishwakarma (India): “The School was useful for me and other participants. Lectures and seminars were excellent. I learned about various methods and approaches to the study of heavy quarks. It was good for me. The excursion was also great.”

Dana Nicoleta Gurau (Romania): “I found the School very interesting as far as I learned a lot. I managed to understand some absolutely new concepts thanks to the lecturers. All in all, everything was perfect, from seminars and lectures to participants, accommodation and conditions for the study!”

At the end of the School, a lecturer from the Napoli University Pietro Santorelli offered to establish a special prize to encourage and stimulate participants of School events. A group of lecturers and organizers will choose the winner. Starting from the next school, the organizing committee will award certificates to the most active participants.

On behalf of the organizing committee of the School, I express deep gratitude to David Blaschke, Mikhail Ivanov, Vyacheslav Zhuravlev, Olga Belova, Zhomart Tuilemisov, and Andrey Khvorostukhin. We thank all the invited lecturers. We extend our special thanks to the JINR Directorate and JINR offices for their aid and support. We also convey our deep gratitude to the directorate and the staff of the International Conference Hall.

Photos from the past School

Aidos Issadykov,
Scientific Secretary of the School,
Photos by Elena Puzynina