Welcome to ICHEP2020
Let me cordially welcome you to the 40th edition of ICHEP - the largest conference in the field of high energy physics. This edition has undergone many changes in its format, reacting to events that affect everyone. We have not gathered at one conference centre, but are staying at our institutes or very often at home. Although our community is arguably very well prepared for such a format, we all feel that's not what we prefer. The online form lacks many aspects of traditional conferences and many of us raised a question whether it should be held at all. After discussing with wise people and bodies, we decided to go on with the preparations and move online.
Today, we are starting the conference with 1000 presenters and 3000 registrants - twice as many as at any past ICHEP. This is great news but also a huge challenge for all the people involved. We have tried to implement many things to respond to obvious concerns. Our premiere session times 08:00-13:00 or 15:30-20:30 CEST are not set to the optimal time for Prague, but rather they are designed to be accessible to attendees in two of three regions around the globe. The third region is served by YouTube replays with a parallel Mattermost chat. There are four premiere sessions suitable for the Americas and another four for Asia and Oceania. Lacking the discussions and random chatting is another notable concern - here we have prepared discussion and panel rooms and we invite you to attend. There are many other initiatives to keep this conference, lasting almost 2 weeks, interesting and we believe all of you can contribute to its spirit.
This week we have four days, with up to 17 parallel sessions each day. Keeping an overview of the schedule is not easy and this newsletter will help you in finding your favourite topics and giving you a general idea of the events of the day. We also recommend following us on Twitter, Mattermost, and YouTube. We aim to make this online conference a success, although it cannot fully replicate the experiences of traditional conferences, and we hope you will enjoy it.
Today's Highlights
Here we highlight some of the talks that will be taking place during the 12 parallel sessions that we have today:
Quark and Lepton Flavour Physics The NA62 experiment at CERN will present new results from the K+→ π+νν decay analysis using data collected in 2018. The results will represent the most precise branching ratio measurement of this ultra-rare decay.
Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology Major results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer will be presented today, including unexpected properties of primary and secondary cosmic rays as measured by AMS; new properties of Neon, Magnesium, Silicon, and Sulfur primary cosmic rays; and the anisotropy of cosmic ray fluxes in primary cosmic rays.
Dark Matter Detection Are we already seeing hints for Dark Matter in several Direct detection experiments? The talk "New Inelastic Channels for Sub-GeV Dark Matter Scattering" will discuss exciting new ideas for light DM detection.
Computing and Data Handling This session will start with a talk on a topic that hints at the far future: "Application of Quantum Machine Learning to High Energy Physics Analysis at LHC using IBM Quantum Computer Simulators and IBM Quantum Computer Hardware".
Education and Outreach The Education and Outreach track starts today with news from the International Particle Physics Outreach Group (IPPOG) including overviews from the International Masterclasses, and reports from the ATLAS and CMS collaborations on their Virtual Visits.
The social side of ICHEP
Each day we will try to include links to virtual social events, events aimed at the general public, and other activities.
Today we look back at previous conferences and the cities that have hosted them. How many of these cities can you recognise in our quiz?
ICHEP2020 was scheduled to take place in Prague. However, as you are no doubt aware, it is taking place online. We are happy to share with you a view of Prague from the window of the local organisers.
