Other Astronomical News

Report on The EPS-ESA-ESO-CERN Conference on Relativity, Matter and Cosmology

Peter Shaver, Bruno Leibundgut, , including both theory and obser- early universe physics and the achieve- Jochen Liske (ESO) vations, was obviously a major topic at ments of WMAP so far. While he also this conference. As H. Nicolai comment- highlighted the remarkable concordance ed, reconciling and of present observational results, he went This the joint ESA-ESO-CERN sym- quantum theory into a consistent and pre- on to emphasise the challenges: “Be- posium was held in conjunction with the dictive theory of is pro- yond Einstein: the physics we don’t know European Physical Society, on the occa- bably the greatest challenge facing theo- and the physics we don’t know how to sion of the Centennial of Einstein’s annus retical physics in the 21st century. He calculate”. He described the potential for mirabilis and the World Year of Physics. described the successes and challenges rapid development in this field, with a It took place on July 11–14 in Bern, where of the two main approaches, superstring whole host of new observational facilities Einstein wrote his famous papers in 1905, theory and canonical quantum gravity. becoming available over the next . and was part of a wide range of events to C. Everitt described the dedicated space celebrate the centennial. mission Gravity Probe B, designed to ac- Recent breakthroughs in neutrino phys- curately test two aspects of Einstein’s ics, using neutrinos both from the sun and A highlight of these events was the General Relativity: the effect of space cur- the laboratory, were summarised by 13th triennial General Conference of the vature on a free and the effect G. Drexlin, including the now conclusive European Physical Society (EPS13), of relativistic frame dragging. It is currently evidence for neutrino oscillations and with the title “Beyond Einstein – Physics collecting data and the first release will be hence for nonzero neutrino . He for the 21st Century”. It consisted of in mid-2006. The direct detection of mentioned several open questions, three parallel conferences, one of which gravitational waves has been a dream for and the new round of experiments pro- was the EPS-ESA-ESO-CERN conference decades that may be realised in the near posed to answer them. E. Fiorini sum- on “Relativity, Matter and Cosmology”. future. B. Schutz summarised the physics marised ongoing work on neutrinoless and possible astrophysical and cosmolog- double beta decay, and prospects for the As is usual in these joint conferences, the ical sources of gravitational waves and the detection of weakly interacting massive objective was to provide a broad over- fundamental physics that we may learn particles, a possible candidate for dark view of current and future developments from their detection, and K. Danzmann matter, based on seasonal variations due in the fields of fundamental physics, par- described current and future experiments to the earth’s motion around the sun. ticle physics and cosmology. The fact and their prospects, in particular the J. Bluemer gave a review of the study of that altogether some 600 participants at- planned LISA mission. Pulsars provide cosmic rays since their discovery over tended the three conferences attests to excellent natural astrophysical laborato- 90 years ago, and the current and the interest generated by the wide range ries for tests of General Relativity, and planned experiments to understand the of topics, as well as the wonderful setting D. Lorimer described results over the last astrophysical sources and the extra- in Einstein’s Bern. years and the wonderful prospects with ordinary energies involved. these remarkable systems, like the re- Some 80 talks were given at the confer- cently discovered double pulsar, that are The fundamental problem of the origin of ence on Relativity, Matter and Cosmology, increasingly being found. was addressed by G. Ross. He and a substantial number of posters described how explorations of this prob- were presented. In a conference of this Three speakers discussed the current lem have led to extensions of the Stan- size and scope it is difficult to give a state of observational and theoretical cos- dard Model which unify all the fundamen- comprehensive summary, but an idea of mology, and looked to the future chal- tal interactions including gravity; a new the range of the science covered can lenges and horizons. J. Silk discussed the energy frontier may exist which can affect be gleaned from this brief overview based challenges of the cosmic microwave early universe physics and will be probed largely on the invited plenary reviews. background, and stressed the potentially by CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). great importance of any hints of non- A new state of matter, the Quark-Gluon A stimulating introductory talk entitled gaussianities, unexpected topologies or Plasma, was the subject of J. Stachel’s “100 Years of Relativity” was given by global anisotropies that may be found presentation. She summarised the recent T. Damour. He summarised the remark- (either in the microwave background or experimental support for the existence able success of the theory in a variety of the large-scale distribution of galaxies). of this state, which may have existed in stringent tests, provocatively going on G. Efstathiou gave a talk with the provoc- the early universe until 10 microseconds to ask whether we should now just con- ative title “Is There Cosmological Con- after the Big Bang, and the potential of clude that Einstein was 100 % right and cordance?”. He expressed confidence in the LHC in studying it. F. Iachello gave an stop testing! Of course he then went the concordance of an impressive array overview of symmetries and supersym- on to describe ever more sophisticated of cosmological observations, including metries in nuclei, and placed them in the planned tests, and concluded that new the microwave background, galaxy sur- broader context of complex systems in and exciting frontiers lay before us, veys and supernovae. He made the case general. They, too, will be major targets including the great mysteries of dark mat- for the existence of dark energy, suggest- for the LHC. The huge scientific potential ter and dark energy. ing that it may argue for anthropic rea- of the LHC was described by J. Engelen, sons that we can observe it right now. in particular the possibility of detecting the Finally, D. Spergel gave an overview of Higgs boson; he summarised the status

62 The Messenger 121 – September 2005 of the project, which should become in trying to detect a change in the pro- Finally, J. Liske outlined plans to use OWL, available for experiments in 2007. ton-to-electron mass ratio, also using the VLT’s successor, for the Cosmic W. Gelletley spoke on the broad perspec- VLT data. Dynamics Experiment (CODEX). The aim tives, challenges and opportunities in nu- is to supplement our knowledge of the clear physics, including the upcoming The importance of dark energy to modern universe’s geometry (derived from the new experimental facilities. A different kind physics was emphasised by several microwave background and supernovae) of huge project, the first experimental fu- speakers. Its existence was first estab- with an unprecedented measurement sion reactor (ITER), was described as part lished through observations of distant of its dynamics and hence to provide us of F. Wagner’s comprehensive overview type Ia supernovae and the talks by with a fundamental consistency check of of the current state of plasma physics. R. Pain and J. Sollerman demonstrated General Relativity. that searching for these transient events Possible variations in the fundamental remains a vigorous industry. They out- The sampling above gives some idea of “constants” of physics also generated a lined the two main projects in this field: the wide range of physics and cosmology lot of interest. Recent VLT data have SNLS and ESSENCE. Understanding that was covered at the conference. The contradicted earlier claims of the fine the nature of dark energy was the subject full proceedings of the conference will structure constant having been smaller in of several theoretical talks, involving become available; they will be published the early universe than today. M. Murphy D-branes (P. Gusin), Casimir Energy by the ESA Publications Division as ESA summarised this controversy and de- (R. Garattini), quantum gravity (A. Ernest Special Publication SP-605. scribed ongoing efforts to resolve it. and C. Bryja) and Modified Chaplygin E. Reinhold reported on recent progress Gas (U. Debnath).

ESO Public Activities in July 2005

Prof. Jean Surdej, one of the local organisers, being interviewed by RTL television at the JENAM conference. O

Ed Janssen (ESO) also enjoyed a good media attendance, S E , n

probably also due to the Deep Impact e s s n

Mission. As at previous JENAM meetings, a J . E

The month of July is, in many parts of ESO maintained an information stand : o t o

Europe, considered to be a relatively in the lobby area and participated in the h “quiet time” of the year with many millions press conference. P of people away on summer vacation. Not so for ESO’s Public Affairs Depart- Several ESO staff members gave talks, ment. The month began with a series including the ESO DG, Françoise of press activities around the Deep Impact Delplancke, Henri Boffin, Maximilian Kraus event and included several press con- and Marc Sarazin. Furthermore, a ferences at the ESO Headquarters (mostly Round Table was held to discuss financ- E V I at odd hours!), video press confer- ing, organisation and industrial aspects of J : o t ences with Paranal, La Silla and ESTEC large European astronomical projects. o h in the Netherlands, live TV transmissions It was chaired by Lodewijk Woltjer, former P from ESO Garching as well as from ESO director general. From ESO Roberto Paranal, etc. Gilmozzi participated as a speaker.

In parallel, from July 4–8 the Joint Euro- On July 7, ESO participated in a major pean and National Astronomy Meeting Press Event on the Future of Astronomy (JENAM) took place at the Amphithéâtres Research Infrastructures, organised de l’Europe in Liège, Belgium. The meet- by the European Commission and hosted ing, organised this year by the Astronomy by JIVE, in Dwingeloo, the Netherlands. Department of the Liège University, had The event was attended by EC Research EU Commissioner Dr. Janez Potocnik and Mrs. Maria van der Hoeven, Dutch Minister for Education, Culture the theme “Distant Worlds”. It was attend- Commissioner Janez Potocnik and and Science answer questions from the media repre- ed by over 200 astronomers. The meeting Maria van der Hoeven, Dutch Minister for sentatives at the press meeting in Dwingeloo.

The Messenger 121 – September 2005 63