“National Symposium on High Energy Physics”-enthralling discussion on Particle Physics, Dark Matter and gravitational waves

The Department of Physics, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, has organised a National Symposium on High Energy Physics on Saturday, May 1, 2021, at 11 am. Leading Physicists of the nation are going to share their perspective on the progress and recent challenges in Particle Physics, Dark Matter Physics and Gravitational-Wave Astronomy. Padma Shri awardee Prof Rohini Godbole, theoretical particle physicist at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, will present the inaugurating talk on “Status of Particle Physics: in light of Nobel Prizes of 2013 and 2015”. Prof Basudeb Dasgupta from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, will join us for the next session on “The Mystery of Invisible Mass”. The last talk of the day will be given by Prof. Bala Iyer from the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bengaluru. He will shed light on “The Detection of Gravitational Waves and the Dawn of Multi-messenger Astronomy”.

Our first speaker of the day, Prof Rohini M Godbole, is a theoretical particle physicist at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangaluru. Over the past three decades, she has worked extensively on particle physics phenomenology, exploring different theoretical aspects of Standard Model and Beyond Standard Model physics at high energy collider experiments. She is an elected fellow of all the three Academies of Science of India and the Science Academy of the Developing World (TWAS). She has published over 200 research papers and received numerous recognitions from all over the world. Prof Godbole co-edited the book “Lilavati’s Daughters”, a collection of biographical essays on women scientists of India, which was published by the Indian Academy of Sciences. In 2019, she was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour of the Government of India, for her contribution to Science and Technology.

In 2013, the Nobel prize in Physics was awarded for the theoretical postulate of the Higgs Boson, after the experimental discovery of the same at the LHC in 2012. This was considered being the last missing piece in the periodic table of the Standard Model (SM). In 2015 the Nobel prize in physics was awarded for the experimental discovery of Neutrino oscillations, which is one robust evidence for physics beyond the SM. In her speech, Prof Godbole will comment on the status of particle physics in light of these two and the exciting results on the measurements of the magnetic moment of the muon that have been announced in the previous weeks.

Prof Basudeb Dasgupta is a theoretical physicist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. His research interests include the interfaces of particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology with an emphasis on dark matter and neutrino physics. Prof Dasgupta is also the Leader of the Astroparticle Physics Partner Group of Max-Planck Institute for Physics. Prof Dasgupta is a regular speaker at notable international workshops and conferences and different Science Outreach programmes.

When we look at the night sky, we see a variety of astronomical objects, such as planets, stars, gas clouds, still waiting to form stars to swathe of the emptiness. For a long time, it was believed to be all that the Universe is consists of. The following discoveries came as a huge surprise that all we see and know comprises only about 20% of the matters in the Universe. The remaining 80% is invisible and called “Dark Matter.” What is this dark matter? How do we know that is out there? What is it made of? How can we decipher the nature of this mysterious new ingredient of the cosmic soup? In this talk, Prof Basudeb Dasgupta will address and answer some of these questions.

Prof Bala Iyer is currently the Simons Visiting Professor at ICTS-TIFR Bangalore and CO-PI of the LIGO-India Scientific Collaboration. The alumnus of Bombay University previously worked at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, on Astrophysical applications of General Relativity, Perturbation methods and Black Holes. Since 1990, he is working on calculations of Gravitational waves from inspiraling binaries of neutron stars and black holes. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation. He has been the Chair of the IndIGO Consortium since its inception in 2009. Prof Iyer was a Member of the Core Team for the LIGO-India Mega-Project Proposal. Further, he is the Chief Editor and Subject Editor of Gravitational Waves for the Online Journal `Living Reviews in Relativity’, published recently by Springer. Prof Bala Iyer has been a Visiting scientist in France, UK, Germany, USA. He has been involved in REAP (Research Education Advancement Programme) for B.Sc students at the Bangalore Planetarium for over two decades and Public outreach on General Relativity and Gravitational Waves.

The first detection of gravitational waves from a black hole binary in 2015 was a breakthrough, taking a century to realise, and made possible by the coming together of a remarkable experiment and an exquisite theory complemented by the best in sophisticated data analyses, state of the art computing and the transition to “big science”. 2017 brought the discovery of gravitational waves from a neutron star binary. The intense associated electromagnetic follow up of this event was spectacular. It heralds the launch of a new multi-messenger astronomy with the potential to impact astrophysics, cosmology and fundamental physics in the coming decades. Prof Bala Iyer will discuss the nature of gravitational wave and its impact on Physics.

The symposium aims to make students aware of the current status of some of the fascinating research topics of High Energy Physics. Students of basic sciences and engineering streams will be highly inspired and motivated after attending the symposium and listening to the talks. Join the captivating event on May 1, 2021, at 11 am.

Register: Click on this link to register for the Symposium