Feb 4-5, 2010:

DAV College Jalandhar under the aegis of PG Department of Physics organized 2-days UGC, DST, sponsored National conference on High Energy Physics: Recent Developments & Future Challenges. The function was inaugurated by Dr. R. S. Khandpur, Director General Pushpa Gujral Science City, Jalandhar. Principal extend heartiest welcome to the Chief-Guest, Delegates, Resource Persons and participants, who have come from different parts of the country. He said that college is committed to provide quality education. In the field of science all efforts have been made to provide quality research based education. He said that the PG Department of Chemistry & Physics are DST-FIST sponsored departments and it’s a sign of progress in the field of science. Prof. C J Bahl, Head Department of Physics also extended to welcome to Resource Persons and Delegates.

The Chief Guest Dr. R. S. Khandpur, Director General Pushpa Gujral Science City, Jalandhar, congratulated the Principal, Member of Physics Department for Organising National conference on High Energy Physics: Recent Developments & Future Challenges. He said that 21^st century is a century of science. He pointed out that there is a serious need to co-relate the scientific development, progress with employment. He also stressed upon the modernisation of labs for quality research. He said, Such Conferences, also provide a platform for young inquisitive minds to interact, to brainstorm and to learn. It is also a platform to know and be known.

Dr. Bikash Sinha, Homi Bhabha Professor, Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata, presented his key-note address. Speaking on the topic The Mini Bang, & The Big Bang, The great Indian adventure at Large Hadron Collider, he said that Under extreme conditions of high hadron density and/or high temperature, collision of two nuclei at the Large Hadron Collider is expected to create a new state of matter – Quark Gluon Plasma. The condition thus created is rather similar to the universe, a micro second after the Big Bang.

Dr. J. Pasupathy, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore presented his paper on From Classical Particles To Quantum Strings. He said that According to Feynman, the single most important scientific discovery is the hypothesis that matter consists of atoms. The development of physics in the last century has lead us to the Standard Model based on quarks, leptons and gauge fields whose interactions are described using methods of quantum field theory. A brief account
of the evolution of physics from a classical world description made of
particulate picture atoms, charged particles etc on the one hand and
field description for electromagnetism, gravity etc on the other, to a unified picture of a quantum theory is given. String theory promises to provide further simplicity and unity
including gravitation of our understanding of natural phenomena.

Dr. B.S.Acharya, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai presented his paper on The Status of the India Based Neutrino Observatory. He said that The India based Neutrino Observatory (INO) collaboration, aims to set up an underground laboratory for neutrino physics and other experiments requiring low background events. The flagship experiment will be an iron calorimetric detector (ICAL) consisting of 3 magnet modules, totaling about 50 kilotons, with active gas based charged particle detectors. Resistive plate chambers (RPCs) with X-Y position sensitivity will be used to identify the muon neutrino and anti-neutrino interactions via the curvature of the positively/negatively charged muons produced. The ICAL, When built, will have the biggest magnet in the world and also the largest areal coverage of RPCs. Apart from conducting experiments on neutrino physics, one of the goals of the INO project is to ring back the excitement of experimental science in the area of high energy physics and nuclear physics with a facility in India which is unique but complementary to other front ranking facilities worldwide and motivate young persons into this field of research. In this talk, the current status of the project would be covered.

Dr. Bindu A. Bambah, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad presented his paper on Physics of the Big and the Small : Particle Physics and Cosmology . In this talk the connection between two fundamental branches of physics Particle Physics and Cosmology is discussed. While Particle physics deals with microscopic phenomena and cosmology deals with macroscopic phenomena, the two areas are meeting, as we develop accelerators to study ultra high energy particle collisions. Particle physics, thus, becomes an important component in understanding the early universe where the temperatures and energy densities were very high. One has to go beyond the standard model, both of particle physics and of cosmology, to explain the epoch after the big bang. In this talk I will discuss the role high energy particle physics is playing in our understanding of the origin of the universe.

Dr. C. P. Singh, Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University Varanasi presented his paper on QCD Phase Boundary and Critical Point. He said that the existence of critical point in the studies of QCD phase diagram has attracted considerable attention recently. The phase diagram of quark matter is still not understood either experimentally or theoretically. The conjectured phase boundary between quark gluon plasma (QGP) and hot, dense hadron gas (HG) represents a first order phase transition line for nonzero and moderate values of temperature T and baryon chemical potential µ_B. At large µ_B, we expect a color-flavor-locked (CFL) phase involving color-superconducting quark matter. The first order transition line ends at a critical point if temperature increases and beyond this value of T, there is a crossover region. We survey the present literature regarding the location of the critical point and present our own investigation regarding mapping of the QCD phase boundary. We point out how the critical point can be located in the present experiments at Relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC) located at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).

Dr. Pooja Saxena, University of Delhi, New Delhi presented her paper on “Improvement in the Performance of Silicon Sensor for Future High Energy Physics Experiments”. He said that Radiation tolerant Silicon Sensors are need of present and future High Energy Physics experiments due to very high radiation environment in which they have to operate. The main aim is to arrive at a design and technology which would guarantee a sustained detector performance during the operation of the experiments. In this work we have optimized the design of the final prototype silicon microstrip detector devised for the Silicon Detector (SiD) detector of proposed International Linear Collider (ILC), using device simulation. During the research and development phase of this project, design aspects of sensors have been extensively studied. The key points in the design include optimizing the spacing of guard rings and the metal overhang extending outside the p+ implants. Both the techniques help in reducing the maximum field around the strips resulting in increased breakdown voltage. Influence of the fixed oxide charge, background doping concentration and junction depth on breakdown voltage and leakage current is also discussed, providing comprehensive analysis of the behavior of silicon sensors.

Similarly the other Scholars presented their papers on different aspects of High Energy Physics. Nearly 400 delegates from all parts of the country participated in the conference. A healthy interaction on various aspects of Physics made the day quite fruitful. Nearly 60 research papers were presented. A souvenir containing the research papers was released on the occasion. On this occasion alongwith the members of Physics and staff members were specially present. Programme was conducted by Prof. Kanwar Rajiv, Department of Physics.