Scientist in charge:

This TMR contract provided partial support for thirteen Euroconferences held at the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related areas (ECT*) in Trento, Italy in 1997. In each case the Euroconference was supervised by the Director of the Centre. The organizers experts in the field. The organizers made recommendations about the scientific content of the workshops and about the selection of participants. The Management of the ECT* was kept informed and approved the recommendations of the organizers. From time to time the Board of Directors reviewed the progress in the planning of the workshops and made suggestions for improvements.

The Euroconference project envisaged a series of meetings which addressed frontier issues in nuclear physics and particle physics, astrophysics, condensed matter physics, the quantum physics of small systems, quantum chaos etc. The aim was to bring together leading researchers to discuss outstanding problems at the cutting edge of contemporary development. It
is part of an ongoing programme which started at the ECT* in 1993. A special effort in terms of financial support is made to involve leading and young researchers from the less favoured areas and women. In recruitment from these areas we are helped by our extensive network of contacts with the European community of nuclear scientists. Most of the 13 meetings lasted for 2 weeks, and focused on a particular research area in nuclear physics or a related discipline, bringing together
20 - 25 leading researchers in that field, together with 15 - 20 younger participants. The programme of each conference consisted of introductory lectures, seminars and in-depth discussions. In this way the Centre provides a stimulating environment for younger and more mature researchers. Most topics were devoted to pure research in the theory of nuclear physics but special care was taken to include in the series of events some of particular interest for applications, especially the workshop on Physics of Accelerator Driven Systems for Nuclear Transmutation and Clean Energy Production (event no.10).

Summary of the events

Nuclear Giant Resonances,8-20 December, 1996
(Organisers: Prof. M. Di Toro - Catania, S. Shlomo - Texas A&M, V. Kolomietz - Kiev)

Giant resonances are collective vibrations in nuclei which involve the shape and isospin degrees of nuclei. The frequencies of these modes correspond to excitation energies of the order of 10-20MeV. In spite of the high excitation energies the modes are remarkably stable and their energies, widths and strengths vary in a regular way with mass number and nuclear temperature. There was emphasis on giant resonances in light nuclei and on nuclei far from stability where developments in experimental techniques have opened the way to new advances. An interesting issue is the coupling of isoscalar and isovector modes for nuclei near the neutron drip line. The study of giant resonances in excited nuclei is a way of investigating high temperature instabilities.

Critical Stability of Few-body Quantum Systems, 3-14 February, 1997
(Organisers: Prof. A. Jensen - Aahus, Prof. Andre Martin - CERN, Prof. Jean-Marc Richard - Grenoble)

The study of the stability of few-body quantum systems presents challenging problems in many fields of physics. An example of a typical problem is the following. The hydrogen molecule consisting of two (light) electrons and two (heavy) protons is very stable. On the other hand is the system consisting of two electrons and two positrons bound? Problems of this kind occur in molecular, nuclear and quark physics. Event no.1 combined different aspects and reviewed new rigorous results and numerical methods. Experts in several fields were able to share their experience.

Chaotic Dynamics of Quantum Many-Body Systems, 17-28 February, 1997
(Organisers: B. Altshuler - Princeton, O. Bohigas - Orsay, H.A. Weidenmueller - Heidelberg)

The workshop brought together members of three communities: physicists working on nuclear many-body problems, in mesoscopic physics and in quantum dots. The main emphasis was on the last two fields and prominent scientists working in both areas attended the meeting. In addition to topical presentations several lectures were given in each field with the aim of introducing scientists from the other areas to the methods and questions. There were intense discussions during and after many of the lectures. They were followed by cross-disciplinary discussions in smaller circles.

Advances in Strongly Correlated Plasmas, 17-21 March, 1997
(Organisers: E. Elander - Stockholm, J. Hangst Aahus and C. Toepffer - Erlangen)

The workshop brought together both theorists and experimentalists from plasma, atomic, nuclear and accelerator physics whose activities overlap on strongly correlated plasmas. The programme included discussions on the following topics: (quantum) kinetic theory, molecular Dynamics simulations, Monte-Carlo simulations, Coulomb crystals in traps, electron ion interaction in storage rings, laser cooling of particle beams, interaction of particle and cluster beams with dense matter, beam dynamics. These were complemented by shorter contributions.

Hadrosynthesis in Nuclear Collisions, 7-11 April, 1997
(Organisers: H. Satz - CERN, J. Stachel - Heidelberg, H.Stroebele - Frankfurt)

High energy nuclear collisions are expected to produce hot, dense matter in local equilibrium. In this case, the relative abundances of the produced hadron species are determined by the temperature and baryochemical potential at freeze-out. A purpose of the workshop was to discuss the theoretical basis for such a scenario, consider cross-checks using transverse momentum spectra and source volume sizes, and test the resulting predictions experimentally. There was a detailed review of all available data relevant for the study of thermalization. It was concluded that this remains one of the tantalizing features of the high energy data, calling for a more solid theoretical basis.

Applicability of Relativistic Hydrodynamical Models in heavy Ion Collisions, 12-16 May, 1997
(Organisers: D. Strottman - Los Alamos, L. Csernai - Bergen, B. Mueller - Durham)

The relativistic fluid dynamical model - particularly in its simple limits like the Bjorken or Landau model - has been widely and successfully applied to the theoretical description of relativistic and ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. However, there are many unsolved problems justifying its validity and its range of applicability. Some of these difficulties strike at the fundamentals of quantum field theory and relativity. These issues were confronted at the workshop and some progress was made at resolving them. Attendees included members of the theoretical and experimental relativistic heavy ion community as well as some experts from the area of cosmology who deal with some similar problems when trying to model phase transitions and evolution of the very early universe.

Many Body Methods in Fermi and Bose Systems: Nuclear and Neutron Matter, Finite Nuclei and Helium Droplets, 26 May to 6 June, 1997
(Organisers: : M. Hjorth-Jensen - Nordita, H. Muether - Tuebingen, V.R. Pandharipanda - Urbana, IL, E. Lipparini - Trento, S. Stringari - Trento)

The purpose of the meeting on microscopic many-body methods was to discuss various microscopic many-body approaches to fermionic and bosonic systems. One focus of the meeting was the derivation of effective interactions and effective operators for valence systems in intermediate and heavy nuclei, for neutron star studies, and for atomic clusters. Another was the use of large-scale shell-model methods for intermediate and heavy nuclei. A third was the use of variational Monte-Carlo and Greens functions Monte Carlo methods for nuclear and condensed matter problems.

Synthesis of Light Nuclei in the Early Universe, 23 June to 4 July, 1997
(Organisers: H. Kurk-Suonio - Helsinki, K. Kainulainen - CERN, K. Kajantie - Helsinki)

The nuclei of the three lightest elements, hydrogen, helium and lithium were mainly synthesized during the first 10 minutes of the big bang. This is in contrast with the history of heavier elements, which were almost entirely produced by nuclear processes in stars. There are some differences between theoretical predictions and experimental observations of relative abundances of light elements in very distant galexies and it was not clear whether the fault lay with the theory or with the observations. There was a consensus at the meeting that the apparent deviations are likely to be due to observational bias. New investigations were suggested in order to clarify the situation.

Nuclear Structure Functions: from Low to High Q^2, 1 - 5 September, 1997
(Organisers: K.Goeke - Bochum, D. Diakonov - St. Petersburg)

The aim of the workshop was to discuss recent developments in the understanding of the deep-inelastic structure of the nucleon and its relation to low energy hadron physics. A number of important problems were identified and progress was made in resolving them. One was how to use parton distribitions away from the forward direction to describe deeply virtual Compton scattering and exclusive hard meson production. Another was how to use effective chiral theories with a clear connection to QCD to calculate parton distributions.

Physics of Accelerator Driven Systems for Nuclear Transmutation and Clean Energy Production, 29 September to 4 October, 1997
(Organisers: F. Venneri - Los Alamos, W. Gudowski - Stockholm)

The workshop focused of the possibility that accelerator driven systems could be used to burn up nuclear waste including its plutonium content in a way which has a high level of inherent safety and which can reduce the need of geological repositories for dangerous waste products. The meeting was attended by scientists involved in research and feasibility studies from Europe, the USA and Russia. Discussions were lively, intense and instructive with a very high level of attendance due to the extreme interest of the subjects discussed and the qualifications of the speakers.
See also 'Clean safe nuclear energy' on pages 'Reports of new Departures'.

Photons Probing Dynamics in Simple Systems. N-N and p-A Bremsstrahlung, 6-10 October, 1997
(Organisers: O. Scholten - Groningen, Y. Schultz - GANIL)

In a bremsstrahlung reaction high energy photons in the collision. The theory of nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung is at an advanced stage of development and careful calculations made by different groups with slightly different approximations agree with each other. There are, however, some discrepancies with experiment. There were extensive discussions on this point and definite conclusions were reached. Other aspects are important for bremsstrahlung production in a proton-nucleus collision, especially correlations between nucleons and the Delta-isobar degree of freedom. Problems which need to be solved were identified at the meeting in Trento and plans for a research programme were set up.

Lepton and Baryon number Violation, 20-25 April, 1998
(Organisers: H.V. Klapdor-Kleingrothaus - Heidelberg, R.N. Mohapatra - Maryland)

The workshop focused on some outstanding problems related to lepton and baryon number violation in nuclear and particle physics. One important problem is the neutrino mass and to understand the processes which can generate a finite neutrino mass from experimental and theoretical standpoints. Another interesting topic is the non-conservation of lepton and baryon number in the early universe. Experimentally this is related to the cosmic antimatter search, for example the AMS experiment. A related question is the nature of dark matter in the universe. Many talks were given by young researchers. Event No 13: International Workshop on Application of Random Matrix Theory in QCD. Recently random matrix theory (RMT) has shed light on a number of fundamental problems in quantum chromoynamics (QCD) in general and in lattice gauge theory (LGT) in particular. Although the field is very young a number of important insights have already been obtained and there is great potential for future progress. The workshop brought together leading researchers to summarize progress and to identify some outstanding problems. Random matrix theories focus on generic properties which do not depend on the details of the basic hamiltonian. The idea is to try to identify such generic properties in LGT and to model them by RMT. An interesting challenge is to develop random matrix models which incorporate information about the space-time structure of the underlying theory.

Application of Random Matrix Theory in QCD, 4-8 May, 1998
(Organisers: A. Schaefer - Regensburg, H.A. Weidenmueller - Heidelberg, T. Wettig - Muenchen)

Recently random matrix theory (RMT) has shed light on a number of fundamental problems in quantum chromoynamics (QCD) in general and in lattice gauge theory (LGT) in particular. Although the field is very young a number of important insights have already been obtained and there is great potential for future progress. The workshop brought together leading researchers to summarize progress and to identify some outstanding problems. Random matrix theories focus on generic properties which do not depend on the details of the basic hamiltonian. The idea is to try to identify such generic properties in LGT and to model them by RMT. An interesting challenge is to develop random matrix models which incorporate information about the space-time structure of the underlying theory.

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS