Irish Quantum Foundations      3-4 May 2013


Irish Quantum Field Theory is back!

After a one-year break, the traditional Irish Quantum Field Theory meeting will go through a small revamp in 2013. In a gesture to NUIG, UCC and NUIM, we will move 20km West from Dublin along the M4 to the inspiring setting of Castletown House, Ireland's largest and earliest Palladian house (built 1729). Along with the switch in venue away from a university environment, we aim to host plenary talks presenting recent developments in selected fields, broaden the scope of the workshop beyond strict QFT to offer a greater overview of the theoretical physics research in Ireland and provide a good platform for PhD students and junior researchers to present their work. An integral feature of this new meeting will be a public outreach lecture to local schoolchildren and their parents. To highlight the unique setting, the Office of Public Works (OPW) have also kindly offered to throw in complimentary tours of the house.

There is no registration fee and the event is open to all.

Cormac O'Raifeartaigh has a short summary of the conference on his blog.

Photos from the conference


Four Generations of the Higgs boson (Outreach Lecture)

In 1964 Peter Higgs of the University of Edinburgh predicted the existence of the Higgs boson: a tiny, subatomic particle, which explains why other subatomic particles have a mass and therefore why the universe has substance.

Almost 50 years later, in 2012, physicists working at the world's largest experiment, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, finally discovered the Higgs boson. Peter Higgs' work has inspired generations of physicists to work in particle physics: searching for the Higgs boson and discovering further wonders of the subatomic world.

Speakers: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs, Alan Walker MBE, Dr Victoria Martin and Fransisca Garay, all of the University of Edinburgh, explain: the inspiration for the Higgs boson, how the Higgs boson fits into modern theories of particle physics, how the Higgs boson was discovered and what it's like to work at the Large Hadron Collider.

Venue: JH1, John Hume Building, NUI Maynooth        Date: Friday May 3rd 5:30pm

This event is free, but to be guaranteed a seat you should reserve seats in advance.


Invited Speakers



Local Organisers

Brian Dolan (NUIM)
Tristan McLoughlin (TCD)
Eoin Ó Colgáin (Oviedo)
Michael Peardon (TCD)
Jon-Ivar Skullerud (NUIM)
Joost Slingerland (NUIM)