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[General Info] [Objectives] [CoEPP] [Experimental] [Theoretical] [Future] [Contact] [HEP Links]

General Information

High Energy Particle Physics (HEP) is an exciting, high profile discipline which explores the basic structure of matter and the fundamental forces in nature. Armed with our present knowledge we can scientifically approach some of the most fundamental intellectual questions ever asked: What was the universe like a billionth of a second after it was created? What will be its fate? What is the origin of mass? Is matter intrinsically stable?

The Australian Institute for High Energy Physics (AUSHEP) was founded in 1989 on the initiative of the High Energy Physics groups from the Universities of Melbourne and Sydney.

Current AUSHEP members are:

Full members:

  • The University of Adelaide
  • The University of Melbourne
  • The University of Sydney
  • The University of Wollongong
  • The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)
  • Monash University
  • The University of Western Australia

    • Associate members:

  • The University of N.S.W.

    • Our Objectives
    • To promote and coordinate research in HEP in Australia.
    • To encourage theoretical HEP, and in particular the symbiosis between theory and experiment.
    • With the consent of the members to act as the representative body in Australia in a large number of areas, both domestic and international.
    • The promotion and coordination of cooperation in the sharing of resources.
    • The coordination of courses, specialised schools and workshops, and the organisation of public lectures.

    ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Terascale (CoEPP)
      The ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Terascale (CoEPP) was established in 2011 through the award of an Australian Research Council grant of around $25 million over seven years. The Centre is a collaborative research venture between the University of Melbourne, the University of Adelaide, the University of Sydney and Monash University, with the University of Melbourne hosting the head office. Through the Centre, terascale, high-energy and particle physics research across Australia is coordinated for the first time. Bringing together theoretical and experimental physicists, CoEPP also enables participation in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva. The aims of the LHC experiment, and those of CoEPP, are to discover answers to some of the fundamental questions in physics, questions that have until now been unanswerable.

    Experimental Physics

    Australian high energy physicists participate in a number of international collaborative experiments at the frontier of science and technology. We play an integral role in their construction, maintenance and operation, as well as working together with other institutes to interpret the final results. The two main experiments in which AUSHEP member institutes participate are:
    • ATLAS - situated at CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics) in Switzerland and France
    • Belle II - situated at KEK (High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation) in Japan
    AUSHEP member institutes are leading the following planned experiments:
    • SABRE-south - dark matter direct detection experiment situated at SUPL (Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory) in Victoria, Australia
    In the not too distant past, AUSHEP member institutes participated in the following experiments:

    Theoretical Physics

    For more information about theoretical particle physics in Australia please visit:



    Future

    Bodies and projects charting the future of the field.

    • ICFA - The International Committee for Future Accelerators
    • ACFA - The Asian Committee for Future Accelerators
    • ILC - The International Linear Collider



    		Contact
    Further information on the program at each institute, with contact names and addresses, can be obtained from the associated web pages found here, or by contacting:

    Chairperson:
    Professor Geoffrey Taylor
    School of Physics
    The University of Melbourne
    Victoria 3010 Australia
    Phone: +61 3 8344.5456  
    Fax: +61 3 9347.4783
    Email:     		Secretary and Treasurer:
    Associate Professor Nicole Bell
    School of Physics
    The University of Melbourne
    Victoria 3010 Australia
    Phone: +61 3 8344.3112  
    Fax: +61 3 9347.4783
    Email:


    		HEP Links









    Created: October 2003
    Last Modified: 1 March 2016
    Maintained by: Nicole Bell