PROFILE OF THE INSTITUTE
Founded in 1966 and responsible for high energy physics' research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of High Energy Physics (HEPHY) mainly focuses on the participation in large experiments at CERN - Europe's largest particle physics laboratory and at KEK, the national high energy research center in Japan. Moreover it participates in the design of the ILD experiment at the International Linear Collider (ILC). The institute hosts more than 60 employees of which 30 scientists are working on experimental and physics, theory and data analysis.
MAIN OBJECTIVES
The Institute of High Energy Physics studies the fundamental building blocks of matter and the forces that gouvern its interactions. The development of a consistent picture of the microcosm is an essential part on the road to understanding nature. Elementary particle physics in particular helps to improve our comprehension of the universe in its very early state after the Big Bang.
In order to resolve the world on the scale of a fundamental particles like a Quark or an electron, large scale collider machines which accelerate particles to very high energies and clash them together, are the most important tools. These particle collisions produce a plethora of other exotic particles which are analysed and provide us with new insights on the inner workings of nature.
Large detectors measure several important properties of the produced particles and the laws and forces that gouvern their existence. The huge amount of data from such experimental measurements is thoroughly analysed and the results are compared to predictions from theoretical models. From these comparisons, we can confirm or discard models or find ways to improve them. Examples for such models or theories that might be tested in the near future are Supersymmetry or the Higgs Mechanism.
