Challenge for students…from the CERN

The workshop started with a lecture by Grigorii Feofilov, Head of the SPbU’s Laboratory of Ultra-High Energy Physics, Vladimir Kovalenko and Igor Altsybeev, researchers at the Laboratory and members of the ALICE collaboration on the Large Hadron Collider. They told about ultra-high energy physics, research scope on the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN, and particle detection techniques. School students got to know about state-of-the-art mega-science research complexes, ALICE experiment, its outcomes in detecting the quark gluon plasma, and its applied applications (CERN ALICE Grid, transmutation of nuclear waste, Hadron therapy).

School students had a chance to carry out a research project “Looking for strange particles in ALICE” that is a data analysis generated during a specially designed experiment on the Large Hadron Collider to study a state of the matter under the extreme conditions like those in the early Universe.

The day ended with a test for young researchers from the CERN received at the video conference with the CERN. The test from the CERN was solved locally and globally: students from St Petersburg, Moscow, Nantes, Viena and San-Diego were engaged in the telebridge teleconferencing, which summed up the results of the workshops worldwide.

Aleksandr  Iliasov, student of the Lyceum No 30: — I was eager to listen to the lectures by those who carry out research projects on the Large Hadron Collider. Never have I studies real scientific data generated during the experiments of this kind. After I listened to the lectures and carried out our own projects, the test from the CERN was not so an arduous task.

Alla Shvedova, teacher at the Gymnasium No 625 in Moscow, arrived at St Petersburg to come to the workshop with her students. — We first met at the CERN with Grigorii Feofilov, he, among other outstanding physicist, delivered lectures to the school teachers on ultra-high energy physics, — said Alla Shvedova. — Face-to-face communication with a researcher of the highest calibre and the real scientific experiment are vital for my students to realize their capacities in science. It is important for them to choose their career in future.

— I have already made up my mind. I am keen on science, particle physics, and I am constantly opening something new. So,  the experiment at SPbU was a high priority with me, — said Artem Krasov from Moscow. — The lectures, our own research project, communication with the researchers made me feel involved in global research collaboration to delve into the Universe.

SPbUProfandDoctorofPhysicsandMathematicsGrigoriiFeofilovlaudedtheworkshopandyoungresearchers’ capacities: — Our colleagues from the CERN, moderators from Geneva, gave us the results of the same experiment assessed by the European Organization for Nuclear Research. It is an honour for our young researchers to obtain the results similar to those obtained by professionals on the large hadron Collider. It was the fort workshop of its kind in Russia. Next time SPbU will hold a workshop on March 17, with the Yandex School for Data Analytics. The Yandex workshop in Moscow will be held on March 27.