Physicists in Germany will soon be able to strengthen their leading role in the international quest to understand the fundamental laws of nature. The Senate of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres today granted 25 million Euros for the next five years to the project proposal “Helmholtz Alliance Physics at the Terascale“, proposed under the leadership of the German Electron Synchrotron DESY.

In this Alliance, the research center DESY – together with Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, 17 universities and the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich – will bundle the existing competencies in Germany in the study of elementary particles and the forces acting between them. At the same time, the Alliance provides the basis to drive technological advancement in a concentrated way. Scientists expect revolutionary new insights into the structure of matter and the origin of the Universe from the science done by international collaborations at unique particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Center for Nuclear Research CERN in Geneva and the planned International Linear Collider (ILC).

“With this Alliance, we consolidate the strengths of national research institutes and universities in Germany, thus creating an attractive research landscape. This way we can make sure that expertise stays in Germany,” said DESY Research Director Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, one of the two scientific coordinators of the Helmholtz Alliance. “The Alliance ‘Physics at the Terascale’ is a model for a future-oriented and sustainable network of expertise. The partners represent the whole particle physics community in Germany with leading experts, both nationally and internationally. The proposed structures for junior scientist groups and temporary professorships are convincing because of their multiplying factor. The selection committee unanimously and enthusiastically approved the proposal,” said Prof. Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association.

“A collaboration with the Terascale Alliance’s features and scope is unique at German universities and research centers,” said Prof. Peter Mättig (Wuppertal University), Chairman of the Committee for Elementary Particle Physics (KET) and Alliance coordinator as well. “German scientists are given the possibility to do research at the top of some of the world’s most outstanding science projects.”

More than 50 new positions for scientists, engineers and technicians will be financed with Alliance funds during the initial five-year period. Junior scientists in particular are given the opportunity to lead research groups with options for tenure positions, opening up attractive perspectives for a future in particle physics. Joint junior positions at all partner institutes, coordinated recruitment and teaching substitutes for scientists who are abroad make it possible to work at large-scale international research institutes without interfering with teaching duties.

The new network will enhance collaboration between universities and research institutes in the fields of data analysis and development of new technologies. Particular support will be given to the design of new IT structures and detector and accelerator technologies that are of central importance for a sustainable development of particle physics. The existing infrastructures at research facilities will continuously be improved and interlinked to be made available to all partners of the Alliance. This will increase the strength and international visibility of the German institutes in the field of new technology development.

An Analysis Center for LHC data will be established at DESY. DESY will also offer its facilities for tests for detector and accelerator development. Ten Helmholtz Alliance positions will be opened at DESY. Prof. Albrecht Wagner, Chairman of the DESY Directorate: “The approval of the Alliance is an enormous success for particle physics in Germany. Collaboration between universities and Helmholtz centers will be restructured and thereby strengthened considerably. We are thus perfectly prepared for the scientific challenges in the coming years.”

Physics at the Terascale
Both the Large Hadron Collider LHC at CERN, a particle accelerator starting operation this year, and the planned International Linear Collider ILC will offer physics research at the Terascale with unprecedented energies (1 TeV = 1 Tera-electronvolt, the energy range covered by research with the LHC and the ILC). With these large-scale facilities, scientists hope to get insights into the origin and functioning of the universe. The results of LHC and ILC will give answers to questions about dark matter, dark energy and the origin of mass. The institutes already participating in these projects - DESY, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, the universities of Aachen (RWTH), Berlin, Bonn, Dortmund, Dresden, Freiburg, Giessen, Göttingen, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Mainz, München (LMU), Rostock, Siegen, Würzburg, Wuppertal and the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich as an associated partner – will gain more visibility with the help of the Helmholtz Alliance.