DOE Office of High Energy Physics launches new site

The new DOE Office of High Energy Physics Web site.

The drive to understand the world around us is a basic part of our humanity, says the new P5 report. Research in fundamental science provides the ideas and discoveries that form the long-term foundation for science and technology, which in turn. drive the global economy, our very way of life and a newly launched Department of Energy Web site.

The new DOE Office of High Energy Physics Web site provides insight into how particle physics benefits society, plus in-depth information about the nation's current research program and a vision for future plans.

"Particle physics has a compelling story to tell," said Glen Crawford, director of the Research and Technology R&D Division in the Office of High Energy Physics. "From the congressional staffer learning about particle physics to the budget officer investigating a grant proposal, we hope that the new site will serve as a useful resource and tell the story well."

The new site defines the questions that drive particle physics and the current and upcoming experiments that will provide answers. It also describes the five research areas that make up the U.S. particle-physics program: proton accelerator-based physics, electron accelerator-based physics, non-accelerator physics, theoretical physics and advanced technology R&D.

The benefits section highlights how particle physics has contributed to areas such as medicine, homeland security, industry, computing and workforce development. A fact sheet that summarizes select examples of these applications is also available to download.

The new site includes an up-to-date list of the DOE HEP grant programs, project status and a summary of the budget process.

-- Elizabeth Clements

First e+e- Collison at BEPCII/BESIII

An overview of the Chinese Academy of Science's Institute of High Energy Physics in Beijing. Image courtesy of IHEP Chinese Academy of Science.

From Interactions.org, July 24, 2008

On late Saturday afternoon July 19, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Science's Institute of High Energy Physics in Beijing produced for the first time collisions in the upgraded BEPC-II electron positron collider that were observed in its brand new associated detector called BES-III. Although BEPC-II and BES-III had already been carefully tested separately, this was the first time they operated together. These first collisions represent a major milestone of this project, which involved eight years of planning and construction.

When it is fully operational, the BEPC-II/BES-III complex will be the world's premier facility for studying the properties of particles that contain a charmed quark (c-quark), the fourth of an assortment of six different quarks that physicists have identified as the most fundamental building blocks of matter.