Rubakov and Shaposhnikov win INR prize for fundamental physics

Markov Prize

Rubakov and Shaposhnikov received the prize for their outstanding contributions to studies of the cosmological effects of gauge interactions and for the development of novel ideas of space-time and gravity. One of their best-known papers concerns electroweak non-conservation of baryon and lepton numbers at high temperatures (written with Vadim Kuzmin), a cornerstone of the modern theory of the early universe. In 1983 Rubakov and Shaposhnikov also conjectured that we live on a four-dimensional brane embedded in a multidimensional space-time, and suggested a mechanism for matter localization on the brane.

EPS physics prizes awarded in Lisbon

The 2005 prizes of the High Energy and Particle Physics (HEPP) Division of the European Physical Society (EPS) were awarded on 25 July at the start of the plenary sessions for the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, HEP2005, in Lisbon.

The 2005 EPS-HEPP Prize was awarded jointly to Heinrich Wahl of CERN, for his "outstanding leadership of challenging experiments on CP Violation", and to CERN's NA31 Collaboration, "which showed for the first time direct CP Violation in the decays of neutral K mesons". Wahl, who retired in 2003, had a long association with CP-violation experiments from his arrival at CERN in 1969. He was spokesman of NA31 and a major proponent of its successor, NA48.

Mathieu de Naurois of the Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies, IN2P3/CNRS, received the EPS-HEPP Young Physicist Prize for "his new ideas and decisive contributions" in the cosmic gamma-ray experiments, CELESTE and HESS. His new method for analysing Cherenkov images of atmospheric showers has enabled many new results in HESS and the detection of new sources near the galactic centre.

The EPS-HEPP Gribov Medal was awarded to Matias Zaldarriaga of Harvard, for his "important theoretical contributions to cosmology, with impact also on the theories of fundamental interactions". This work includes developing an efficient method for calculating the observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations in a given cosmological model; realizing the importance of polarization in the CMB and the possibility of measuring it; and pointing out the importance of the effect of gravitational lensing by local matter on the CMB background.

There were two recipients of the 2005 Outreach Prize - Dave Barney of CERN and Peter Kalmus of Queen Mary, University of London. Barney received the prize "for promoting the fascination of particle physics to the public, in parallel to his research work in the CMS collaboration at CERN. His impressive and successful efforts are concentrated around the CMS experiment, but also reaching far beyond his own experiment". Kalmus is rewarded "for his long-standing and major personal involvement in particle-physics outreach". In recent years, he has given talks for schools and the public to a total audience of some 24,000 in countries ranging from the UK, Ireland and France to South Africa, Singapore and India (CERN Courier January/February 2005 p45).