Cosmic-ray particles are a valuable probe of galactic processes. Correct interpretation of new data has potential for breakthrough results, such as the solution of the puzzle of cosmic-ray origin and the discovery of the effects of dark matter annihilation. The theoretical understanding of composite (anti-)nuclei formation in hadronic collisions, while tightly connected to the astrophysical application, is of interest in its own right. The precise measurement of anti-nuclei, like antiprotons, antideuterons, or anti-helium, is particularly informative since these particles are expected to be only rarely produced in conventional reactions. However, the interpretation of these measurements requires a good understanding of all involved processes to distinguish potential exotic contributions from ordinary production. This MIAPP program will bring together experts working on the different sections of the interpretation-chain and to discuss future efforts on the phenomenological and experimental side. The coordinators include L. Fabbietti and A. Ibarra. 

Strongly-interacting hidden sectors may be involved in the solutions to the key questions of fundamental physics: the naturalness problem, the identity of dark matter, and their possible interplay. Such hidden sectors are featured in a wide variety of theoretical models, ranging from composite Higgs and neutral naturalness models, to multi-component, strongly-interacting dark matter. Their experimental signatures are diverse, significantly broadening the parameter space of dark matter candidates beyond the WIMP paradigm, and motivating a host of novel LHC searches. This program will bring together beyond-the-Standard Model and lattice theorists, as well as experts on collider and cosmology/astrophysics experiments, in order to make progress on the wide spectrum of theoretical possibilities, and on their experimental implications. The program is coordinated by J. Harz, among others.

The aim of IDM was to draw a complete picture on the current knowledge of dark matter from cosmological scale down to particle physics, from accelerator searches to recent results in indirect and direct detection and to give a glance on future prospects and technological advancements on the endeavor to identify dark matter. The conference was co-organized by J. Schieck.

This program focused on dark matter axions, their cosmological generation and possibilities of their direct and indirect detection. The organization involved two PIs (B. Garbrecht, B. Majorovits) and one Mercator Fellow (J. Redondo) of this CRC. Particular highlights concerned ultralight axions as fuzzy dark matter, the formation of axion dark matter from strings in the phase transition of quantum chromodynamics, the design of dark matter haloscopes as well as pulsars as a possibility of indirect detection of axion dark matter through radio emission. About 15 external as well as local graduate researchers participated in the event.

This program brought together experts working on the very active topic of large-scale structure (LSS) of the Universe, both in theory and observations. Improving our theoretical understanding of LSS is essential to fully exploit the information from the new large-volume galaxy surveys that will become available in the coming years, and make progress on fundamental open questions in cosmology (inflation and non-gaussianity, acceleration, neutrino masses, properties of dark matter). An important objective was to stimulate exchange between the communities working on the theoretical description of LSS and on observational campaigns. The group of coordinators included M. Garny.

Experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) study the properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. Measurements of collective phenomena and heavy quarks have fundamentally changed our understanding of the QGP. There is overwhelming evidence that the QGP, while composed of deconfined partons, still remains a strongly coupled system. The QGP is also dense and hot enough to cause significant energy loss to the heavy charm and bottom quarks as well as dissociate even the strongest bound heavy quarkonium states. This program brought together experts in the community to review the progress, discuss open questions and foster new collaborations. Among the coordinators was L. Fabbietti.

28 August - 2 September, TUM Science & Study Center Raitenhaslach, Burghausen
Stefan Schönert and Georg Raffelt organized this Summer school together with the leaders of the Horizon 2020 Innovative Training Network ITN Elusives as a joint CRC-ITN Elusives event. In total, 70 doctoral researchers and MSc students, five lecturers, five tutors, and the organizers participated in this international school. Lectures and tutorials were held on the following topics:  "The birth of (non-stellar) neutrino astronomy: multi-messenger astrophysics and active galactic nuclei" by Paolo Padovani (ESO), "Axion and ALPs: a broader view" by  Jörg Jäckel (University of Heidelberg),  "DM without prejudice" by Kathryn Zurek (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory),  "Neutrinos with focus on non-oscillation physics" by Kate Scholberg (Duke University), "Classical solutions in field theory" by Andrew Cohen (Boston University). In addition to the lectures and tutorials, the doctoral candidates' work was presented at several poster sessions. The social activities included a guided tour through Burghausen castle, a raft trip on the river Salzach and a BBQ at Raitenhaslach Monastery.

This event was organized by PI M. Agostini and doctoral researcher E. Mondragón Cortés. The course presented a comprehensive overview of the main characteristics of the Geant4 Monte Carlo toolkit, including Geant4 installation for Linux, geometry, tracking and physics processes. The goal of the course was to make the participants able to install Geant4 and to implement their own simple Geant4-based applications. Two international lecturers, Dr. Luciano Pandola and  Dr. Giada Petringa (both from INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS)), were invited.
 

The course was designed to give an overview of international (science) media, to train the writing skills and to initiate contributions for the SFB1258 website. The course started with a panel discussion on “How science journalists work” at the TUM Institute for Advance Study with two science media journalists as guests. The event was open to all SFB 1258 members. The aim of the course was to create new web-content as well as a growing awareness of what journalists need from scientists on the part of the SFB 1258 scientists. The course was held by P. Riedel.

The goal of this program was to identify the efforts required to bring the multi-messenger astronomy community closer to the discovery of the most energetic accelerators in the Universe. The questions discussed were: What are the sources making up the cosmic neutrinos detected by IceCube? Are these connected to the long standing mystery of the ultra high energy cosmic rays? How are cosmic rays accelerated and how do they lose energy during their propagation? Important clues hide in the details of the astrophysical scenarios, in the theoretical modelling, in the observational power of gamma-ray telescopes like Fermi, Magic, H.E.S.S, Veritas, HAWC, and CTA, and in the data collected by on-going experiments like IceCube, the Pierre Auger Observatory and Telescope Array. Among the coordinators were E. Resconi and P. Padovani.

Observing the neutrino burst from the next nearby core-collapse supernova (SN) is perhaps the most coveted target of low-energy neutrino astronomy (few to few tens of MeV). Several existing or planned large detectors world-wide will produce high-statistics signals, dwarfing the two dozen neutrinos observed from SN 1987A, the only such measurement to date. Moreover, the diffuse SN neutrino background (DSNB) from all past core-collapse events in the universe is coming into reach with the foreseen gadolinium-enhanced version of Super-Kamiokande in Japan and the JUNO scintillator detector being built in China. The experimental landscape is evolving rapidly, primarily driven by neutrino oscillation physics, and by advanced gravitational wave detectors becoming operational. This Topical Workshop involved around 30 leading experts in these areas was meant to interface these communities with the goal to develop a better definition of the observational targets (What can we learn?) and conversely of the deliverables that should be provided by neutrino and SN theory as possible benchmarks for detector optimization and observation strategies (What should we do?). The workshop was coordinated by H.-Th. Janka and I. Tamborra, among others.

Precise predictions for collider processes are crucial to interpret the results from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The goal of this program that was held in was to bring together experts from different communities in precision collider physics (diagrammatic resummation vs. effective field theory, automated numerical computations vs. analytic approaches, etc.) to discuss the latest advances in jet physics, higher-order computations and resummation. The coordinators included M. Beneke and R. Frederix.

The program revisited the currently favored paradigm for dark matter direct detection through a dialog between theoretical and experimental experts in astro-, particle and nuclear physics. Fostering substantial progress in the theory of dark matter scattering by nuclei, and in dark matter astronomy, it aimed at drastically improving the present strategies for direct detection data analysis. The coordinators included A. Ibarra and F. Petricca.