Dieter Haidt

Dieter Haidt (born 1940) is a German physicist, known for his contribution to the 1973 discovery of weak neutral currents.[1][2] The discovery was made in the Gargamelle experiment, which used a heavy liquid bubble chamber detector in operation at CERN from 1970 to 1979.[3]

Education and career

In 1958 Haidt graduated from the Kepler-Gymnasium in Tübingen. He then studied physics at the University of Tübingen, where he graduated with a Diplom in experimental physics in 1965. He then moved to RWTH Aachen University, where he was a member of the X2 collaboration.[4][5] He was also a visiting scholar at University College London in 1966. In 1969 he received his doctorate at RWTH Aachen University summa cum laude[4][6] and in 1970 he received the Borchers Medal. From 1970 he was a member of the Gargamelle collaboration at CERN (from RWTH Aachen University) and from 1971 to 1978 he was employed at CERN.[4] In 1973, the Gargamelle collaboration discovered weak neutral currents.[7] The collaboration searched for weak neutral currents in neutrino reactions without muon generation. The discovery's rapid recognition depended, to a considerable extent, on calculations by Haidt, who showed that the existence of weak neutral currents was a new type of effect (and not, e.g., interactions between neutrons).[2][4] Other prominent physicists involved in the Gargamelle experiment include Antonino Pullia (1935–2020), Helmut Faissner (1928–2007), and André Lagarrigue (1924–1975).[8]

Haidt was a spokesperson for the neutrino-propane experiment at the Gargamelle bubble chamber. He was involved in neutrino experiments at the BEBC detector. From 1979 to 2004 he was a senior scientist at DESY. From 1979 to 1986 he was a member of the JADE collaboration at DESY and from 1994 of the H1 collaboration. He was a member of the Physics Research Committee (PRC) at DESY and organized the DESY seminars. In 2007 he received emeritus status.[4]

For the academic year 1987–1988 he was a visiting scientist at Japanese particle physics laboratory known as KEK.[4]

In 2011 he shared the Enrico Fermi Prize with Antonino Pullia.[1][2] In 2009, the Gargamelle collaboration received the European Physical Society's High-Energy and Particle Physics Prize.[1]

From 1986 to 1997 he was an editor for the Zeitschrift für Physik C and from 1997 to 2006 he was the editor-in-chief of its successor, the European Physical Journal C.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Italian Physical Societs honours Gargamelle physicists with Fermi award" (PDF). CERN Courier: 42. November 2011.
  2. ^ a b c "Dieter Haidt wins Enrico Fermi Prize". News from the DESY research centre. 23 September 2011.
  3. ^ Haidt, Dieter. "The neutrino's 50th birthday" (PDF). Deutsches Elektyronen-Synchrotron DESY (desy.org).
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Dieter Haidt's Web Page". desy.de.
  5. ^ Esveld, C.D. (1973). An experimental study of K+e4 decay (No. INIS-MF--1012) (PDF). Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen (Netherlands). (See pp. 1–3.)
  6. ^ Haidt, D. (1970). Messung der Formfaktoren aus den Spektren des Zerfalls K+ → π°μ+γμ (in German); doctoral dissertation{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) (Measurement of the form factors from the spectra of the decay of a positively charged kaon into a pion pair.)
  7. ^ Haidt, Dieter (3 October 2004). "The discovery of the weak neutral currents". CERN Courier. 55 (8). (reprinted: "The discovery of the weak neutral currents" (PDF). AAPPS Bulletin. 15 (1): 47–50. February 2005.)
  8. ^ Hasert, F.J.; Faissner, H.; Krenz, W.; Von Krogh, J.; Lanske, D.; Morfin, J.; Schultze, K.; Weerts, H.; Bertrand-Coremans, G.H.; Lemonne, J.; Sacton, J.; Van Doninck, W.; Vilain, P.; Baltay, C.; Cundy, D.C.; Haidt, D.; Jaffre, M.; Musset, P.; Pullia, A.; Natali, S.; Pattison, J.B.M.; Perkins, D.H.; Rousset, A.; Venus, W.; Wachsmuth, H.W.; Brisson, V.; Degrange, B.; Haguenauer, M.; Kluberg, L.; Nguyen-Khac, U.; Petiau, P.; Bellotti, E.; Bonetti, S.; Cavalli, D.; Conta, C.; Fiorini, E.; Rollier, M.; Aubert, B.; Chounet, L.M.; Heusse, P.; Lagarrigue, A.; Lutz, A.M.; Vialle, J.P.; Bullock, F.W.; Esten, M.J.; Jones, T.; McKenzie, J.; Michette, A.G.; Myatt, G.; Pinfold, J.; Scott, W.G. (1973). "Search for elastic muon-neutrino electron scattering". Physics Letters B. 46 (1). Elsevier BV: 121–124. Bibcode:1973PhLB...46..121H. doi:10.1016/0370-2693(73)90494-2. ISSN 0370-2693.