This output has been created by a staff of 405 people, including 130 researchers.
Our most spectacular achievement in 2008 was the early optical observation of a gamma-ray burst GRB080319B. The detector “Pi of the Sky” built in collaboration with several other institutes from Warsaw1 recorded a “movie” of the phenomenon which probably leads to the creation of a black hole. It was the most powerful cosmic explosion ever registered, as it occurred 7 bln light years from the Earth and could be seen by the naked eye. Combining the data with gamma ray measurements by the “Swift” satellite gave a new insight into the mechanism of GRBs, as presented in a paper published in “Nature”.
Two other important results were obtained in nuclear physics. In both cases our theorists explained phenomena observed by experimental groups with IPJ participation. A group in GSI Darmstadt measured electron capture dependence on ionization. Prof. Zygmunt Patyk noticed that the results can be explained by invoking angular momentum conservation. A group in GANIL Caen studied neutron halo structure in 6He by neutron transfer reactions in the 6He+65Cu system. Dr. Nicholas Keeley provided an interpretation of the data.
IPJ also participated in the most important scientific event of 2008, the startup of the LHC accelerator at CERN. Unfortunately, the breakdown of the machine ruled out the possibility of obtaining interesting results. However, the event as such attracted a lot of attention and gave us a chance to present the beauty and importance of elementary particle physics to a wide audience.
Active participation in the top-tech endeavor of the LHC remains in high contrast with the day-today problems caused by the old technical infrastructure of the nuclear center in Świerk. The lack of adequate funding makes an upgrade impossible. Power and water supply suffer from frequent breakdowns and only the strong motivation and high qualifications of the technical staff keeps the center in regular operation.
Hope for change comes with EU funds available for Poland in 2007-2013. Indeed, we have already obtained the first success. The project “Development of accelerator and detector systems for medicine and security” has 79 mln PLN (~18 mln €) for 5 years which doubles the budget of the institute. It brings a breakthrough in the applied studies conducted by IPJ, but also in the way the institute is managed. Introducing project-driven management is the challenge for 2009. It should result in a boost towards modern and dynamic ways of doing science. This should be followed by new projects funded from EU programs, including the most ambitious one, which is the free electron laser POLFEL. As a part of a distributed infrastructure EuroFEL it stands for the key element of the European scientific roadmap recommended by the ESFRI committee. In the case of positive decision on funding, the 400 m long accelerator producing 0.2 GW pulses of UV light will be the largest and the most modern research infrastructure in the new Europe. A powerful tool for physicists, chemists, biologists, medical researchers and materials engineers, it should bring scientific research in Poland to a new level. The year 2009 will tell us if this opportunity will be won or wasted.
Professor Grzegorz Wrochna