The Max-Planck-Institut
für Physik is one of the almost 80 autonomous research
institutes of the Max-Planck-Society. Founded in 1917 in
Berlin, then as Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Physik,
it moved several times during its eventful history, finally in 1958 under
the directorate of Werner Heisenberg and Ludwig Biermann to
its present site in Munich.
The institute's research is devoted mainly to
studies of the fundamental constituents of matter, their
interactions, and the role they play in astrophysics.
The theoretical work focuses mainly on the
field theory of strong interaction,
phenomenological
studies
of high energy physics, studies of possible extensions of the
Standard Model and on the mathematical foundations of quantum
theory, and addresses open questions in astroparticle physics theory.
The experimental research comprises extensive
participation in high-energy physics experiments which are
being conducted by international collaborations at the large
accelerators at DESY, Brookhaven and CERN and in particle-astrophysics experiments
performed at La Palma (Canarian Islands) and the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory.
The questions addressed in the accelerator experiments are precision tests of the Standard Model
of particle physics, the study of lepton-quark interaction and of the inner
structure of the proton, the search for the quark-gluon-plasma, the state of matter
which presumably did exist in an early phase of the universe
shortly after the big-bang, measurements of CP-violation in decays of B-mesons,
and the study of the top quark and search for the
Higgs-boson and for supersymmetry at the future LHC machine
presently being constructed. The institute's
particle-astrophysics activities comprise the study of
sources of high energy cosmic
radiation and the search for weakly interacting dark matter. The research program
is completed by some smaller short-scale projects, spin-offs
of the large experiments.
Together with the Max-Planck-Institut für
extraterrestrische Physik, the Max-Planck-Institut für Physik operates a
research laboratory devoted to the
development of innovative semiconductor detectors for the
institutes' experimental projects.
The institute is lead by a board of directors, presently
comprising
S. Bethke,
A. Caldwell,
W. Hollik (managing director),
D. Lüst,
and
M. Teshima,
and has more than 150 scientists
(including long term guests and PhD students) working in its
theoretical and experimental divisions.
Most of the directors and a number of the staff scientists are
teaching at one or the other of the two Munich Universities, LMU and TUM. In addition, the Max-Planck-Institut
für Physik continuously offers a large variety of Diploma and PhD theses in essentially all the
experimental projects and in the
theory division. Since many years the
institute hosts an extensive guest program, allowing
scientists from all over the world to join one of the groups
and work at the Max-Planck-Institut für Physik for some
time.
