ICTP High Energy Group recently took its show on the road: destination Cuba. The experience proved rewarding for organizers and participants alike.

Cuban Connections

When staff scientist George Thompson, from the ICTP's High Energy Group, travelled to Havana, Cuba, to lecture at the Introductory School on String Theory this past November, he got more than he bargained for. After completing three hours of lectures and grabbing a quick lunch, he suddenly found himself lending a hand--literally--to efforts by the faculty and staff to refurbish the lecture room for the following week's activities. So with pencil in pocket and brush in hand, "physicist" Thompson turned into "painter" Thompson each afternoon.

"The enthusiasm and commitment that our hosts brought to the 10-day event were heartening to say the least," says Thompson. "Here were physicists who had very little to work with and virtually no support beyond their own collective sense of purpose. And, yet despite their meager facilities, they were determined to succeed."

The Introductory School on String Theory was the first event ever organized by the High Energy Group outside of Trieste. Its origins lie in a conversation concerning the state of string theory research in Latin America that Hugo Celso Perez Rojas, a physics professor at Cuba's Institute of Cybernetics, Mathematics and Physics in Havana, had with the current Head of the Centre's Office of External Activities during the First Caribbean Workshop on Quantum Mechanics, Particles and Fields, held in Cuba, in spring 1997.

As Seifallah Randjbar-Daemi, Head of the ICTP High Energy Research Group, explains, "Everyone there agreed that there are a small number of excellent string theorists working in universities and research centres throughout the region. But they are too few in number and scattered over too large a geographic area to have a strong presence, and they had never met together in one place to discuss issues of mutual interest. So the conclusion was that it would be a good idea to organize a school where many of the continent's string theorists could meet."

"Deciding to hold the school in Cuba," Randjbar-Daemi adds, "had the added benefit of exposing scientists there, especially young Cuban scientists, to the work of more experienced colleagues. It also gave the host institute, which had never helped organize an event of this size and complexity, a taste of what it took to hold a successful event."

The school, which began 9 November and ended 19 November, attracted approximately 60 students and professors of physics interested in string theory. In addition to the contingent from Cuba, which numbered 14, participants hailed from six other Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela.

"The activity started with a one-week 'preschool' designed largely for students with backgrounds not as strong as the other participants," explains Randjbar-Daemi. "The goal was to help bring the understanding that these students had of string theory to a level as close as possible to those of their more advanced colleagues who would be joining them the following week."

"The schedule was intense," says Thompson. "Lectures began at 8:30 in the morning and continued until 17:30 in the evening. The first week focused on the basics of string theory; the second on more advanced subjects, including string dualities and D-branes." In addition to Randjbar-Daemi and Thompson, ICTP staff scientist Kumar Narain also gave several lectures, as did Claus Montonen of the University of Helsinki in Finland, Cesar Gomez of the University of Madrid in Spain, and Elias Kiritsis of the University of Crete in Greece. Several Latin American physicists gave talks as well, including Anamaria Font from Venezuela, Carmen Alicia Nunez from Argentina, Marti Ruiz-Altaba from Mexico and Jorge Antonio Zanelli from Chile.

"The classroom work, of course, proved invaluable, providing faculty and students alike with a good grounding both in the basic and cutting edge issues in string theory," Radjbar-Daemi notes.

"But what I found equally important," he adds, "were the endless hours of dialogue that took place among faculty and students. Participants lived, worked and ate together from the day they arrived to the day that they left, and they literally talked about string theory morning, noon and night."

Cuba's Institute of Cybernetics, Mathematics and Physics hosted all of the activities, while scientists from the ICTP, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela served as members of the organizing committee.

"The facilities for the school were sparse--two classrooms and dining hall, wooden chairs and benches, many nailed together just the week before, and a makeshift whiteboard," observes Thompson. "But I was truly impressed by the participants' enthusiasm and commitment. At the end of the course, nearly 50 percent of the participants earned more than 50 percent on the final test--a success rate that pleased both the teachers and the students."

Funds for the activity, including the costs for travel, room and board for ICTP staff members, came from several sources, including ICTP's High Energy Group and Office of External Activities (OEA), and the Caribbean Network, which was launched by OEA in 1997. Cuba's Institute of Cybernetics, Mathematics and Physics, the local host, provided a great deal in the way of in-kind contributions and hospitality.

"It's unlikely that such an event could have taken place without the direct involvement of ICTP," notes Randjbar-Daemi. "The funds and organizational skills necessary to organize the two-week-long activity simply could not have been replicated. In fact, Patrizia Passarella, conference secretary for the High Energy Group, accompanied us to provide the logistical assistance necessary to ensure that everything went smoothly."

Administrators from Cuba's Institute of Cybernetics, Mathematics and Physics have already requested that ICTP organize another school either in 1999 or 2000, and members of the Centre are currently evaluating the institute's request.

"The activity that took place in Cuba this fall," Randjbar-Daemi observes, "has helped establish a valuable, informal network among Latin America's string theorists that should serve this community of physicists well in the years ahead. At the same time, the initiative has enabled Cuban physicists to become more involved with the research activities of their colleagues while boosting their presence within their academic environment at home. All of this adds up to an excellent return on a modest investment that will continue to pay dividends in the future."

Meanwhile, if ICTP's High Energy Group decides to return to Cuba, Centre staff scientist George Thompson knows this much: he will have to pack a paint brush and drop cloth as well as a pencil and notebook when leaving for his next round of lectures.

MORE LATIN LINKS

The Introductory School on String Theory, organized by the ICTP this fall in Cuba, is by no means the only link that the Centre has with Latin America. In fact, ICTP has a long and active relationship with the scientific community there.

In 1997, some 180 Latin American scientists participated in Centre research programmes held in Trieste, and an additional 30 Latin American ICTP Associates came to the ICTP to take advantage of our research facilities. In addition, 6 students from Latin America and the Caribbean are class members of ICTP's 1998 Diploma Course, which provides masters-level training for recent university graduates from developing nations. And, over the past two years, the Centre's Office of External Activities has helped to fund more than 40 research activities, including the First Caribbean Workshop on Quantum Mechanics, Particles and Fields, where the preliminary groundwork for the School on String Theory was laid.

Here's a sampling of the Centre's recent outreach efforts to Latin America's research community and those scheduled to take place in the near future:

Spring 1997
ICTP Microprocessor Laboratory's Second Latin American Course on Data Acquisition and Data Filtering, held in the University of San Luis in San Luis, Argentina.

Winter 1998
ICTP Microprocessor Laboratory's Second Regional Course on Advanced VLSI Design Techniques, held at the San Sebastian Convention Centre in Medellin, Colombia.

Fall 1998
ICTP Experimental Workshop on High Temperature Superconductors and Related Activities, held at the Bariloche Atomic Center in Bariloche, Argentina.

Winter 1999
ICTP/International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB)'s Ibero-American School on Astrobiology, to be held at Simon Bolivar University's Institute of Advanced Studies in Caracas, Venezuela.

Back to Contents Forward to Features

Home