Berkeley Lab’s Physics Division hosted SCET 2023, the 20th workshop on Soft-Collinear Effective Theory, on March 27-30, 2023.

Christian Bauer, who was one of the original co-developers of the soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) in 2000, organized and hosted this special anniversary event, which has been held annually since 2003.

Researchers interested in SCET, resummation, and (non)-perturbative QCD gathered to discuss recent developments in these areas and their applications to particle and nuclear physics. Over 50 attendees from around the world traveled to Berkeley for the conference, with another 50 participants participating remotely.

Presentations covered a wide range of topics such as low energy QCD, scattering at high energy colliders, flavor physics, and quantum computing. The theory’s original applications were in flavor physics, and it has since been applied to a broad range of fields in high energy physics. Researchers all over the world are now contributing to this theory and developing new applications.

Bauer, who currently leads Berkeley Lab’s Theory Group, is especially encouraged by the increasing number of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are now engaging with SCET. “I continue to be impressed by the growing range of applications the theory is being applied to. It was amazing to see the diversity of topics discussed, to see how broadly this theory is now being applied, and how much development has happened over the last 20 years.”

Learn more on the event’s main website and book of abstracts. The next workshop is being planned in Salamanca, Spain, in 2024.