Particle Physics and Accelerator Technologies
Brian Foster is Alexander von Humboldt Professor at the University of Hamburg and leading scientist at DESY. He is carrying out three major research topics: Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) at the ZEUS experiment at HERA; the International Linear collider, of which he was European Director; and new methods of acceleration, principally plasma wave acceleration. In ZEUS he and his group are mostly working on the combination of the final H1 and ZEUS DIS data and the production of heavy c and b quarks. The ILC uses superconducting high frequency Niobium cavities; Foster’s group is working on methods of increasing their performance, for example by nitrogen doping. In plasma-wave acceleration, Foster’s group is working in the FLASHForward experiment, a new beam line at FLASH which promises to enable unique experiments. Foster is the Spokesman of a Helmholtz Virtual Institute in this research area. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society.
