Her Excellency Ms. Petra Sigmund, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Japan visited the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) Tsukuba Campus on January 17, 2025.
German institutes and universities are actively engaging in the Belle II Experiment and the T2K Neutrino Experiment, both international collaborations hosted by KEK. The German groups, in the Belle II Experiment have a responsible role in Pixel Vertex Detector, and are strongly contributing to the Trigger System and physics analysis and those in the T2K Neutrino Experiment, at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), play an important role contributing to the Time Projection Chamber Detector of the T2K Near Neutrino Detector and ND280 magnet mover.
After welcoming H.E. Ms. Sigmund, Ambassador of Germany to Japan, Dr. Shoji Asai, Director General, KEK introduced the German cooperation in the Belle II Experiment and the T2K Experiment and explained the status of ILC Technology Network (ITN). In response, H.E. Ms. Sigmund expressed her gratitude for receiving her visit to KEK, and stated that it should be essential to build a global framework to share facilities, talents, funds, and results since the scale and costs of research projects have become significant and to further strengthen the bilateral cooperation between Germany and Japan as such large-scale research infrastructures cannot be supported by a single country.
Following these exchanges, Dr. Naohito Saito, Director of Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (IPNS), gave an overview of IPNS and also introduced the experimental facilities at J-PARC where H.E. Ms. Sigmund actively asked questions about the Neutrino Experiments and Hyper-Kamiokande Project. Dr. Asai commented that KEK will focus on the promotion of innovation as well as the development of basic science.
H.E. Ms. Sigmund then took a facility tour of the Tsukuba Experimental Hall, where the Belle II Detector is installed. Researchers from Japan and Germany participating in the Belle II Experiment joined this facility tour and explained the details as many questions from the participants were given. H.E. Ms. Sigmund remarked that it was very impressive to see pioneering activities in the field of particle physics at KEK.
A commemorative photo with researchers of Japan and Germany participating in the Belle II Experiment in the experimental hall of the Tsukuba Experimental Facility