ICHEP 2002 Bulletin 2

Welcome to Amsterdam!

And welcome to the 31st International Conference on High Energy Physics! ICHEP 2002 continues the tradition of the "Rochester Conferences", and will be held July 24 - 31, 2002. The conference is organized by NIKHEF, the Dutch National Institute for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics, under the auspices of IUPAP, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. Conference location is the RAI Congress Centre in Amsterdam. Chairman of the conference is Ger van Middelkoop. Since this is the last bulletin before the conference, please read all information carefully before embarking on your trip to Amsterdam. Our first bulletin, announcing the conference, can still be found on our website.

Table of Contents

Schedule Overview
Conference Location
Registration and Secretariat
Parallel Sessions
Plenary Sessions
Social Programme
Accompanying Persons Programme
Emergencies
Other Conference Information
Public Transport
Other Information
Amsterdam Internet Guide

Schedule Overview

The Registration Desk for ICHEP 2002 will be open on Wednesday July 24th in the Forum Lounge (entrance P20) of the RAI Congress Centre, as of 16.00 hours. The conference will be opened Thursday July 25th, at 9.00 hours, in the Forum room. The final session is foreseen for Wednesday July 31st in the afternoon in the Auditorium, the conference will end at approximately 16.00 hours.

Wednesday July 24

Conference Location

The conference will be held in the RAI Congress Centre. The address is:

  Amsterdam RAI Congress Centre
  Europaplein 14
  1078 GZ Amsterdam
  the Netherlands
  Tel. +31 20 549 1212

Location of the RAI within Amsterdam is shown on the map below.

From Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam

Several options exist for transport from Schiphol Airport to the city.

The cheapest option is to take the train. The airport railway station is located on the same level as the arrival hall, at a short walk's distance. Railway tickets can be purchased at a counter in the station hall. The city centre is best reached via the Amsterdam Centraal railway station. Trains from Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal run every 10 minutes and take about 15 minutes for the journey, a single ticket costs € 2.90. Hotels in the south of Amsterdam are reached most conveniently via the railway stations Amsterdam Zuid WTC (6 minutes) or Amsterdam RAI (9 minutes). Trains run every 15 minutes, a single ticket costs € 1.90. For further public transport from the railway stations, see the section on public transport below.

Like other big cities, Amsterdam is not free of the problem of thieves and pickpockets. Please watch your belongings carefully, also in trains and trams.

A taxi from Schiphol to the city centre is convenient, but expensive. A trip could cost you € 25.

Some hotels run a shuttle service to the airport. Enquiries should be made at the individual hotels.

Reaching the RAI by local public transport

When arriving at Amsterdam Centraal Station (CS), one can take the Amstelveen express tram 51 (travelling time: 12 minutes, exit at the Amsterdam RAI station) or tram 4 (travelling time: 30 minutes, exit at RAI Europaplein). When travelling by train to the Amstel station, one can take the Amstelveen express tram 51 (travelling time: 5 minutes) or the bus (route 15, 69 or 169), which will bring you to the RAI within 10 minutes. In this case you should get off at RAI Europaplein. From Amsterdam Sloterdijk station, the best way to reach the RAI is with express tram 50, exit at the Amsterdam RAI station (this is the same station as for tram 51). From hotels in the Vondelpark area, tram 12 is the best option. Get off at the Scheldestraat stop and walk approximately 300 meters south to the RAI.

The RAI surroundings, including the public rail transport stops, are shown on the map below.

For more information on the Amsterdam public transport and its fare system, see the special section below. Participants who ordered a public transport ticket will receive this at the Registration Desk. This public transport ticket is valid on trams, buses and metro in Amsterdam for 6 days. Please note that this ticket is not valid in trains to and from Schiphol Airport.

Reaching the RAI by train

The intercity trains from Roosendaal/Belgium connect at Schiphol with trains going to the Amsterdam RAI station. At Schiphol one can change trains on the same platform. The fastest way to reach the RAI if coming from Arnhem/Germany, is to take the train to Amsterdam Duivendrecht station. Here one can change trains for the Amsterdam RAI station. There is also direct train connection with the Amsterdam RAI station from Rotterdam, the Hague, Leiden, Weesp, het Gooi and the Flevo polders.

Reaching the RAI by car

The RAI is situated alongside the Amsterdam's A10 orbital motorway (exit S109) and has its own underground car parks. All the main motorways can be reached without difficulty from the orbital motorway. Numerous sign boards direct repeatedly to the RAI.

Ample underground parking space is available at the RAI Congress Centre, and participants arriving by car are strongly advised to use these facilities. Parking fees are not included in the registration fee. Car parking tickets for one entry are available from the ticket machines near the Hall Porter's stations and cost € 10 per day. A special multi-entry ticket including overnight parking for the period of 6 days is available at a reduced rate of € 45 at the Social Program Desk in the Registration Area.

Registration and Secretariat

The address of the conference secretariat is:

  ICHEP Secretariat
  Eurocongres Conference Management
  Jan van Goyenkade 11
  1075 HP Amsterdam
  the Netherlands
  Tel: +31 20 679 34 11
  Fax: +31 20 673 73 06
  E-mail: ichep@eurocongres.com

During the conference, the conference secretariat can be reached via the Registration Desk in the Forum Lounge in the RAI. In order to reach ICHEP 2002 participants in case of emergencies, please dial +31 20 549 12 12.

The Registration Desk in the RAI will open on Wednesday July 24 at 16.00 hours and participants are asked to register at their earliest convenience. Upon registration, participants will receive their conference material such as badge, tickets, programmes, and a Visitor's Guide to Amsterdam with maps and more detailed information about getting around in Amsterdam.

The Registration Desk will be open during the following hours:

The following services are provided in the Registration Area:

Parallel Sessions

Parallel sessions will take place from Thursday July 25th to Saturday July 27th in four conference rooms in the RAI. A map of the RAI Congress Centre showing these rooms is shown below the schedule.

The parallel sessions are divided into 13 topics given in the table below. The program of each session is determined and chaired by the conveners listed.

The schedule of the parallel sessions is given below. Conference rooms will be assigned to the sessions later, these will be announced in the final programme. Please note that the schedule is subject to changes due to unforeseen circumstances.

Thursday July 25

Here is a map of the RAI Congress Centre:

Plenary Sessions

The plenary sessions will take place from Monday July 29 to Wednesday July 31st in the RAI Auditorium. The schedule is given below, please note that the schedule is subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances.

Monday July 29

Social Programme

The social programme of ICHEP 2002 consists of the following elements: a welcome reception, a classical concert, excursions, a public lecture, and a conference dinner. Some of these activities will take place in the city centre, as shown on the map below.

Welcome Reception

A welcome reception will be held for all participants and accompanying persons in the RAI Congress Centre, on Thursday July 25 at 18.00 hours.

Concert

On Saturday July 27 a classical concert will be held in the historic Westerkerk, a 17th century church on the Westermarkt, in the city centre (close to the Anne Frank House). Admission is free, the concert starts at 20.15 hours and will finish at approximately 22.15 hours.
The programme of the concert consists of:

   Bach (Violine Partita)
   Schubert/R. Strauss ("Lieder")
   Stravinsky (Elegie, "Three Pieces")
   Mozart (Kegelstadt Trio)
  bracketed by Bach's Preludes/Fuges played on the historic church organ.

The Westerkerk is easily reached by trams 13, 17 or 20 from Centraal Station, or by tram 14 from Rembrandtplein (connection to line 4) or Waterlooplein (connection to express tram 51).

Public Lecture

On Monday July 29, Professor Gerard 't Hooft (Utrecht University) will give a public lecture, in English, in the Auditorium of the University of Amsterdam, the old Lutheran church (dating from 1633) on the corner of Spui and Singel (Singel 411). The title of the public lecture is:

"The Universe inside the Atom"

Just like the Universe surrounding us, the atoms themselves are almost empty. In this emptiness, elementary particles are frolicking around, obeying laws of motion that exhibit a stupendous complexity. The past thirty years have taught us a great deal about these laws. The particles are now sorted in "generations", "families", and "species", and they are subject to three kinds of forces, all apparently closely related. How a fourth force, that of gravity, exactly works on these particles is still a basic mystery. Speculations are numerous and diverse. We work on "super strings", "black holes" and other concoctions, and we suspect that the Astronomical Universe may actually hold clues about the subatomic one.

Entrance is free, the lecture starts at 20.00 hours, refreshments will be served.

The Auditorium is best reached by trams 1, 2 or 5 from Centraal Station. If you take tram 4 from the RAI, get off at the Spui stop, and walk some 300 meters along Spui to the Auditorium.

Conference Dinner

The conference dinner will be held Tuesday July 30 in the Muziektheater, the Amsterdam Opera House. It is beautifully located right on the Amstel river, and the high open foyers overlook the historic panorama of Amsterdam.



For registered conference participants, the price of the dinner is only € 15. If you have not yet signed up for the conference dinner upon registration, you may still do so via the registration web pages (Online registration pages/Additional registration social events). Depending on availability, tickets may still be for sale at the Social Program Desk in the Registration Area in the RAI.

The Muziektheater can be reached by express tram 51 (Waterlooplein station), or trams 9 or 20 from Centraal Station. If you take tram 4 from the RAI, get off at Rembrandtplein and take a short stroll along the Amstelstraat across the river.

Excursions

On Sunday July 28th no scientific sessions are foreseen. Instead, a number of excursions are organized for ICHEP 2002 participants and accompanying persons. If you have not yet signed up for the excursions upon registration, you may still do so via the registration web pages (Online registration pages/Additional registration social events).

Pre-purchased tickets will be enclosed in the package that you will receive upon registration. Subject to availability, additional tickets may be purchased at the Social Desk in the Registration Area. Tours depart from and return to the Amsterdam RAI Congress Centre, unless stated otherwise. Multilingual guides are provided for all tours. Tickets are not reimbursable should a registrant not be able to take part. Lunch is included, except for afternoon-only tours. Tours are subject to cancellation due to insufficient interest or unforeseen circumstances.

Kröller Müller Museum & National Park Hoge Veluwe
Sunday 28 July 2002, 10.00 - 19.00 hours, Price € 77.--
The Kröller Müller museum is well known for its Van Gogh collection and sculpture park. After luncheon everybody is free to stroll through the National Park 'De Hoge Veluwe'; by foot or bicycle. Visits can be made to the underground museum or the hunting lodge St. Hubertus, designed by architect Berlage. Free 'white bicycles' are on loan for visitors to the park.
Incl. coach/guide/entrance fee/luncheon.

Grand Holland Tour
Sunday 28 July 2002, 10.00 - 18.00 hours, Price € 66.--
The first stop on this tour is a factory of wooden shoes. We proceed to Delft, where a visit will be made to the factory of the famous "Delft Blue" pottery. Then we drive to Rotterdam and make a short sightseeing tour by coach of the city. Later in the day we visit The Hague, driving past the House of Parliament and the Peace Palace, continuing to the North See beach resort of Scheveningen, after which we visit Panorama Mesdag. ( Lunch en route). It is one of the world's finest, and largest, surviving panoramas. The circular canvas is 14 m high and the circumference is 120 m. It was painted by Hendrik Willem Mesdag.
Incl coach/ guide/ entrance fees/ lunch. Excl. drinks

Waterland Bike Tour
Sunday 28 July 2002, 10.00 - 16.00 hours, Price € 38.50
Perhaps the best way to see Holland is by bicycle. Participants meet at the Yellow Bike rental office in the city centre. The tour begins with a short ferry ride across Amsterdam's old harbour "Het IJ". The 40 km tour of Waterland and North Holland includes a number of picturesque towns, such as Ransdorp, Zunderdorp and Monnickendam, as well as Broek in Waterland, where a traditional Dutch "pancake" lunch will be served. A perfect combination of sites and exercise!
Incl. lunch

Amsterdam VOC
Sunday 28 July 2002, 10.00 - 18.00 hours, Price € 66.--
Amsterdam commemorates this year the founding of the VOC, the Dutch United East India Company in 1602. This famous shipping company controlled Dutch trade with the far east in the 17th century. This excursion includes a tour through Amsterdam concentrating on VOC history, and a visit to the Museum of Naval History and its replica of an East Indies sailing ship. The tour will be concluded by a 'canal bike' tour over water and a visit in an authentic Dutch tavern.
Incl. coach/guide/entrance fee/lunch. Excl. drinks

Amsterdam & the Golden Age
Sunday 28 July 2002, 14.00 - 17.00 hours, Price € 16.--
During this walking tour the remainings of the 17th century, the so called Golden Age, will be shown. Magnificant canal houses and churches were built. The town hall with its 13000 piles was called 'the eighth world miracle'. The tour will start at Dam square, the hart of the city with its New Church and The Royal Palace. A visit will be made to the Amsterdam Historic Museum and we walk through the streets where you can see elegant merchant's mansions, churches and warehouses dating back to these 16th/17th centuries.

Accompanying Persons Programme

Accompanying persons are welcome to join. For accompanying persons, a number of excursions are organized, listed below. Apart from these of course the whole of Amsterdam as well as many nearby towns and villages are there to be explored on one's own.

Amsterdam Panoramic & Anne Frank House
Thursday 25 July 2002, Time 09:00 - 12:30 hours
Free for registered accompanying person(s), € 27.50 for registered delegates
This tour includes an extensive drive by coach through Amsterdam during which we will see the most important buildings and monuments in our city. In the 'Jordan' quarter with the 'Westerkerk' church, we will visit the 'Anne Frank House', the attic where a young Jewish girl and her family hid during World War II. A cruise through Amsterdam's charming canals will conclude the tour.
Incl. bus/canalboat/entrance fee Anne Frank house/guide.

Amsterdam Bike Tour
Friday 26 July 2002, 09.30 - 12.30 hours, € 38.50
This excursion starts at 09.30 hours at the Yellow Bike Company, situated between the Central Station and Dam square. During this tour under the guidance of an experienced guide you will pass all the interesting spots of Amsterdam such as the harbour, the Museum quarter, the 'Vondelpark' and the Red Light District.

Floriade & Haarlem
Monday 29 July 2002, 09.30 - 17.30 hours, € 50.--
We will begin this tour with a short walk through the characteristic courtyards of the city of Haarlem. This city is also well known for the magnificient "Grote Markt" (market square) and St. Bavo's Basilica. Afterwards we proceed to the Floriade 2002. This gardening and flower exhibition is held only once every ten years, and shows many aspects of Dutch horticulture, from vegetables and fruit to mushrooms, and from bulbs, flowers and plants to trees, bushes and shrubs.
Lunch en route is not included.

West Frisia
Tuesday 30 July 2002, 09.00 - 17.00 hours, € 64.--
Along the coast line of the former Zuider Sea a number of historic harbour towns are dreaming of a glorious past. Starting from the city of Hoorn we will go by steam train through West Frisia's Bulbfields (sorry, no blooming in summertime) to Medemblik. After lunch we continue to Enkhuizen for a short walking tour. Near the historic port of Enkhuizen is the Open Air museum where you will see original buildings in authentic settings, evoking every day life as it was at the turn of the century.
Incl coach/steam train/entrance fees/lunch.

Various other websites have more information on what to do in Amsterdam, see for example Simply Amsterdam or The Internet Guide to Amsterdam.

Emergencies

Within the RAI Congress Centre, a first aid room is located near the service hall, next to the Auditorium. At any emergency within the RAI, please contact the Registration Desk.

The RAI Congress Centre itself can be reached by the telephone number +31 20 549 12 12.

The general emergency telephone number in the Netherlands is 112. This will connect you to an operator who will alarm police, medical aid or the fire brigade. Police can be contacted for non-urgent matters via the number 0900-8844.

Other Conference Information

Registration

If you have received an invitation to ICHEP 2002 but have not yet registered, please do so as soon as possible. Registration is possible via our website, using the information contained in the invitation letter.
If you have not yet booked accomodation, please do so as well. Hotel information can be found on our website.
And finally, if you need a visa, contact the conference secretariat as soon as possible. Visa information can be found on our website. Please note that visa requests are generally not honored by Dutch authorities if submitted later than six weeks before the conference!

All participants and accompanying persons will receive a personal badge upon registration. For security reasons, you are kindly requested to wear your name badge when attending any meeting or social gathering. Only participants who are wearing their name badge will be admitted to the lecture halls.

Papers and Proceedings

Full papers can now be submitted as a contribution to the ICHEP 2002 conference via our website. More details on full papers submitted to ICHEP 2002 can be found here. Please note that these papers are different from the contributions to the proceedings. Papers can be of arbitrary length and will become public at the time of the conference, thus serving as a data base of scientific results.

Proceedings of ICHEP 2002 will be published by Elsevier Science Publishers. All participants will receive a copy of the proceedings on CD-ROM. All speakers are expected to contribute to the proceedings, further instructions will be given at a later stage.

Remaining deadlines of ICHEP 2002 are:

Internet Cafe

Rooms C and D in the RAI will be available as an Internet Cafe (no coffee served..). We will provide 50 fixed PC's running Windows NT4.0, with, besides standard Windows software, ghostview, acroread, and an ssh application installed. There will be a printer for paper (not for transparancies!) available as well.
We encourage you to bring your laptop: we will provide about 25 10baseT cables to connect to your laptop computer. Moreover, we will set up a few base stations (broadcasting protocol: 802.11b) for wireless access, which will only work in and near rooms C and D. About 30 wireless ethernetcards will be available on loan, with a deposit of about € 150. The IP address of your laptop will be defined dynamically through DHCP.
To read/write email you can connect to your home institution via ssh. Laptop owners will also be able to read/write email via imap, pop and smtp.
The total capacity of our internetlink to the outside world is ONLY 4 Mbit/s. The website of the conference will however be locally cached so that viewing the conference presentations of previous days will not suffer from this slow connection.

Coffee, Tea, Lunch

During session breaks coffee and tea will be served free of charge to participants wearing name badges.

Lunch is not included in the registration fee. However, various catering points will be available within the congress centre. Should you wish to lunch outside the congress venue, there is a number of restaurants within the close vicinity.

Presentation Display

Electronic display of presentations (PowerPoint, PDF, or PostScript) is strongly encouraged. Speakers wishing to display their presentation electronically are requested to visit the Presentation Preview Room in the Forum Lounge well in advance of the session in which they are scheduled to speak. In the Presentation Preview Room, presentations are copied to the PC from which they will be displayed. Speakers are not allowed to bring their own laptop to the stage. Opening times of the Presentation Preview Room are identical to those of the Registration Desk.

Presentations on transparancies are also accepted, they will be displayed by a standard overhead projector. Speakers wishing to display their presentation electronically must bring a backup copy on transparancies, to be used in case of unexpected problems.

Messages

Messages for participants can be left in the registration area. From outside, conference participants can be reached via the Registration Desk in the RAI Congress Centre, tel. +31 20 549 12 12.

Luggage Storage

A cloakroom including a luggage storage area is located below the registration area.

Staff

The ICHEP 2002 staff can be recognized by their ICHEP 2002 shirts. They will always be happy to assist you.

Currency

The official currency in the Netherlands is the EURO. Foreign currencies can be changed to EURO's at many locations, including the airport, Centraal Station, and the city centre. A branch of the ABN-AMRO Bank is located opposite the RAI Congress Centre, and is open from 9.00 to 17.00 hours. Cash dispensers are available at numerous locations in Amsterdam, including the RAI Congress Centre, and will accept most bank and credit cards.

Sponsors and Exhibitors

ICHEP 2002 is sponsored by the following institutes:

From Monday July 29 to Wednesday July 31, a number of companies and institutions will exhibit their products in the lounge of the Auditorium. A preliminary list of exhibitors is given below:

ICHEP 2002 is sponsored by the following companies:

Public Transport

Public transport in Amsterdam is carried out by trams, buses, express-trams, metro (subway) and trains. Within the city limits, these modes of transportation have an identical fare-system, and transits can be made without a problem. Amsterdam airport, Schiphol, is not within the city limits, and normal train tickets are required for travel to and from Schiphol.

If you have ordered a public transport ticket upon registration for ICHEP 2002, you will receive it at the Registration Desk. It is valid for six days on all public transport within Amsterdam (not to Schiphol Airport).

In trams, tickets can be bought from the driver (likewise in buses), the conductor in the rear of the tram, or a machine in the middle of the tram, depending on the type of tram. However, it is considerably cheaper to buy a "strippenkaart" from a tobacconist, in a post office or railway station, or at the GVB office in front of Centraal Station, beforehand, for € 5.90 for 15 strips. On most trams you stamp these yourself in the yellow machines in the tram: each journey uses one strip plus a strip for every zone you travel in. If you stay within the city centre, which is one zone, leave one strip blank and stamp the second:

If you travel over a zone border, such as from the city centre to the RAI Congress Centre, you are travelling in two zones, so leave two strips blank and stamp the third. A ticket is valid for one hour, regardless of the number of transits, and children below four years old travel for free. Several people can travel on one strippenkaart, just stamp it for the first person and again for the second, and so on.

On some trams there is a conductor: you get on at the back of the tram and the conductor stamps your ticket for you. You should hail a tram to indicate you want to get on. Press the button near the door to open it, if the tram has a conductor you must use the rear door to get on. Tram 4 normally has a conductor.

In express trams, metro and trains no tickets can be purchased, and travellers must ensure they are in the possession of a valid ticket (= a "strippenkaart" with a valid stamp). These can be bought from vending machines or counters in the station, make sure you stamp them in the yellow machines.

Public transport runs until just after midnight. After that there is an hourly service of night buses.

Other Information

In registering for ICHEP 2002 participants agree that neither the organising committee nor the conference bureau assume any liability whatsoever. Participants are requested to make their own arrangements in respect of health and travel insurance.

In July, Amsterdam time is two hours ahead of GMT.

In most Dutch restaurants, the kitchen closes at 22.00 hours. Service charges are included in the bill. If you deem the service good enough to warrant a tip, a couple of Euro's will be appreciated.

Numerous taxi stands are located throughout Amsterdam. A taxi stand is located in front of the main entrance of the RAI Congress Centre. You can order a taxi by phoning 677 7777, or 0900-0724. Hailing a taxi is not common in the Netherlands.

Most shops in Amsterdam are open from 9.00 to 18.00 hours, Monday through Saturday. Shops in the city centre are also open on Sunday from 12.00 to 17.00 hours. On Thursday evening shops stay open longer, typically until 21.00 hours.

The towns of Haarlem, Leiden, Utrecht and the Hague are not far from Amsterdam, and are easy to reach by train. From Amsterdam Centraal Station travelling times are: Haarlem 15 minutes (€ 5.20 return), Leiden 35 minutes (€ 10.80), Utrecht 30 minutes (€ 9.50), and the Hague 50 minutes (€ 14.10). End of July also the Dutch beaches can be nice. From Amsterdam, the beach at Zandvoort is easily reachable by train (30 minutes, change in Haarlem, € 6.80).

Amsterdam Internet Guide

Information on: books, time, weather, language, money, tipping, electricity, safety and health, hotels, eating and drinking, transport, shopping, news, communications, places to see, what's on and maps can be obtained from the very useful Internet Guide to Amsterdam.