In this page we introduce the daily activities of graduate students of the department of particle and nuclear physics (theory group) in SOKENDAI. For the lectures for graduate students, please visit "Contents of lectures"

Seminars, journal club

Seminars and journal club are held every week. Seminars start at 11:00 am on Tuesdays. We invite foreign and Japanese researchers as speakers. You can hear about the most recent research activities in particle and nuclear physics. Since KEK accepts many visitors, informal seminars are often held irregularly. For the seminar schedule, please visit the KEK theory group page

http://www-theory.kek.jp/schedule.html

Journal club (introduction of research papers) starts at 12:15 pm on Mondays and Fridays. It is scheduled so that each member reports once a year. Graduate students in SOKENDAI take parts in this rotation to learn how to report recent works with the help of his or her supervisor and senior researchers.

Active international communications with foreign researchers

Many international workshops are held in KEK. In addition to such occasions, a lot of foreign researchers plan their visits to theory group separately as short-term or long-term visitors. International collaborations are quite common in our group. Many famous researchers visit KEK, and the graduate students in SOKENDAI can hear about the most recent research activities without time lag. Through English conversation with foreign researchers, they can acquire the internationality which is indispensable to expand the realm of their research activities to overseas after they get Ph. D.

Voluntary seminars, daily discussions

Many young and fresh postdocs belong to the KEK theory group due to the excellent research environment of the group. In addition to the graduate students in SOKENDAI,

• graduate students in other universities who is accepted as researchers
• graduate students of Department of Physics in University of Tokyo

belong to our group, and the faculty members of KEK theory group supervise them for research activities. The graduate students in SOKENDAI have contact with the young researchers, who are of similar age through daily discussions and voluntary seminars. In this way they can acquire the ability necessary to become researchers.

Tea party

About 3:00 pm on Fridays, a person in charge of this party rings the bell. Then hearing that, the members of the theory group get together in the saloon by twos and threes. They pour fresh coffee into their cups, and enjoy various confectionaries and snacks on the table, having a pleasant chat. This is the `tea party'. Fruits, cakes, croquettes, octopus flitters, manju (Japanese-style bun stuffed with adzuki-bean paste) etc. The kind of food depends on the person in charge of this party. The whole cost of this party is paid by the faculty members and other salaried members. Of course, the graduate students in SOKENDAI are admitted free, and for this reason most of them come and enjoy talking with other people. It is in fact a very popular party, and nearly thirty people are seen in the room at the peak time,

Once there were occasions on which our secretary brought handmade cake, and a long-term visitor from India cooked curry for this party. The photo above is taken on Saint Valentine's Day. The female members gave chocolates to the male members as a special gift for that day.