ISAPP-Baikal Summer School 2018: Exploring the Universe through multiple messengers

Abstract

PrefaceThe ISAPP-Baikal Summer school “Exploring the Universe through multiple messengers” was held from July 12th to 21st, 2018, in a small village Bolshie Koty right at the shore of lake Baikal, Russia. Since early 2000's, lake Baikal has been the site of the traditional international Baikal summer schools on physics of elementary particles and astrophysics organized annually by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the Irkutsk State University. In 2018, the European network ISAPP (International School on AstroParticle Physics) joined the organizers to set up an outstanding event in the series: a summer school devoted exclusively to one of the hottest topics in astroparticle physics, the multi-messenger astronomy.The school gathered 48 undergraduate, master, and PhD students of 13 nationalities and of different backgrounds. Participation of several students from developing countries was possible thanks to the financial support by the Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP). The financial support by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research is also acknowledged.The students had an intense lecture program with 26 lecture hours given by 11 invited lecturers, world experts in their respective fields. The topics included introduction to multi-messenger astronomy, neutrino physics, cosmic rays, gamma astronomy, including the reports from the Baikal-GVD and TAIGA experiments running in and near lake Baikal, black holes and gravitational waves, and the LHC results relevant to astroparticle physics, with a fair mixture of theory and experimental and observational results. The students also participated in group discussions guided by invited discussion leaders, solving problems suggested by the lecturers and discussing the lectures content in more detail. In addition, the students had a chance to give oral and poster presentations. Together with telescope stargazing nights organized by the Irkutsk planetarium, excursions, vibrant free time, and the splendid nature of lake Baikal, the school became a memorable experience for all the participants.The school was a major educational event for the local physics students, aiming to participate in the Baikal-GVD and TAIGA experiments. But we also believe that the proceedings of the lectures given at the school represent a useful, multi-faceted, long-lasting educational resource for any student who aims to master the subject of multi-messenger astronomy.Igor Ivanov, Yulia KazarinaEditors of the Proceedings of the ISAPP-Baikal Summer school