Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum

Inaugurated in 1994 in Como, Italy, this series of conferences has become an important forum for scientists working on strong interactions, stimulating exchanges among theorists and experimentalists as well as across related fields.

The aim of the conference is to bring together people working on strong interactions from different approaches, ranging from lattice QCD to perturbative QCD, from models of the QCD vacuum to QCD phenomenology and experiments, from effective theories to physics beyond the Standard Model.

The scope of the conference also includes the interface between QCD, nuclear physics, astrophysics, and the wider landscape of strongly coupled physics. In particular, the conference focused on the fruitful interactions and mutual benefits between QCD and the physics of condensed matter and strongly correlated systems.

The sixteenth edition of this conference series was hosted by the Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter, University of Adelaide, Australia. The event took place at the Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns, Queensland, Australia between August 19th – 24th, 2024.

This edition of the conference in Cairns had 264 participants; it included 28 plenary talks, 235 oral presentations, 8 poster displays and 3 Round Table discussions. The oral presentations were distributed across eight sessions : 22 talks in session A ( Vacuum Structure and Confinement), 6 talks in session A Focus Subsection ( “Topology and confinement at borderlines of particle physics and condensed matter: emergent confinement in cold atoms and Anderson criticality in the QCD”), 45 talks in section B ( Light Quarks), 39 talks in section C (Heavy Quarks), 32 talks in section D (Deconfinement), 20 talks in section E (QCD and New Physics), 36 talks in section F (Nuclear and Astro-particle Physics), 19 in section G (Strongly-Coupled Theories and Dark Matter) and 16 talks in session H (Statistical Methods for Physics Analysis in the XXIst Century).

We would like to thank the International Advisory Committee for their invaluable assistance in helping to identify many speakers. We extend our gratitude to the Asia Pacific Organising Committee for promoting the event. Thanks, are also due to the Local Organizing Committee for their efforts for smoothly running of the conference. This conference was hosted by CSSM, the University of Adelaide. The conference convenors have put a lot of effort into creating the program and for their tireless efforts in bringing to fruition this great event.

In addition, an outreach program for school students has been organised as part of the conference. Our thanks goes to Yiota Foka, Jonivar Skullerud, Despina Hatzifotiadou, Jackie Bondell and Wioletta Rseza for organising and running Tuesday’s dark matter and particle physics outreach program.

This conference would not have been possible without the financial support of several individuals and entities. The most generous backers include the Centre for Subatomic Structure of Matter (CSSM), the Centre for Dark Matter Particle Physics, Tourism and Events Queensland, Business Events Australia, the University of Adelaide, AUSHEP and Springer. We thank them all for supporting this conference.

The smooth preparation of this event depended on the efficiency of Silvana Santucci and Emily Campbell. They are responsible for much of the logistics required to deliver the conference.

Inaugurated in 1994 in Como, Italy, this series of conferences has become an important forum for scientists working on strong interactions, stimulating exchanges among theorists and experimentalists as well as across related fields.

The aim of the conference is to bring together people working on strong interactions from different approaches, ranging from lattice QCD to perturbative QCD, from models of the QCD vacuum to QCD phenomenology and experiments, from effective theories to physics beyond the Standard Model.

The scope of the conference also includes the interface between QCD, nuclear physics and astrophysics, and the wider landscape of strongly coupled physics.
In particular, the conference will focus on the fruitful interactions and mutual benefits between QCD and the physics of condensed matter and strongly correlated systems.

The thirteenth edition of this conference series will take place at Maynooth
University , Ireland, 1-6 August 2018.

Editorial Board: Matthias Berwein, Nora Brambilla, Stephan Paul