Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Alushta, Crimea, Ukraine, from 31 August to 6 September 2002

Presents the most updated status of deep inelastic scattering (DIS) physics.

50 years after the discovery of the pion in Bristol, the conference “Physics in Collision XVII” showed how far particle physics has come. There were hints of new physics at HERA and neutrino oscillations as well as the latest results from LEP and the Tevatron. The proceedings present the current status and future direction of particle physics.

The traditional purpose of the Adriatic Meeting is to present most advanced scienti?c research conducted by the lecturers who take part in the development of their ?elds and, in addition, to provide a school-like atmosphere for young scientists. Dubrovnik, as a geographical centre of this region of Europe, provided a most adequate location for this conference. Having very agreeable surroundings, the conference site nevertheless gave a focus for very strong scienti?c interaction. The subjects chosen for the 8th meeting, in September 2001, were gauge theories, particle phenomenology, string theories and cosmology. We were able to bring together a very good cross section of outstanding scientists who gave extraorinarily good presentations. Certainely one reason for this success is that most of us feel obliged to help the scienti?c life in South East Europe return to its former level. However, there are very exciting new scienti?c developments as well. Part of the meeting was dominated by neutrino physics which has just seen exciting progress by establishing neutrino masses experimentally. This was d- cussed within neutrino masses and grand uni?ed theories (GUTs). General - pects of neutrino physics and CP violation, neutrino mixing and the bayron asymmetry were presented along the same lines. On the theoretical side the idea of the construction of gauge theories on non-commutative spaces and their phenomenological implications is accepted worldwide within the particle physics community.

This volume concentrates on three main areas of current research in high energy physics: (1) multiparticle and diffractive production in perturbative and nonperturbative QCD, (2) confinement-deconfinement mechanism and the RHIC physics, and (3) interface between high-energy collisions and cosmic-ray/astro-physics. The specific topics covered include: QCD at high energies, diffractive production, and small-x physics, multiparticle production and systematics: correlations and fluctuations, hadronic final states in e+e-, lepton-hadron and hadron-hadron collisions, relativistic heavy ion collisions, interface between high-energy collisions and cosmic-ray physics, and recent development in deconfinement.

Hadron colliders probe physics at new energy frontiers and search for new particles and forces. In addition, hadron colliders now provide also an environment for precision physics. The present volume collects the results from recently completed runs at major colliders as well as new ideas about collider physics and techniques. It will serve as the main source of reference in the field for many years to come.