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Dr. Antoni Woss (Photo: AW/private) has received the Panda Theory PhD Prize 2020 for his doctoral thesis "The scattering of spinning hadrons from lattice QCD". His doctoral advisor was Prof. Dr. Christopher Thomas from the University of Cambridge. The award was announced by the spokesman of the Panda Collaboration, Klaus Peters from GSI, at the most recent Online Panda Collaboration meeting. 

The Panda Collaboration has awarded the Theory PhD Prize for the second time to honor the best theory dissertation written in connection with the Panda Experiment. In his dissertation, Dr. Woss has demonstrated extraordinary depth and breadth of knowledge and his thesis breaks new ground in lattice calculations of hadron spectroscopy. He developed and then applied state-of-the-art lattice QCD methods to determine precisely the properties and interactions of hadronic resonances, in particular for hadrons with non-zero spin, overcoming conceptual and technical obstacles that to date have hindered such lattice QCD calculations. Dr Woss' thesis includes a number of "firsts" - the first-ever lattice QCD extraction of the mixing between dynamically-coupled partial waves and the first lattice coupled-channel calculation involving hadrons with non-zero spin. He also developed an elegant general way to present scattering amplitudes involving an arbitrary number of coupled channels - a significant result on its own. The body of work in this truly excellent thesis now enables lattice QCD calculations which are directly relevant for PANDA's planned investigations of excited and exotic hadron resonances, including for any potential hybrid and tetraquark states.

The Panda Collaboration awards the PhD Prize to specifically honor students’ contributions to the Panda project. Candidates for the PhD Prize are nominated by their doctoral advisors. In addition to being directly related to the Panda Experiment, the nominees’ doctoral degrees must have received a rating of “very good” or better. Up to three candidates are shortlisted for the award and can present their dissertations at the Panda Collaboration meeting. The winner is chosen by a committee that is appointed for this task by the Panda Collaboration.