TWO-PHOTON PHYSICS

Two-photon physics, i.e. photon-photon collisions in electron-positron colliders, a relatively new field in elementary particle physics, has become very popular in the last 20 years. Many experiments have been performed in this field, and the theoretical implications (in particular in quantum chromodynamics) have been studied in much detail. Nine international workshops devoted to two-photon physics have taken place between 1973 and 1992.This meeting was particularly timely, since a new generation of electron-positron colliders is presently being built or planned. These colliders will involve a large spectrum of beam energies, but their common characteristics should be a high particle flux (luminosity). This should allow for measuring many new phenomena as well as for studying known processes with much higher precision than before. Particularly promising is the prospect of building a dedicated high-energy photon collider; this should become possible using a laser technique allowing for the “conversion” of a linear electron beam into a photon beam.Over 60 physicists (both experimentalists and theorists), mainly from European countries (France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Russia, as well as Sweden and Switzerland), discussed these new possibilities at the above meeting. Over 30 talks were presented and many extended debates took place.