Exploring the tiniest Universe

Ordinary matter is ultimately made of elementary particles (quarks and leptons) and the Standard Model is the theory that describes how these elementary particles interact through three (strong, weak and electromagnetic) of the four fundamental forces in the universe. However, some questions still challenges this theory: the inclusion of the gravitational force, the origin of the Dark Matter, the origin of the generations of quarks and leptons and their scales or the matter-antimatter asymmetry, or the properties of the neutrinos.  

The experimental answers to these questions are addressed to large Experimental High Energy Physics facilities. Researchers at CIAFF are involved in the search of physics beyond the Standard Model (Beyond-SM) in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and in neutrino experiments such as Superkamiokande and NEXT.

Our research at CIAFF focuses on:

 

Beyond-SM in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

ATLAS and CMS are two (out of four) experiments/detectors/collaborations that collect the results of particle collisions in the LHC. CIAFF members participate actively in these collaborations in the data analysis, triggering system, the development of the ATLAS liquid argon electromagnetic calorimeter and the CMS muon drift tubes. Additionally, a Tier-2 computing facility belonging to the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, operated by CIAFF members, supports simulation and end-user processing of data.

Beyond-SM with neutrinos

Neutrinos are produced in a given "flavor" (electron, muon or tau) that does not correspond to a given "mass"-eigenstate. This fact is at the origin of the neutrino oscillations. CIAFF members are involved in experiments like Super-Kamiokande and NEXT that are aimed at detecting and studying the properties of the neutrinos, and search for potential proton decay and neutrinoless double-beta decay.