Research
Open questions in particle physics
The last decades have seen remarkable progress in our understanding of the Universe. A wealth of results in particle physics and astrophysics have clarified the landscape at the various frontiers. In this rapidly emerging picture of the Standard Model of Elementary Particles, Nature seems to have unveiled many ofits fundamental secrets.
Yet there remain open questions not satisfactorily accomodated within the present Standard Model of Elementary Particles:
1. What are the properties of the neutrino, one of the most abundant particle in the Universe?
2. Why is the Universe dominated by matter?
3. Is the proton stable or does it decay as predicted by Grand Unified Theories?
4. Is there a new non-baryonic elementary particle responsible for the astrophysical evidence for Dark Matter?
5. Is there a Dark Sector?
6. Do we understand the gravity of anti-matter?
These areas are where new discoveries might happen. Very likely new physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) is a key ingredient to resolve these questions.
Our mission
Address fundamental questions in elementary particle physics and astro-particle physics
- What are the flavor oscillation properties of neutrinos?
- Is there CP-violation in the leptonic sector?
- Is the proton unstable?
- Detecting astrophysical neutrinos, what do they tell us about distant phenomena in the Universe?
- Can we detect Dark Matter in the laboratory?
- Can we test the existence of a Dark Sector?