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Department of High-Energy Physics

Head of Department: Dr. Alexis Aguilar Arevalo
no_spam@nucliades.unam.xmis

Department Secretary
Trinidad Ramirez Trejo
no_spam@nucliades.unam.xmri
Ext. 4690
Tel: +(52) (55) 5622 4690
Fax: +(52) (55) 5622 4693

Researchers
Academic Technicians

Department description

There are 14 researchers working on the frontier of theoretical and experimental research on the properties of the basic constituents of the Universe. Two major theoretical structures encompass the current knowledge on the subject: the Standard Model of Elementary Particles and the Standard Cosmological Model, built and verified (with different degrees of accuracy) thanks to a close and fruitful interaction between theoretical and experimental physicists. Broadly speaking, our researchers work on: i) Studies aimed at understanding the fundamental nature of matter, energy and the structure of space-time. ii) Theory, phenomenology and experimentation in elementary particle physics, and its relation with astrophysics, cosmology, condensed matter and quantum information. iii) Search for a microscopic description of gravity that combines the notions of quantum physics and General Relativity (basis of the Cosmological Standard Model). iv) Research and development of particle and radiation detectors, space instrumentation, advanced computational technologies and methods for data handling, processing and analysis. v) Frontier experimental research in high-energy physics through participation in international collaborations.

Summary of research lines

Astroparticle phenomenology: Includes neutrinos, cosmic rays, gamma ray bursts, among others. The mechanisms of production and acceleration of ultra-high energy particles in astrophysical environments and their detection, are studied.
Theory and phenomenology of matter in extreme conditions: Properties of hadronic matter at high temperatures and densities, and in the presence of magnetic fields, conditions present in the collisions of heavy nuclei at high energies where quark and gluon plasma is formed, as well as in the evolution of the early universe.
Quantum Field Theory: The language of the Standard Model of Elementary Particles. Practical tools, such as effective theories and Hamiltonian or Lagrangian quantization methods are developed, as well as aspects closer to Mathematical Physics, such as dualities, non-commutativity and quantum information theory.
Matter with exotic properties: The theoretical description and possible experimental implications of exotic forms of matter, such as Topological Materials, are studied. Theoretical studies on Black Hole Physics are carried out.
Quantum Gravity phenomenology: Potentially observable consequences of a possible intrinsic granularity of space-time. These could manifest themselves in tiny violations of Lorentz invariance.
Holographic correspondence: Equivalence between theories with and without gravity (so far the most important result from String Theory). It provides valuable clues about quantum gravity and is a useful tool for describing situations where particles experience very strong forces (inaccessible with traditional methods).

International collaborations in ongoing experiments

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment - at the LHC): It studies the properties of the state of matter known as Quark and Gluon Plasma, in heavy-ion collisions at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. One of the 4 core experiments of the LHC.
CCM (Coherent CAPTAIN-Mills): At Los Alamos, it will search for different Dark Matter candidates, and also search a new elementary particle called the "sterile neutrino".
DAMIC & CONNIE: (DArk Matter In CCDs y COherent Neutrino Nucleus Interaction Experiment). Particle detection with scientific-grade CCDs. DAMIC: direct searches for light dark matter. CONNIE searches for new physics in the interactions of anti-neutrinos produced by nuclear reactors.
HAWC Observatoty (High Altitude Water Cherenkov): Binational collaboration MEX-USA. Observatory in Sierra Negra, Puebla, for the detection of ultra-energetic gamma rays from astrophysical sources.
Pierre Auger Observatory: Located in Malargüe, Argentina, it is the largest in the world with an area of about 3000 square kilometers. Observatory for the detection of ultra-energetic cosmic rays. It studies the origin of the most energetic particles in the Universe, which reach energies tens of millions of times higher than at the LHC.

International collaborations in experiments in development phase

JEM-EUSO (Japanese Experiment Module - Extreme Universe Space Observatory): It will be a cosmic ray detector mounted on the International Space Station (ISS) to detect cosmic rays in an area of the Earth's atmosphere about 100 times larger than that of the Pierre Auger Observatory.
MPD-NICA (Multi-Purpose Detector at the Nucleotron-based Ion Collider fAcility) at the JINR, Dubna, Russia. Will study the properties of matter under extreme conditions through heavyion collisions in a multipurpose detector.

International collaborations in experiments in planning phase

Oscura: Next-generation dark matter search experiment using a ~10 kg mass of sub-electron resolution CCD sensors (Skippe- CCDs).
SWGO (Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory): (https://www.swgo.org/) Its goal is to build and operate an observatory similar to HAWC in the southern hemisphere. It is currently in the phase of site selection and detector design.

Colateral benefits and technology transfer

The research carried out in the High Energy Physics Department produces an important technological spillover in the areas of electronics, computing, networks and space technology. Examples are the Pixqui suborbital platform developed in collaboration with NASA, the computing infrastructure and data center for the HAWC observatory, the Colmena project, and the collaboration with the General Directorate of Computing and Information and Communication Technologies (DGTIC) of the UNAM for the installation of a Tier 2 node for the ALICE experiment, integrated to the Supercomputing Grid associated to the LHC at CERN.

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