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Research Group on Flavour and Origin of Matter - SOM

Description

Our main research activity aims to answer open questions in particle physics and cosmology, which point to the existence of new physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). The origin of the mass and hierarchical structure in the flavour sector of the SM remains a mystery. Deviations from the SM are most likely to be found by exploring the high-energy frontier, at the LHC, where we hope to unravel the mechanism by which particles acquire mass. 

The recent discovery of the Higgs has confirmed the basic mechanism of the SM, but the problem of hierarchies remains open. The exploration of the lepton flavour sector is equally important, since it is in this sector that the first clues to a new physics sector, in the mass of neutrinos, have already been found. An ambitious experimental programme involving experiments with neutrino beams produced in accelerators and reactors will determine the still unknown properties of neutrinos: the mixing matrix and the possibility of new sources of CP symmetry violation (which could be the seed of the baryonic asymmetry of the Universe), as well as the structure of the neutrino spectrum. The search for neutrinoless beta decay can determine whether neutrinos are Majorana particles. 

Finally, many of the theories beyond the SM predict significant deviations in quark flavour sector observables, which have been and will continue to be measured with increasing precision in flavour factories. 

In cosmology, a similarly ambitious experimental effort is underway, aiming to clarify fundamental questions such as the inflaton mechanism, the nature of dark matter (DM) or the origin of accelerated expansion. In particular, a significant improvement in the measurements of the background radiation (CMB) has recently been obtained by the PLANCK satellite. Plans are already underway for the next generation of CMB experiments (CMB-Pol, COrE). The BOSS experiment that started taking data in 2009 has already defined a new standard in the study of large-scale structure, measuring the redshift of light from 1.5 million galaxies, which will constitute the largest 3D map ever obtained. These experiments will offer a unique opportunity, complementary to particle experiments, to unravel the underlying dynamics of the EM. 

Progress in this field will be dictated by the new data, but a theoretical effort is also necessary for this programme to be successful. Models that explain some, or ideally all, of the unanswered questions must be identified and confronted with particle and cosmology experiments to be confirmed, falsified or constrained. The predictions of such models must be accurate enough not to limit the potential of the experiments. This is difficult in some areas such as quark flavour physics, where intensive numerical simulations are necessary. Also in cosmology, non-linear effects, galaxy biases and galaxy evolution must be taken into account to reduce systematic errors. These investigations can also guide the optimisation of future experiments.

Goals CT

Our aim is to answer open questions in particle physics and cosmology.

Research lines
  • Neutrino phenomenology

    The aim is to design and optimise strategies to determine the neutrino mass matrix and to test models beyond the Standard Model with massive neutrinos.

  • Baryon Assymetry Origins

    Extensions of the standard model are studied to explain the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the Universe, as well as its possible implications for experiments.

  • Lattice Field Theory

    The formulation of quantum field theories in a space-time lattice allows them to be solved from first principles by means of numerical simulations. Our aim is to apply this method to hadronic physics in QCD and to theories with dynamical symmetry breaking. 

  • Astroparticle physics

    The physics of neutrinos, antimatter and dark matter in astrophysics is explored. More specifically, solar neutrinos and the solar composition problem, the origin of positrons in our galaxy, and possible axion signals as dark matter candidates. 

  • Phenomenology of extensions to the Standard Model

    We construct and analyse the phenomenological consequences of theoretical models that solve some open problems of the Standard Model, for example the nature of dark matter. In particular supersymmetric models. 

  • Neutrinos in cosmology

    Measurements of cosmic microwave radiation, the large-scale structure of the Universe and the abundance of light elements allow valuable information to be extracted about neutrinos and other relics of the Big Bang, which may be related to dark matter and dark energy. 

  • Models with extra dimensions

    The aim is to study the properties of extensions of the Standard Model in more than 3+1 dimensions and the possibility of constructing phenomenologically viable models.

Management
  • HERNANDEZ GAMAZO, M PILAR
  • PDI-Catedratic/a d'Universitat
View details
 Contactem.pilar.hernandez@uv.es
Members
  • OLIVER FERRER, LAURA
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 Contactelaura.oliver@ext.uv.es
  • RIUS DIONIS, NURIA
  • PDI-Catedratic/a d'Universitat
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 Contactenuria.rius@uv.es
Scientific production by UV researcher
CNAE

University education

Associated structure
Institute of Corpuscular Physics

webific.ific.uv.es/web

ific@uv.es

Contact group details
Flavor and Origen of Matter (SOM)

Burjassot/Paterna Campus

Science Park
C/ Catedrático José Beltrán, 2

46980 Paterna (Valencia)

+34 963 543 693

Geolocation

som.ific.uv.es

m.pilar.hernandez@uv.es

Contact people
  • HERNANDEZ GAMAZO, M PILAR
  • PDI-Catedratic/a d'Universitat
View details
 Contactem.pilar.hernandez@uv.es