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.

University education