Standard Model Phenomenology and Beyond, Astroparticle Physics and Gravitation

by | Dec 11, 2025 | Research Areas

Our goal is to understand the origin of the mass of all elementary particles, as well as their fundamental properties. In 2012, a major step forward in this direction was made with the discovery at CERN’s LHC accelerator of a Higgs particle with a mass of 125 GeV, whose properties are similar to those predicted by the Standard Model (SM). However, it remains to be determined whether this is truly the SM Higgs boson or another Higgs scalar with similar couplings, and the value of its mass challenges some of the best-motivated ideas for physics beyond the SM. Higgs physics is one of the top priorities in high-energy physics for the coming years. At the same time, the origin of the SM fermion masses and mixings is still not well-understood. In this regard, progress over the last two decades in the study of neutrino properties — masses and mixings — has been impressive, and the measurement —also in 2012— of the mixing angle θ₁₃ indicates that future neutrino factories could establish CP violation in the neutrino system. This could have profound implications for our understanding of the origin of the matter–antimatter asymmetry in the Universe. In turn, the CERN LHCb, CMS, and ATLAS experiments are also greatly improving our understanding of heavy-quark physics and their mixings and CP violation, and will continue to do so in the coming years.

High-Energy Physics is intimately connected with the early evolution of the Universe and with Cosmology. At the same time, Astrophysics also places constraints on the properties of elementary particles. The search for Dark Matter is particularly relevant in this context, and the results of direct-detection experiments such as CDMS and XENON are challenging many theoretical models proposed to explain its properties. Experiments like Fermi are measuring the high-energy spectrum of cosmic rays with unprecedented precision, which also has important implications for the search for Dark Matter. Meanwhile, Cosmology has entered an era of precision: improvements in measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) will allow us to study many types of inflationary models. The direct observation of gravitational waves by the LIGO Collaboration in 2015 opened a new window for studying the properties of the Universe, and in the near future the LISA observatory will further enable the study of the primordial Universe through gravitational waves. Large galaxy surveys such as DES, Euclid, PAU, and DESI are beginning to provide tremendously valuable information about the properties of Dark Energy. All these data will help us make a major leap in our understanding of the cosmological evolution of the Universe.

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