The Standard Model (SM) is our best construction of the microscopic reality at the most fundamental level. The degree of consistency with experiment is astonishingly good.
Our Institute has played a fundamental role in this broad field of research.
Astroparticle Physics, as well as the connections between Particle Physics and Cosmology, are experiencing a new golden age.
Our Institute has been one of the pioneers in the Pierre Auger Observatory, a giant air shower array in Argentina.
The participation of IGFAE in new international facilities such as FAIR offers unprecedented opportunities to contribute to understanding the nature of the strong interaction in the non-perturbative regime, the structure of the nuclear many-body systems and their astrophysical implications.
Theoretical Physics, translating Nature’s behavior into a mathematical language, is one of the most fascinating actitivies invented by humankind. Around half of the members of IGFAE are dedicated to Theoretical Physics, performing research on three main areas:
Members of the group are world-leaders in the theory and phenomenology of hot and dense QCD, a regime of the strong interaction eventually dominated by collective behavior. These new states of matter were present in the first micro-seconds after the Big Bang, they might also be present in the interior of neutron stars and are produced in Colliders as the LHC at CERN or RHIC in Brookhaven.
String Theory is a sophisticated construction originally built to unify gravity and the quantum world but that has evolved in a very powerful tool for different topics. The research of the group ranges from the most formal aspects of the theory to applications in Condense (QED or QCD) Matter.
A strong activity in phenomenological and experimental aspects of Astroparticle Physics (mainly in the framework of the Pierre Auger observatory) is the third pillar of our research.