lunduniversity.lu.se

2023 organizational changes

Since January 1, 2023, a reorganization of the Former Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics occured, and it involved the division of Theoretical Particle Physics joining Particle Physics.

This website is being replaced by https://particle-nuclear.lu.se which is now the new homepage of the division.

Please visit https://particle-nuclear.lu.se for the latest news.

Welcome to the Particle Physics division at Lund University!

Our mission is experimental research in Particle Physics, as well as training new researchers.

The research is pursued through analysis of data from the experiments we participate in, development of  new experiments, and R&D on hardware and software tools for Particle Physics.

Together with our colleagues in many international collaborations, we work on the construction, operations, maintenance and upgrades of our experimental installations, most of which are based at the European Particle Physics laboratory CERN outside Geneva, Switzerland.

The necessity to process very large amounts of research data using modern computational methods lead to the emergence of e-Science, which refers to research and creation of dedicated scientific computer and software solutions. We are among world leading contributors to e-Science solutions for Particle Physics.

All our researchers participate in the teaching activities at the Department of Physics, and the PhD students assist in supervising undergraduate projects, as well as in physics labs and exercise sessions.

Lead-ion collision

A computer simulation of the signals seen in the ATLAS experiment when two lead atoms collide and thousands of new particles are created and detected. [© CERN]

Higgs event

A computer reconstruction of tracks and signals in the ATLAS experiment when several protons collide. The red lines are from muon particles and could come from the decay of the famous Higgs particle. [© CERN]

A lead on lead heavy ion collision

Each red line is a reconstructed charge particle track in the 100 cubic meter large ALICE Time Projection Chamber that the Lund group helped to build. [© CERN]

Higgs decay

A computer simulation of the signals seen in the ATLAS experiment when two protons collide. A Higgs particle was created that decays to four muons (the straight lines). [© CERN]

LHC tunnel

Photo of the 27 km long tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider with huge superconducting magnets that makes it possible to transport protons and lead ions to the experiments.[© CERN]

Particle Physics

What are the fundamental constituents of the Universe, and what are the forces that act among them?

Particle Physics is the science that studies most fundamental principles governing our world, namely, fundamental forces and fundamental constituents of matter upon which these forces act. This concept is formulated mathematically, leading to a set of theories and models. The field of Particle Physics evolves through experimental explorations to discover new constituents, test and validate theories, as well as through development of new theories and models.

Our current understanding of the field is encapsulated in the Standard Model of Particle Physics, which has an exceptional predictive power and was experimentally proven to be correct. However, this model is incomplete, and leaves open many questions, yet to be explored. Through our experiments, we put the predictions of the Standard Model at test, and seek a more complete understanding of the Universe, venturing beyond the Standard Model.

In order to achieve our ambitious research goals, we join global research collaborations, such as ATLAS and ALICE at CERN. These two collaborations built and now operate dedicated complex detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and collect data since 2008. Our future plans lie with the continuous improvement of the LHC and the experiments all the way through 2035, and with launching new experiments at CERN and elsewhere.