ERC Advanced Grant Project

Opening for one PhD position funded by the MassTeV grant: 2011 Call.

Opening for two 2-year postdoc positions funded by the MassTeV grant: 2011 Call.

The research goal of this proposal is the investigation of the most fundamental aspects of particle physics models and gravity at high energies, and establishing the connection between these findings and experiments. The main fundamental questions that will be addressed are: What is the origin of mass for the mediators of the weak interactions and its connection with the masses of quarks and leptons? Why this mass is hierarchically different from the Planck scale which makes gravity so weak compared to the other three known fundamental interactions described by the current Standard Model of particle physics? Why this enormous mass hierarchy is quantum mechanically stable? What is the theory that describes physical laws at TeV energies which will be explored in the near future by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN? These questions are at the very frontier of knowledge of theoretical particle physics and phenomenology and their intersection with gravity and string theory. The research goal of this proposal is the investigation of the most fundamental aspects of particle physics models and gravity at high energies, and establishing the connection between these findings and experiments. The main fundamental questions that will be addressed are: What is the origin of mass for the mediators of the weak interactions and its connection with the masses of quarks and leptons? Why this mass is hierarchically different from the Planck scale which makes gravity so weak compared to the other three known fundamental interactions described by the current Standard Model of particle physics? Why this enormous mass hierarchy is quantum mechanically stable? What is the theory that describes physical laws at TeV energies which will be explored in the near future by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN? These questions are at the very frontier of knowledge of theoretical particle physics and phenomenology and their intersection with gravity and string theory.

A more detailed description of the project can be found here.

The ERC advanced grant program 'MassTeV' received funding for 14 years of post-doctoral fellow. At Ecole Polytechnique, there will be a call in 2009 and in 2010 for two 2-years positions and a call in 2011 for one more 2-years position. At CERN, the ERC grant will fund one 2-years post-doctoral fellow for the second and fourth year of the project, with particular focus on non-member states where the local budget is very limited.

In February 2009, Michael Lennek started a 9 month fellowship at Ecole Polytechnique, and in June 2009, Georgios Michalogiorgakis arrived at Ecole Polytechnique for a 3 month posdoctoral visit.

In the fall of 2009, Gero Gersdorff and Eran Palti joined the Ecole Polytechnique team for 3 years while Matthew Buican joined the CERN-TH team for 2 years too.

In the fall of 2010, Pantelis Tziveloglou and Konstantinos Siampos joined the Ecole Polytechnique team for one year.

2011 opening: one position at CERN and another position at Ecole Polytechnique will be available for the fall of 2011. See the 2011 Call.

Links to the past and current calls: 2009 Call, 2011 Call.

There is a high demand from PhD students all over Europe to spend during their thesis some time at CERN, due to its particular role in the field specially nowadays. The ERC grant will fund four 3-years PhD positions (one for the first year, two for the second and one for the third), as well as a 2-years position for the fourth year that may also be splited in shorter periods. This makes a total of 14 years of student funding for the project.

Although our preference is for full time long PhD positions, shorter stays of 3-6 months will also be considered.

In 2009, Binata Panda spent 6 months at CERN as a visiting PhD sutdent. Panteleimon Tziveloglou started a one year contract in the fall of 2009. Sandeepan Gupta, a PhD student from Michigan University, joined CERN for a two year visit. Andrei Khmelnitsky, a PhD student from the Institute for Nuclear Research in Moscow, joined CERN for a 18-month visit.

In 2010, Ennio Salvioni has started a 3 year contract: he will conduct his research at CERN while enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Padova. Jean-Claude Jacquot has started a 3 year contract: he will conduct his research at CERN while enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Bern.

Links to the past and current calls: 2009 Call, 2010 Call, 2011 Call

The project can support short term visits of external experts for seminars, lectures and discussions. The interested people should contact directly one of the team member to arrange for such a visit.

The ERC MassTeV grant will support in both institutes a certain number of visiting scientists with an average stay of a few months: 3 months visitor allowance yearly at CERN and 3 months at EP that makes a total of 30 months for the project. If you are interested in such a visiting position, please contact one of the team member.

S. Patil, A. Hanany, C. Angelantonj, S. Pokorski and D. Ghilencea visited Ecole Polytechnique between 1 and 2 month each in 2009 and 2010. D. Ghilencea also spent 4 months at CERN.