Neo-Nat: Understanding the mass scales in nature

The experimental results of the first run of the Large Hadron Collider led to the discovery of the Higgs boson but have not confirmed the dominant theoretical paradigm about the naturalness of the electro-weak scale, according to which the Higgs boson should have been accompanied by supersymmetric particles or by some other new physics able of protecting the Higgs boson mass from quadratically divergent quantum corrections. This project aims at exploring and developing new non-conventional ideas about the origin of mass scales in nature and in particular of the electroweak scale.

Coordinator: UniPi, Italy

Scientist in Charge from CERN: 
Alessandro Strumia

Full costs of the project: 1.8 M€ 

EU funding: 1.8 M€

EU funding for CERN: 1.4 M€

1 December 2015 - 30 November 2021

4DPHOTON: Beyond Light Imaging: High-Rate Single-Photon Detection in Four Dimensions

The 4DPHOTON project aims to develop and construct a photon imaging detector with unprecedented performance. The proposed device will be capable of detecting fluxes of single-photons up to one billion photons per second, over areas of several square centimetres, and will measure - for each photon - position and time simultaneously with resolutions better than ten microns and few tens of picoseconds, respectively. 
With its excellent granularity, timing resolution, rate capability and compactness, this detector will represent a new paradigm for the realisation of future Ring Imaging Cherenkov detectors, capable of achieving high efficiency particle identification in environments with very high particle multiplicities, exploiting time-association of the photon hits.

Coordinator: INFN, Italy

Scientist in Charge from CERN: 
Michael Campbell

Full costs of the project: 1.9 M€ 

EU funding: 1.9 M€

EU funding for CERN: 368 k€

1 June 2019 - 31 May 2024

mPP: machine learning for Particle Physics

This project proposes to use modern Machine Learning (ML),  particularly Deep Learning (DL), as a breakthrough solution to address the scientific, technological, and financial challenges that High Energy Physics will face in the decade ahead.

The project aims to apply cutting-edge ML technologies to HEP problems, paving the way to self-operating detectors, capable of visually inspecting events and identifying the physics process generating them, while monitoring the data, the correct functioning of the detector components and, if any, the occurrence of anomalous events caused by unspecified new physics processes.

Coordinator: CERN, Switzerland

Scientist in Charge from CERN: 
Maurizio Pierini

Full costs of the project: 1.7 M€ 

EU funding: 1.7 M€

EU funding for CERN: 1.7 M€

1 April 2018 - 31 March 2023

nuDirections: New Directions in Theoretical Neutrino Physics

Thanks to tremendous advances in terrestrial, astrophysical and cosmological experiments, neutrino physics has again become one of the driving forces of progress in astroparticle physics. nuDirections aims to investigate from a theoretical point of view a multitude of unexplored phenomena within and beyond the Standard Model of particle physics that are now becoming experimentally accessible in new neutrino experiments. The three main pillars of the project are: (1) Light sterile neutrinos; (2) Decoherence effects in dense neutrino gases; (3) Neutrinos and dark matter. The final goal is to develop a new mechanism for the production of sterile neutrino dark matter in the early Universe and to play a leading role in the theory and phenomenology of neutrino signals from dark matter annihilation or decay.

Coordinator: CERN, Switzerland

Scientist in Charge from CERN: 
Joachim Kopp

Full costs of the project: 800 k€ 

EU funding: 800 k€

EU funding for CERN: 264 k€

1 September 2015 - 31 August 2020

MIRACLS: Multi Ion Reflection Apparatus for Collinear Laser Spectroscopy of radionuclides

MIRACLS aims at producing a novel type of ion trap, an Electrostatic Ion Beam Trap in order to benchmark modern theoretical models utilizing 3-body forces in a quest to understand the evolution of nuclear shells.

KAIROS: Bootstrapping Time - Colliders, Schocks, Strings, and Black Holes

Many interesting questions either in the realm of QFT or Gravity are intractable with the usual perturbative methods. When perturbation theory fails one has to rely on general principles, such as symmetry, causality, analyticity, unitarity to make progress. This is an idea of bootstrap: use general principles to make nontrivial predictions. The aims of this project are to develop new nonperturbative bootstrap methods as a part of a larger quest of revealing the unifying mathematical structure that underlies both Quantum Mechanics and Gravity.  To use these methods for state-of-the-art computations of physical observables which are not accessible using conventional methods. This will lead to new insights into fundamental properties of Quantum Field Theory, Gravity, and holography which relates the two.

Coordinator: CERN, Switzerland

Scientist in Charge from CERN: 
Alexander Zhiboedov

Full costs of the project: 1.45 M€

EU funding: 1.45 M€

EU funding for CERN: 1.3 M€

1 December 2020 - 31 December 2025

MathAm: Mathematical Structures in Scattering Amplitudes

The goal of MathAm is to investigate in detail the relationship between scattering amplitudes, number theory and algebraic geometry, with the final aim of developing novel computational techniques for scattering amplitudes that are beyond reach of conventional state-of-the-art technology.

Coordinator: CERN, Switzerland

Scientist in Charge from CERN: 
Claude Duhr

Full costs of the project: 1.4 M€ 

EU funding: 1.4 M€

EU funding for CERN: 919 k€

1 September 2015 - 31 August 2020

BetaDropNMR: Ultra-sensitive NMR in liquids

The nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is a versatile and powerful tool, especially in chemistry and in biology. However, its limited sensitivity and small amount of suitable probe nuclei pose severe constraints on the systems that may be explored. This project aims at overcoming the above limitations by giving NMR an ultra-high sensitivity and by enlarging the NMR "toolbox" to dozens of nuclei across the periodic table. This will be achieved by applying the β-NMR method to the soft matter samples. The long-term aim is to establish a firm basis for β-NMR in soft matter studies in biology, chemistry and physics.The research will take place at the ISOLDE facility. 

Coordinator: CERN, Switzerland

Scientist in Charge from CERN: Magdalena Kowalska

Full costs of the project: 1.7 M€ 

EU funding: 1.5 M€

EU funding for CERN: 1.5 M€

1 October 2015 - 31 March 2022

AxScale: Axions and relatives across different mass scales

AxScale revolves around the search for QCD axions and Axion-Like-Particles. Two instruments are used for this purpose: The NA62 experiment can be sensitive to a vast mass range of axions and ALPs produced in decays. The RADES project at CAST searches directly for QCD axions as a Dark Matter particle.

Coordinator: CERN, Switzerland

Scientist in Charge from CERN: Babette Döbrich

Full costs of the project: 1.1 M€ 

EU funding: 1.1 M€

EU funding for CERN: 1.1 M€

1 November 2018 - 30 October 2023