Particle Physics Seminars II

Speaker: Ruben Conceição

Title: Exploring the extreme energy Universe

Abstract: Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and very high-energy gamma rays are the highest-energy known particles and radiation, respectively. Their study allows us to probe some of the most extreme phenomena in our Universe and to investigate its fundamental physics properties. The Pierre Auger Observatory, with its upgrade, AugerPrime, and the future Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory, are two of the most ambitious astroparticle physics facilities in the world. In this talk, I will briefly discuss the technological challenges and physics opportunities connected with the study of these physics objects, which defy our understanding about acceleration mechanisms and particle interactions.

Speaker: Catarina Cosme

Title: Glimpses of a physicist journey to the dark side of the Universe

Abstract: In this talk, I will introduce myself, give an overview of my academic path, and briefly discuss the main lines of investigation that I have pursued so far. I will pay special attention to the dynamics and phenomenology of non-thermal Dark Matter candidates, in both standard and non-standard cosmologies. Finally, I will give a taste of future projects I want to follow.

Speaker: Luiz Vale Silva

Title: Opportunities in a high-statistics era for flavor physics: novel predictions of the Standard Model and New Physics probes

Abstract: Flavor physics plays a central role in particle physics: for instance, it led to the discovery of Charge-Parity (CP) violation. I discuss briefly the current and future status of the extraction of the CKM matrix elements in the Standard Model (SM). I also comment on the role charm physics can play in testing the Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism, responsible for generating CP violation in the quark sector of the SM. Finally, I discuss bounds on different categories of generic New Physics contributions.

Speaker: Cristóvão Vilela

Title: Neutrino experiments at the intensity and energy frontiers

Abstract: Neutrinos are some of the least well understood particles in the Standard Model (SM) and play a central role in major open questions in Physics: How did matter come to dominate over antimatter in the history of the Universe? Are there symmetries underlying the flavour structure of the SM? Why are neutrino masses so small? In this talk I will briefly describe two neutrino experiments which will help elucidate these puzzles: DUNE, which is set to discover or rule out matter-antimatter asymmetry in neutrino oscillations; and SND@LHC, which will measure for the first time interactions of neutrinos of all three flavours produced at CERN's Large Hadron Collider.