Subatomic Physics
The Subatomic Physics group is active in a scientific programme of particle physics with the study of CP-violation and other rare phenomena in the decays of B-mesons. New initiatives have been developed in astroparticle physics with the study of gravitational wave phenomena.
Prof. dr. M. Merk is the successor of Prof. dr. J.F.J. van den Brand as program leader of the FOM-project: Study of charge-parity violation with the LHCb experiment at CERN. With the preparation for LHCb emphasis is placed on precise vertex reconstruction and on particle identification, since various decay modes of B-mesons need to be measured with great precision. For the handling of the large amounts of data as foreseen from LHCb we participate in Grid computing challenges. The Netherlands will participate in the Grid project with a Tier-1 facility not only for the LHC, but also for astroparticle physics and other data intensive sciences. Active participation in the Babar-collaboration at SLAC (Stanford) puts the group at the frontier of research in the field of B-meson physics. The central theme is the study of symmetries, most importantly that of CP-violation.
Prof. dr. J.F.J. van den Brand is leading a new group that participates in gravitational wave observatories. Near PISA a 3 km long arm Michelson interferometer VIRGO is preparing to start science runs in 2006. And NASA and ESA will launch in 2015 three satellites that will act as Michelson interferometers with arm lengths of 5 million km. While at present the first observation of gravitational waves from observations supernovas or coalescent binary stellar objects, as neutron stars of black holes, are still awaited, in the future remnants of the big bang may be found in the stochastic background of gravitational waves.
There are ample research possibilities for students. Depending on their interests, they can participate in the development and testing of equipment, the preparation and execution of experiments, and the analysis and theoretical interpretation of the results.
