AMS: First Results

Congratulations to our colleagues of AMS for the publication of their first results. The measurement of the positron fraction in cosmic rays up to 350 GeV with a significant reduction in the experimental uncertainty compared to previous experiments demonstrates the excellent performance of AMS and the significant scientific breakthrough that this experience will bring in the years to come.
These data confirm the existence of primary sources of positrons and pave the way for future analyses in other channels. This will help theorists improve their predictions on signals from astrophysical objects and from dark matter. The members of the astro-cosmo team at LAPTh have been engaged for years on this type of activity (see some of their publications on this topic) and have contributed significantly to the subject. For example, on the twenty or so references in the AMS publication, all references to theoretical work cite at least one member of our team.

Concertference: Music and Astronomy

LAPTh takes you on a tour to discover  the Kepler Music Project.

Serpico awarded the CNRS Bronze Medal

Our colleague Pasquale Serpico is awarded the 2013 CNRS bronze medal. This is in recognition of his work and achievements is astroparticle physics and in cosmology.

Post-doctoral Positions for Fall 2013

LAPTh invites applications for post-doctoral positions with appointments in Fall 2013. The positions cover a large area of topics

• Higgs@ENIGMASS:Physics of the Higgs and symmetry breaking, BSM phenomenology. 
• StrongInt: conformal field theory, string theory and AdS/CFT correspondence
• DMAstroLHC: New Physics phenomenology in connection with dark matter searches at the LHC and in astrophysics.
• Gamma@ENIGMASS: High energy gamma ray astrophysics.

For more details, see the post-doc announcements pages

Les Houches 2013

The next session of the PhysTeV Workshop initiated by LAPTh physicists in 1999 and organized every two years since then, will take place in Les Houches as usual from 3-21 June 2013. This series of workshops has contributed much to the physics of the LHC by bringing together in an a relatively secluded place theorists and experimentalists working either towards a better precision for the standard model observables or on new models and theories for the New Physics. This has led, among other things, to the many celebrated Les Houches Accords and Les Houches Recommendations. 2013 will be the year where we will finally discuss the impact of the newly discovered resonance, which is probably the long sought after LH, …oups Le Higgs. 

For more details, see the Phys TeV 2013 webpage

Cosmic drift, an article by P. Serpico highlighted

Spectral Breaks as a Signature of Cosmic Ray Induced Turbulence in the Galaxy

 Pasquale Blasi, Elena Amato, and Pasquale D. Serpico, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 061101 (2012).

This article has been selected as a special highlight in Physics Synopsis

Read more: Cosmic drift, an article by P. Serpico highlighted

LAPTh co-organiser of a High Energy School in Turkey

LAPTh is partner in an  ERASMUS Intensive Programme whose project coordinator is METU (Middle East Technical University), Ankara, Turkey. The consortium organised the  International Summer School on High Energy Physics:”Standard Model and Beyond”  funded in part by the EU and the Turkish National Agency-Life Long Learning. Our first year doctoral students took part in the school which was held in Antalya from 28 August to 8 September 2012. See the site of the School for more details. 

Higgs Discovered at the LHC?

On the 4th of July both of ATLAS and CMS, the two multi-purpose detectors at the LHC have announced that they have established, with a very high degree of confidence, the existence of a resonance at the LHC. This is most probably the long sought after Higgs. The physics of the Higgs is the topic of many researchers at LAPTh (See here a list of publications by LAPTh physicists with Higgs in the title..).

Read more: Higgs Discovered at the LHC?