La Recherche à l'ULB

Units

Elementary Particle Physics

Experimental research in elementary particle physics with accelerators and colliders experiments CMS at the LHC; H1 at HERA-DESY, Hamburg; OPERA at CERN) and in astroparticles (neutrino telescope IceCube); grille de calcul intégré; instrumentation developments (data acquisition systems); node of the intensive computing grid (LHC GRID). 

Projects

Search for nu-mu/nu-tau oscillations (CHORUS experiment)

Search and identification of the reaction  nu-tau + N -> tau- + X in the CERN muonic neutrino beam using a high spatial resolution vertex detector (nuclear emulsion) coupled with a tracking device made of scintillating fibers, with a calorimeter and a muon spectrometer. RetD on scintillating fibers (CHORUS detector) and capillaries with scintillating liquid (active targets)

Study of ep interactions at HERA-DESY (H1 experiment)

Properties of the lepton-quark interaction : tests of QCD; structure functions; diffractive interactions; photoproduction; search for new particles. Construction of a multiwire proportional chamber for the central tracker and of a proton spectrometer for the H1 detector.

AMANDA and ICECUBE experiments

Search of galactic and extra galactic neutrino sources with a telescope deployed in the antarctic glacier at the South Pole.

Deployment of a distributed computing infrastructure (GRID), in particular for the elementary particle physics research

The IIHE deploys a computing farm comprising about 1000 processors, to analyse the data collected at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This farm is integrated in the LHC Computing Grid, a worldwide computing infrastructure which is shared by more than 200 universities and laboratories, and that will comprise several tens of thousands of processors. 

CMS experiment at the LHC: search for extra spatial dimensions

Detection and identification of the process quark + anti-quark -> e+ + e- with the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC).  This process allows to test precisely the Standard Model and to search for new particles (Z') predicted by the Grand Unifying Theories (GUT) and the models introducing extra spatial dimensions. Study of the top quark properties: mass, cross section, search for new particles, b-quark physics. 

History of Science

History of physics in the XXth century: special relativity, equivalence principle,  Solvay Councils, history of nuclear anc particle physics; general history of science

R and D for data acquisition systems (elementary particle physics and astroparticles)

R et D

Search for nu-mu/nu-tau neutrino oscillations (OPERA experiment)

Long baseline neutrino oscillations experiment. The OPERA detector is placed in the LNGS underground laboratory and exposed to the CERN CNGS nu-mu beam at 730 km from the source. the aim is to detect the apparition of nu-tau through their interactions nu-tau + N -> tau + X via the localisation of the tau decay. The 1250 tons instrumented target is made of elements composed of lead sheets providing the mass and emulsion films providing the resolution. The target is complemented by electronic detectors: trackers, calorimeters and spectrometers

ARA (Askar'yan Radio Array) Experiment

A radiofrequency detector of ultra-high energy GZK neutrinos

Projects from CV