Scientists involved in the FORTE project focus on key questions in elementary particle physics and cosmology. Their aim is to deepen our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of matter in the Universe and the interacting forces. To achieve this goal, they plan to improve measurements of some parameters of the Standard Model and to search for new particles that could lead to breakthroughs in our understanding of the Model.
Scientists involved in the FORTE project focus on key questions in elementary particle physics and cosmology. Their aim is to deepen our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of matter in the Universe and the interacting forces. To achieve this goal, they plan to improve measurements of some parameters of the Standard Model and to search for new particles that could lead to breakthroughs in our understanding of the Model.
One of the prerequisites for the success of the project is synergistic collaboration between particle and astroparticle experimental physicists and theorists in particle physics and cosmology. The different disciplines are mutually enriching, as can be exemplified by particle research in cosmology, which makes available scales of data that accelerators have not yet been able to provide.
"Our team is looking into what lies beyond the standard model of particle physics and cosmology; what can be the dark matter. But our research into fundamental physics is not an isolated enterprise. Research into fundamental physics has traditionally brought new technologies and applications into being, which were thought not to be possible or not even imagined otherwise. While our goal is to pursue fundamental questions using specialised high-tech instruments we are also set to contribute to their development. It is not unlikely that some of the advanced technology will turn into applications that in the long run will be used beyond the scope of physics research.", says Constantinos Skordis, the main coordinator of the FORTE project.
Scientists are planning concrete results such as new fluorescence telescopes, cosmological simulations using machine learning, the development of silicon detectors for CERN and the analysis of data from the LHC Run 3 accelerator.
The scientific team consists of experts from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Czech Technical University in Prague, Charles University, Palacký University in Olomouc and the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences.