Astroparticle theory

Why do neutrinos have mass? How do they oscillate? What is dark matter? Why is there so much more matter than antimatter in the Universe? What is the origin of masses and of the approximate fundamental symmetries? How did our Universe evolve to what we observe today? These are the key questions that motivate our research activity in the theory and phenomenology of astroparticle physics.

We build theoretical models that address the questions above, opening a new window on the physics beyond the Standard Model and the evolution of the Universe. The approach of our group is driven by the necessity to test these ideas with measurements at a variety of particle and astroparticle experiments, as well as with cosmological and astrophysical observations, including neutrino and dark matter detectors, particle accelerators and telescopes. We also investigate novel ways to test these models. Examples include gravitational waves from early-universe phase transitions, new techniques to look for dark matter via its effects in large neutrino detectors, non-standard signals of rich dark sectors like semi-visible decays, global fits of neutrino oscillation data in standard and non-standard scenarios. We also develop and maintain public scientific software that the research community can freely employ.