Southampton particle physicist approached by CERN to lead quest for new physics
Professor Andreas Jüttner from the University of Southampton says that "exciting new physics may be just around the corner" in accepting a prestigious five-year placement at CERN.
The Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Southampton High Energy Physics Group will lead a team of international researchers in the Lattice Group of the CERN Theory Department.
Professor Jüttner will remain affiliated with the University of Southampton during his time at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) and hopes the connection will help foster new collaborations between the organisations.
CERN is one of the world's largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its renowned facilities included the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider.
Recent experimental results around the globe have created a growing list of anomalies that are at tension with the Standard Model of particle physics, hinting that new research could soon transform our understanding of the universe.
"I am delighted to be joining CERN during such an exciting time in my field," Professor Jüttner says. "Experiments are bringing to light a number of novel and unexpected puzzles that might point the way towards new discoveries. The coming years represent an incredible opportunity as we find out whether those findings are just statistical fluctuations or that new physics may indeed be around the corner.
"It is very prestigious for Southampton's School of Physics and Astronomy to have staff that are offered these unique opportunities. It will provide increased visibility and recognition in the coming years. Having a direct link to CERN will enable Southampton to benefit from the research and impact I am making and the novel collaborations that I will be able to establish."
The University has strong connections with CERN and its undergraduate physics students have the opportunity to spend their fourth year of study working on a research project at CERN.
Professor Jüttner is Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Computational Modelling. He is a founding member of the Flavour Lattice Averaging Group (FLAG) where he is currently on the Editorial Board.
His research focuses on understanding the fundamental constituents of matter. He is particularly interested in the theory of strong interactions that describes how quarks and gluons interact to form mesons and baryons, such as protons, which make up visible matter.
The research addresses many unresolved questions in high energy physics such as why there is more matter than anti-matter in the universe and how the universe began. The results help understanding experimental findings coming in from the experimental facilities like CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.
Professor Jüttner has previously spent time at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, as a CERN Fellow in the Theory Department. He returned to Southampton on an European Research Council Starting Grant in 2012. He will take up his new post at CERN in June.