Dark Matter
Prof. Susanne Mertens
Research Field
We study the elusive particle, the neutrino, to unlock fundamental mysteries of physics: What is our universe made of? How did structures evolve? Why is our world made of matter and not anti-matter?
Despite major discoveries in the last decades, the neutrino is still one of the most mysterious particles of the standard model of particle physics: What is its mass? Is it its own antiparticle? Does there exist a right-handed partner to the known left-handed neutrino, a so called sterile neutrino? Exploring these properties will help us understand fundamental open questions about our universe.
The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) Experiment will directly measure the absolute neutrino mass. The knowledge of the neutrino mass will have a crucial impact on understanding the structure formation in the early universe. KATRIN is situated at the KIT in Karlsruhe and will start data taking in 2017. With an upgraded multi pixel Si-detector system, called TRISTAN, KATRIN can extend its physics goal to also search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos. This new neutrino species is an ideal candidate for Dark Matter. Our group is leading the sterile neutrino search with KATRIN
Besides KATRIN, our group is involved in the search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0nbb) with the MAJORANA experiment. The discovery of this process would proof that the neutrino is its own antiparticle, which in turn can help us understand the matter anti-matter asymmetry of the universe. MAJORANA and the closely related experiment GERDA plan to join in the near future to perform the ultimate search for this ultra-rare decay.
Address/Contact
James-Franck-Str. 1
85748 Garching b. München
susanne.mertens@tum.de
+49 89 289 12522
Members of the Research Group
Professor
Photo | Degree | Firstname | Lastname | Room | Phone | |
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Prof. Dr. | Susanne | Mertens | 3013 | +49 89 32354-590 |
Office
Photo | Degree | Firstname | Lastname | Room | Phone | |
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Ph.D. | Paola | Mucciarelli | 3051 | +49 89 289-12522 |
Scientists
Photo | Degree | Firstname | Lastname | Room | Phone | |
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Davide | Butta | – | – | ||
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Marco | Carminati | – | – | ||
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Ion | Cojocari | – | – | ||
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Griseld | Deda | – | – | ||
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Giovanni | Di Giovanni | – | – | ||
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Dr. | Frank | Edzards | – | +49 89 289-53604 | |
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Carlo | Fiorini | – | – | ||
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Andrew | Gavin | – | – | ||
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M.Sc. | Florian | Henkes | – | +49 89 289-53607 | |
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M.Sc. | Christian | Karl | – | – | |
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M.Sc. | Christoph | Köhler | – | +49 89 289-53607 | |
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Philippe | Laurent | – | – | ||
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M.Sc. | Matthias | Meier | – | +49 89 289-53607 | |
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Ph.D. | Anthony | Onillon | – | +49 89 289-53606 | |
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Stefano | Riboldi | – | – | ||
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Ann-Kathrin | Schütz | – | +49 89 289-53607 | ||
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M.Sc. | Alessandro | Schwemmer | – | – | |
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M.Sc. | Daniel | Siegmann | – | – | |
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Lorenzo | Toscano | – | – | ||
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M.Sc. | Korbinian | Urban | – | – | |
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Gianlorenzo | Utica | – | – | ||
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Dr. | Christoph | Wiesinger | – | +49 89 289-53605 | |
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Dr. | Michael | Willers | – | +49 89 289-53603 |
Students
Photo | Degree | Firstname | Lastname | Room | Phone | |
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B.Sc. | Joanna Maria | Bilicki | – | – | |
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Christina | Bruch | – | – | ||
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Christian | Forstner | – | +49 89 32354 401 | ||
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B.Sc. | Cynthia | Glas | – | – | |
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M.Sc. | Florian | Henkes | – | +49 89 289-53607 | |
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Emanuele | Mazzola | – | – | ||
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Cordula | Schmitz-Sinn | – | +49 89 289-53607 | ||
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B.Sc. | Anna | Schubert | – | +49 89 289-12464 | |
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Daniela | Spreng | – | – | ||
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Xaver | Stribl | – | +49 89 289-53608 | ||
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Pia | Voigt | – | +49 89 289-53608 |
Teaching
Course with Participations of Group Members
Current and Finished Theses in the Group
- Characterization of a TRISTAN Silicon Drift Detector Array with a Laser System
- Abschlussarbeit im Masterstudiengang Physik (Kern-, Teilchen- und Astrophysik)
- Themensteller(in): Susanne Mertens
- Characterisation of a 166-Pixel TRISTAN Detector Module in the KATRIN Monitor Spectrometer
- Abschlussarbeit im Masterstudiengang Physik (Kern-, Teilchen- und Astrophysik)
- Themensteller(in): Susanne Mertens
- Electron Backscattering on Silicon Drift Detectors and Its Impact on a Sterile Neutrino Search with KATRIN
- Abschlussarbeit im Masterstudiengang Physik (Kern-, Teilchen- und Astrophysik)
- Themensteller(in): Susanne Mertens
- Sensitivity Studies for the KATRIN Experiment
- Abschlussarbeit im Masterstudiengang Physik (Kern-, Teilchen- und Astrophysik)
- Themensteller(in): Susanne Mertens
- Search for Light Sterile Neutrinos with the KATRIN Experiment
- Abschlussarbeit im Masterstudiengang Physik (Kern-, Teilchen- und Astrophysik)
- Themensteller(in): Susanne Mertens
- Investigation of transmission properties of the KATRIN main spectrometer (when operated) for a keV-scale sterile neutrino search
- Abschlussarbeit im Masterstudiengang Physik (Kern-, Teilchen- und Astrophysik)
- Themensteller(in): Susanne Mertens