Dark Matter

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.

James-Franck-Str. 1
85748 Garching b. München
susanne.mertens@tum.de
+49 89 289 12522

Professor

Photo	Degree	Firstname	Lastname	Room	Phone	E-Mail
	Prof. Dr.	Susanne	Mertens	3013	+49 89 32354-590	E-Mail

Office

Photo	Degree	Firstname	Lastname	Room	Phone	E-Mail
	Ph.D.	Paola	Mucciarelli	3051	+49 89 289-12522	E-Mail

Scientists

Photo	Degree	Firstname	Lastname	Room	Phone	E-Mail
		Davide	Butta	–	–	E-Mail
		Marco	Carminati	–	–	E-Mail
		Ion	Cojocari	–	–	E-Mail
		Griseld	Deda	–	–	E-Mail
		Giovanni	Di Giovanni	–	–	E-Mail
	Dr.	Frank	Edzards	–	+49 89 289-53604	E-Mail
		Carlo	Fiorini	–	–	E-Mail
		Andrew	Gavin	–	–	E-Mail
	M.Sc.	Florian	Henkes	–	+49 89 289-53607	E-Mail
	M.Sc.	Christian	Karl	–	–	E-Mail
	M.Sc.	Christoph	Köhler	–	+49 89 289-53607	E-Mail
		Philippe	Laurent	–	–	E-Mail
	M.Sc.	Matthias	Meier	–	+49 89 289-53607	E-Mail
	Ph.D.	Anthony	Onillon	–	+49 89 289-53606	E-Mail
		Stefano	Riboldi	–	–	E-Mail
		Ann-Kathrin	Schütz	–	+49 89 289-53607	E-Mail
	M.Sc.	Alessandro	Schwemmer	–	–	E-Mail
	M.Sc.	Daniel	Siegmann	–	–	E-Mail
		Lorenzo	Toscano	–	–	E-Mail
	M.Sc.	Korbinian	Urban	–	–	E-Mail
		Gianlorenzo	Utica	–	–	E-Mail
	Dr.	Christoph	Wiesinger	–	+49 89 289-53605	E-Mail
	Dr.	Michael	Willers	–	+49 89 289-53603	E-Mail

Students

Photo	Degree	Firstname	Lastname	Room	Phone	E-Mail
	B.Sc.	Joanna Maria	Bilicki	–	–	E-Mail
		Christina	Bruch	–	–	E-Mail
		Christian	Forstner	–	+49 89 32354 401	E-Mail
	B.Sc.	Cynthia	Glas	–	–	E-Mail
	M.Sc.	Florian	Henkes	–	+49 89 289-53607	E-Mail
		Emanuele	Mazzola	–	–	E-Mail
		Cordula	Schmitz-Sinn	–	+49 89 289-53607	E-Mail
	B.Sc.	Anna	Schubert	–	+49 89 289-12464	E-Mail
		Daniela	Spreng	–	–	E-Mail
		Xaver	Stribl	–	+49 89 289-53608	E-Mail
		Pia	Voigt	–	+49 89 289-53608	E-Mail