Projects

AGATA

AGATA (Advanced Gamma-ray Tracking Array) is a new generation high-resolution γ-ray spectrometer providing unprecedented Doppler-correction capabilities thanks to a combination of fine detector segmentation, efficient pulse-shape analysis algorithms, and implementation of an innovative γ-ray tracking concept.

ALICE

The ALICE experiment is devoted to the study of nuclear matter under extreme conditions of temperature and density. It is specially designed to test the fundamental theory of the strong interaction, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), which predicts the existence of this new state of matter, the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Objectives There are still some open question concerning the formation of our Universe.

ALICE muon spectrometer

Antares, a high energy neutrino telescope

Overview Most of our current knowledge of the Universe comes from the observation of photons. Photons have many advantages as cosmic information carriers: they are copiously produced, they are stable and electrically neutral, they are easy to detect over a wide energy range, and their spectrum carries detailed information about the chemical and physical properties of the source.

Images

ATLAS

Atlas is one of the general purpose detectors which started operation in 2008 at the the CERN proton collider, to study the Higgs boson. Goals: Unifying the elementary constituants of matter and their interactions. Atlas is one of the two general purpose detectors installed at the LHC which started operation in 2008. Atlas brings experimental physics into new territory. Discovering new processes and particles that change our understanding of energy and matter would be most exciting.

ATLAS-Calorimeter

ATLAS-Muon Spectrometer

ATLAS-Toroid

Experimental means

Collaborations

Life of the experiment

Atlas in numbers

Links and documents

Intellectual production

BAO

Most of the content of the Universe, about 70%, is dominated by an energetic component that is neither matter nor radiation: dark energy. This mysterious component, first observed in 1998 with supernovae, revolutionized our vision of the evolution of the Universe and is one of the major discoveries of the end of the 20th century. A characteristic scale of about 500 million light-years, acting as a "standard meter", is present in the distribution of matter on a cosmic scale.

CASSINI-CIRS

CASSINI-CIRS An infrared spectrometer of the CASSINI probe The Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS for "Composite InfraRed Spectrometer") is one of the instruments on board the Cassini probe. The Cassini probe was inserted in orbit around Saturn on July 2004, six and half years after its launch.

CHyMENE

The CHyMENE project (Cible d'Hydrogène Mince pour l'Etude des Noyaux Exotiques - a thin cryogenic target for the studies of exotic nuclei) is part of the instrumentation necessary for the exploitation of the low energy beams (~ 5 to 25 MeV/n), such as SPIRAL2 beams. The aim is to develop a thin cryogenic target of pure hydrogen (H2 or D2), the characteristics of which will be well adapted to the conditions of future direct reaction experiments.

CMS

CMS is the detector of one of the 2 multi-purpose experiments out of the 4 experiments located at the LHC at CERN near Geneva. CMS is installed at point 5 in Cessy. Main goals : During the last decades, research in particle physics has made tremendous progress and succeeded in validating the theoretical framework called “Standard Model”.

Intellectual production

Phase 2 upgrades

Collaborations

Life of the experiment

CMS in figures

Links and docs

D0

Presentation The D0 experiment was located at the proton-antiproton Tevatron collider at the Fermilab laboratory (Chicago, USA). There was two data taking periods: Run I from 1992 to 1996 with a center of mass energy of 1.8 TeV, and Run II from 2001 to 2011 with a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. Before the advent of the LHC, the Tevatron was the most energetic collider in the world and the only collider where the top quark as well as possibly a Higgs boson could be produced.

Collaboration

Experimental means

Life of the experiment

D0 through numbers

Intellectual Production at SPP

Double-Chooz

Scientific goals : Neutrinos are elementary particles produced abundantly in stars, in the Earth's atmosphere and in the cores of nuclear power plants. In 2006 CEA/IRFU and CNRS/IN2P3 have decided to officially launch the construction of the Double Chooz experiment. Two identical detectors are to be installed near the Chooz nuclear power plant, in the French Ardennes, at different distances from the reactors.

Série de posters décrivant l'expérience Double Chooz

Edelweiss

Objectives The goal of Edelweiss is to detect the dark matter of our Galaxy through its interactions in detectors operated in underground laboratory. The EROS experiment, searching for massive compact objects in our galaxy, showed that at most 7 % of our local missing mass could be accounted for by such objects, that is by ordinary matter.

EPISTEME

Analyser le rôle du numérique dans la construction, la diffusion et l'enseignement des connaissances en astrophysique. Analyzing the digital technologies uses to make, spread and teach astrophysics knowledge.

Fermi

Observatoire de la NASA dédié à l'étude du rayonnement gamma de haute énergie émis par les objets célestes. NASA space telescope studying high energy gamma-ray from space objects.

GOLF

Studying the Sun's internal structure using the measurement of its oscillation modes.

GOLF / SoHO

Global Oscillations at Low Frequencies Etude de la structure interne du Soleil Study of the internal structure of the Sun GOLF instrument on board the SoHO spacecraft. SOHO website at NASA.

Objectifs scientifiques / Scientific objectives

Publications

HESS

H.E.S.S. Exploring the High Energy gamma ray sky H.E.S.S stands for "High Energy Stereoscopic System". This telescope system been designed and built by a large international collaboration which includes the DAPNIA as a member. This instrument is dedicated to the observation of high energy gamma ray sources with energies above a few tens of GeV.

INTEGRAL

Mission de l'Agence Spatiale Européenne pour l’exploration du ciel dans la gamme des photons gamma de basse énergie. ESA mission to explore the low energy gamma-ray sky.

MINOS

Scientific Issues and Project Framework The MINOS project aims at performing the spectroscopy of very exotic nuclei produced by fragmentation at the radioactive ion beam facilities such as RIKEN or GSI / FAIR. The structure of the targeted atomic nuclei should allow us to bring strong constraints on the nuclear interaction acting between nucleons in the nucleus.

MUSETT

A new segmented silicon-array called MUSETT has been built for the study of heavy elements using the Recoil-Decay-Tagging technique. MUSETT is located at the focal plane of the VAMOS spectrometer at GANIL and is used in conjunction with a gamma-ray array at the target position. This device consists of four 10x10 cm2 Si detectors each, to obtain a total detection area of 40 x 10 cm2.

MUST2-Reactions

Program: Nuclear matter in extreme states /Nuclear structure / exotic nuclei Objectives The goals of this experimental program is to study the structure of unstable short-lived very-neutron-rich or neutron-deficient nuclei. These nuclei far from the valley of stability are chosen for the (expected) unusual properties: neutron halo, neutron-skin, new shell effects compared to what is known for stable nuclei or close to the stability.

nTOF

Goal This activity is focused on the study of neutron-induced reactions for nuclear astrophysics (stellar and big bang nucleosynthesis), for nuclear structure (levels density) and for nuclear technologies (current and innovative nuclear reactors, transmutation of nuclear wastes). This program contributes to national and international efforts aiming at nuclear data improvement.

Experimental tools

PEBBLES

The PEBBLES project consists of developing an innovative methodology to characterise the properties of dust around very young stars in the process of forming their proto-planetary disks. Dust is one of the key elements in the physical processes regulating the formation of stars and their planetary systems, but recent observations are overturning the models used until now to describe its evolution from submicron grains to pebbles.

Planck

Observatoire spatial de mesure des paramètres du modèle standard ou « modèle du Big Bang ». Space telescope measuring the Big Bang model parameters.

ScanPyramids

Irfu is part of the ScanPyramids mission aiming to "scan" the great pyramids of Egypt and in particular the pyramid of Cheops. Created in 2015 under the authority of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, the project combines various non-invasive and non-destructive techniques in an attempt to reveal the presence of little-known internal structures in ancient monuments and to better understand both their design and construction.

SNLS : SuperNova Legacy Survey

SNLS aimed at detecting type Ia supernovae at high redshift for cosmological studies. It belongs to the second generation of experiments in that field, launched after the unexpected discovery of the late acceleration of the Universe expansion rate by the first programs of type Ia supernovae at the end of the1990s. SNLS used the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope (CFHT) of 3.6 m located on the Mauna Kea mountain in Hawaii. It was equipped with MegaCam, the large field CCD camera designed and built at Irfu.

Collaboration

Means of investigation

Experiment timeline

Key numbers

Intellectual production

T2K

T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) is the world leading experiment dedicated to the study of neutrino oscillations over a long distance using µ-neutrino and µ-anti-neutrino beams. Neutrinos exist in three different types (called 'flavours'): νe, νμ and ντ. In the last fifteen to twenty years, several experiments have proven that neutrinos undergo a quantum mechanical phenomenon called 'oscillation', where neutrinos oscillate from one type to another.

VISIR

Camera infrarouge installée sur le Very Large Telescope au Chili. Infrared camera based on the VLT in Chili.

VISIR

VISIR The mid-Infrared instrument of the ESO VLT program VISIR is the mid-infrared instrument installed in 2004 at the Cassegrain focus of MELIPAL, one of the four 8-meter telescopes of the European Very Large Telescopes program.

XMM-Newton

XMM-Newton An observatory to detect cosmic X-ray radiation The XMM-Newton observatory (XMM stands for X-ray Multi-Mirror) is a telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA) dedicated to studying the X-ray cosmic radiation. Launched on December 10th, 1999 by an Ariane 5 rocket, XMM-Newton measures 10 m of length, 16 m large, for 4 m of diameter and weigh approximately 3,8 tons.

XMM Observations

XXL PROJECT

Programme d’observation extragalactique de la mission spatiale XMM Newton. - Extragalactic observation program of the space mission XMM Newton.