Quark-Gluon Plasma Laboratory (LQGP)

LQGP

The Quark-Gluon Plasma Laboratory studies ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, with the main aim of identifying and studying a new state of nuclear matter in which quarks and gluons are deconfined, the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). This QGP is thought to have existed in the early universe. The LQGP participated in the PHENIX experiment at RHIC, BNL, and is currently involved in the ALICE experiment at LHC, CERN.

LQGP is preparing for the future through its involvement in LHCb upgrade projects.

Highlights

Michael Winn, physicist at IRFU, receives the CNRS Bronze Medal in the 2025 awards

06/16/2025
LHCb: Ions for Christmas!

04/02/2025
CERN’s ALICE collaboration reports new results on a charming messenger of quarks and gluon plasma

07/02/2020
Chips on a ladder: end of production for ALICE-MFT

06/08/2020
Bottomonium elliptic-flow no-show

01/17/2020
Can Quark-Gluon Plasma Be Produced by Proton Collisions?

04/25/2017
More Precise Hints on the Quark–Gluon Plasma

01/30/2017
L’age de glace du LHC

11/21/2014

Projects

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,…
sPHENIX

sPHENIX is a new detector that will be installed at RHIC, BNL. sPHENIX will feature the most advanced technologies for studying strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma using jets and heavy flavors as observables. The goal of sPHENIX is to understand the microscopic structure of plasma and reveal how its strongly coupled nature emerges from the elementary…

Jobs

A novel muon identification method for dileptons from the initial stages of collisions at the LHC

Stage M2

Saclay

03/26/2026

04/25/2026

Domain, Specialties : Physique corpusculaire des accélérateurs Keywords: Particle physics; QGP, detector physics, LHC Research Unit : DPhN / LQGP The Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) is an exotic state of matter created under extreme conditions at the LHC at CERN. It is one of the first stages of matter after the Big Bang. The internship’s goal…

Read more: A novel muon identification method for dileptons from the initial stages of collisions at the LHC
Quark Gluon Plasma equation of state

Stage M2

Saclay

03/16/2026

10/16/2025

Domain, Specialties : Physique corpusculaire des accélérateurs Keywords: QCD, Data analysis, Monte Carlo simulations Research Unit : DPhN / LQGP The Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) is an exotic state of matter created under extreme conditions at the LHC at CERN. It is one of the first stages of matter after the Big Bang. The internship will…

Read more: Quark Gluon Plasma equation of state
Tracking algorithm development in heavy-ion collisions for the futur Upstream Tracker of the LHCb collaboration.

Stage M2

Saclay

05/31/2024

03/01/2024

Domain, Specialties : Physique nucléaire Research Unit : DPhN / LQGP The internship project is todevelop and study the tracking performance of the future UT.To achieve this goal, the chosen student will use a C++ framework developed by the lQGP group at CEA, to develop and test new tracking algorithms for the different scenarios envisaged…

Read more: Tracking algorithm development in heavy-ion collisions for the futur Upstream Tracker of the LHCb collaboration.
CMOS chip response characterization for the future Upstream Tracker of the LHCb collaboration.

Stage M2

Saclay

05/31/2024

03/01/2024

Domain, Specialties : Physique nucléaire Research Unit : DPhN / LQGP The internship project is tostudy and characterize the response function of the chip.To achieve this goal, the chosen student will learn to use a GEANT4 simulation reproducing the experimental setup used during the beam tests made at CERN. The student will then test and…

Read more: CMOS chip response characterization for the future Upstream Tracker of the LHCb collaboration.

PhD thesis

Measurement of the Higgs boson mass in the CMS experiment at LHC using precise and innovative calibration based on artificial intelligence methods

CMS : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

The precise measurement of the Higgs boson’s properties is a major challenge in particle physics and a fundamental test of the Standard Model. This thesis proposes to improve the measurement of its…

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Turbulence auto-organisée dans les tokamaks et les étoiles : construire des modèles réduits au-delà de la séparation d’échelles

LDE3 : Astrophysics

Universite de Paris Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED A&A) Saclay

Cette thèse vise à mieux comprendre et modéliser le transport turbulent dans les plasmas de fusion et les enveloppes des étoiles. La turbulence y génère des structures à grande échelle qui…

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Fast variational inference for the early characterisation of massive black-hole binaries with LISA

LILAS : Astrophysics

Paris-Saclay Sciences et Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (STIC) Saclay

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is an upcoming space-based observatory designed to detect low-frequency gravitational waves, primarily from the collisions of supermassive black holes.…

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Development of the Fast Gamma Radiation Detectors for the Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography

GSE : Health and environment technologies, medical devices

Paris-Saclay Physique et Ingénierie: électrons, photons et sciences du vivant (EOBE) Saclay

Innovative functional imaging technologies are a key component of the “Medicine for the Future” program, one of the main strategic priorities of the CEA. We are seeking a highly motivated PhD…

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Preequilibrium dilepton production in Oxygen – Oxygen collisions with LHCb

LQGP : Nuclear physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Geneva, collisions of nuclei are used to create a thermodynamic system described by fluid dynamics under extreme conditions of temperature and energy density.…

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An event generator for hard probes of the preequilibrium stages of ion collisions at the LHC

LQGP : Nuclear physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Geneva, collisions of nuclei are used to create a thermodynamic system described by fluid dynamics under extreme conditions of temperature and energy density.…

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Hybrid (classical-quantum) algorithms for Green’s functions in nuclear physics

LENA : Nuclear Physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

Research in theoretical nuclear physics currently relies on high-performance computing to conduct ab initio simulations of atomic nuclei. These calculations enable systematic predictions, serving…

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Foundation models for the hierarchical representation and reconstruction of particle collision events

STREAM : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay Sciences et Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (STIC) Saclay

Precision measurements at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) require a detailed understanding of the particles produced in each collision and the relationships between them. However, reconstructing the…

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Precision tests of the Standard Model using the neutral current Drell–Yan process in Run 3 data with the ATLAS experiment at the CERN LHC

Atlas : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

The standard model of particle physics has so far provided a fine description of experimental data, notably data from colliders such as the LHC at CERN. The electroweak sector is of particular…

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Mining LEP data for fragmentation: a TMD-oriented analysis of pi+pi- pairs in e+e- collisions

LSN : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

Fragmentation, the process by which quarks and gluons turn into hadrons, cannot be computed from first principles in QCD and has to be extracted from data. Transverse-momentum-dependent…

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MEASUREMENT OF PROMPT AND NON-PROMPT J/? PRODUCTION IN ION-ION COLLISIONS AT THE LHC: NUCLEAR MODIFICATION FACTOR AND ELLIPTIC FLOW

LQGP : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

A few microseconds after the Big Bang, the Universe was filled with a quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a hot and dense state of matter described by Quantum Chromodynamics, the theory of the strong…

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Measurement of vector boson scattering at high energy, with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Atlas : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

The scattering of vector bosons is a fundamental prediction of the Standard Model, closely linked to the Higgs mechanism. The study of this process at the TeV scale tests the unique role of the…

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Precision Timing and Particle Association in High-Intensity Neutrino Beams with Gaseous and Silicon Detectors

DEPHYS : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

The next generation of neutrino experiments aims to achieve unprecedented precision in neutrino interaction cross-section measurements, a prerequisite for reducing systematic uncertainties in future…

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Advanced optical Micromegas detectors:single particle tracking, enhanced light detection and sustainable gas operation

DEPHYS : Instrumentation nucléaire et métrologie des rayonnements ionisants

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

Micromegas detectors are gaseous detectors used in particle physics and nuclear physics. Optical readout consists of observing, with a camera, the light emitted during electron amplification inside…

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Investigating the Gluon Content of the Pion through Exclusive Vector Meson Production with CLAS12

LSN : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

The pion is a key particle for understanding Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of the strong interaction. However, its gluon content, remains poorly understood. This thesis will explore a…

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Understanding the low-energy excess in the NUCLEUS cryogenic detectors: toward a presicion measurement of CEvNS at a nuclear reactor

GNSR : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

This PhD topic is part of the NUCLEUS experiment, installed at the heart of the Chooz nuclear power plant in France, with an ambitious goal: detecting and measuring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus…

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Search for Higgs boson pair production with the CMS experiment: from the full Run-3 analysis to the HL-LHC trigger strategies

CMS : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

Since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, the experimental program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has entered an era of precision measurements, enabling increasingly stringent tests of…

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Probing dark matter in the core of galaxy clusters with gravitational lensing flexion from the Euclid satellite

LCS : Astrophysics

Paris-Saclay Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED A&A) Saclay

Weak gravitational lensing, the distortion of distant galaxy images by foreground matter, is a key tool for probing the dark sector of the Universe. The density profiles of galaxy clusters reveal…

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Development and operation of the POLARYS camera: instrumental characterization and extraction of the astrophysical signal

LSIS : Astrophysics

Paris-Saclay Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED A&A) Saclay

Understanding how gas and dust in the interstellar medium evolve into stars and planetary systems is a major challenge in modern astrophysics. Magnetic fields play an important role in these…

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Top-quark physics as a benchmark for quantum computing

Atlas : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

Top-quark physics at the LHC offers two complementary test beds for quantum computing. The first is quantum information in top-quark pairs: since the top quark decays before hadronisation, a tt¯…

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Search for di-Higgs production in the multilepton channel with the ATLAS detector using 13.6 TeV data

Atlas : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

In the Standard Model (SM), the Higgs field breaks the electroweak symmetry, thereby giving mass to the W and Z bosons. The self-coupling of the Higgs boson remains unmeasured, yet it is crucial for…

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Protoplanetary disk formation at the exascale era

LMPA : Astrophysics

Paris Cité Science de la Terre et de l’Environnement et Physique de l’Univers Paris (STEPUP) Saclay

Recent observations of protoplanetary disks indicate that planets begin to form during the first million years of their evolution. However, state-of-the-art simulations of disk formation struggle to…

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Atmospheric Characterisation of Super-Earths and Mini-Neptunes with JWST and Ariel: From Instrumental Systematics to Exoplanetary Diversity

LDE3 : Astrophysics

Paris Cité Science de la Terre et de l’Environnement et Physique de l’Univers Paris (STEPUP) Saclay

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is opening new opportunities to study super-Earths and mini-Neptunes, the most common types of exoplanets in our Galaxy and which have no equivalent in our…

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Generative AI and Multi-tracer Cosmological Inference: Euclid and 21-cm HI Intensity Mapping

LCS : Astrophysics

Paris-Saclay Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED A&A) Saclay

Current and upcoming cosmological surveys, notably the Euclid space mission and neutral hydrogen (HI) 21-cm intensity mapping experiments offer a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of…

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Leveraging Machine Learning for Cosmological Inference with Weak Lensing selected Galaxy Clusters

LCEG : Astrophysics

Paris-Saclay Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED A&A) Saclay

Galaxy clusters, which form at the intersection of matter filaments, are excellent tracers of the large-scale matter distribution in the Universe and are a valuable source of information for…

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Testing cosmological models with the Lyman-alpha forest from the DESI survey

GCOSMO : Astrophysics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

Modern cosmology is currently facing major challenges. On the one hand, the standard cosmological model, known as LambdaCDM, relies on two components, dark energy and dark matter, whose effects are…

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Hunting for Hidden Galaxies at the Universe’s Peak Star-Formation Epoch: How Do Galaxies Form, Grow and Die in the Early Universe?

LCEG : Astrophysics

Paris-Saclay Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED A&A) Saclay

Nearly 10 billion years ago, the Universe was forming stars at its peak rate. Galaxies were assembling, growing and being transformed at a pace we no longer see today. Hidden in that era is a rare…

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MULTI-SCALE STUDY OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF STAR-FORMING DENSE CORES, FILAMENTS, AND BUBBLES USING INFRARED TO MILLIMETER OBSERVATIONS AND NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS

LFEMI : Astrophysics

Paris-Saclay Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED A&A) Saclay

The proposed PhD project falls within the context of the scientific exploitation of data from the JWST, Herschel, and Planck space missions, as well as the preparation for the future PRIMA mission.…

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The MINI-BINGO demonstrator: advancing the quest to unveil the neutrino nature

GNSR : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

BINGO is an innovative neutrino physics project designed to lay the groundwork for a large-scale bolometric experiment dedicated to the search for neutrinoless double beta decay. The goal is to…

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Tidal disruption events in real time: from Rubin/LSST alerts to TeV gamma rays with H.E.S.S. and CTAO, and a bridge to LISA

GAP : Astroparticles

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

When a star ventures too close to a supermassive black hole, it is torn apart by tidal forces in a tidal disruption event (TDE). These rare flares reveal otherwise dormant black holes and may launch…

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STUDY OF THE NUCLEAR COLLECTIVE PROPERTIES OF 232TH WITH THE AGATA SPECTROMETER

LENA : Nuclear physics

PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

The study of so-called ‘deformed’ atomic nuclei with a non-spherical charge distribution is essential for testing nuclear interactions and structural models. These deformed nuclei exhibit a very…

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ENGINEERING SUPERCONDUCTING SURFACES FOR PARTICLE ACCELERATORS AND QUANTUM DEVICES

LIDC2 : Solid state physics, surfaces and interfaces

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

This project will establish atomic layer deposition (ALD) as a versatile surface engineering approach for superconducting resonators, addressing two complementary objectives for particle…

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FOUNDATION MODEL FOR THE LHCB EXPERIMENT AT CERN

LQGP : Particle physics

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

At CERN, the LHCb experiment sees protons collide tens of millions of times per second and must decide, in real time, which collisions to keep. Today this is done by thousands of small programs,…

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Search for axion dark matter with a radio-frequency magnetic converter

Antares : Astroparticles

Paris-Saclay PHENIICS (PHENIICS) Saclay

The proposed doctoral project involves the commissioning and operation of an experimental search for axion dark matter. These hypothetical particles are motivated by a minimal extension of the…

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Structure and reactions of light and medium mass nuclei with the Gamow Shell Model with Coupled Channels

GANIL : Nuclear physics

Caen Normandie Physique, Sciences de l’Ingénieur, Matériaux, Énergie (PSIME) Saclay

This project investigates the structure and reactions of exotic atomic nuclei near the limits of stability, where nuclei may be weakly bound or unbound. Recent advances in radioactive-ion-beam…

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Investigating alpha-clustering in neutron-rich Oxygen isotopes

GANIL : Particle physics

Caen Normandie Physique, Sciences de l’Ingénieur, Matériaux, Énergie (PSIME) Saclay

This thesis aims to investigate the formation of alpha particles as a function of the neutron abundance of oxygen isotopes and their influence on nuclear structure. An experiment at GANIL will…

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Experimental Study of the 4He 02+ Resonance through Multichannel Decay Using the ACTAR TPC

GANIL : Particle physics

Caen Normandie Physique, Sciences de l’Ingénieur, Matériaux, Énergie (PSIME) Saclay

This thesis aims to conduct an experimental study of an unstable excited state of the helium-4 nucleus, in order to gain a better understanding of its structure and decay modes. Using a specialised…

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Development of a helium-based stopping cell for laser spectroscopy experiments at S3

GANIL : Particle physics

Caen Normandie Physique, Sciences de l’Ingénieur, Matériaux, Énergie (PSIME) Saclay

This thesis aims to develop a new laser spectroscopy technique to study the atomic and nuclear properties of superheavy elements. It focuses primarily on the design of an experimental instrument and…

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Towards Intelligent VAMOS++: Physics-Informed AI for Adaptive and Reproducible Nuclear Instrumentation

GANIL : Nuclear physics

Caen Normandie Physique, Sciences de l’Ingénieur, Matériaux, Énergie (PSIME) Saclay

Recent developments at GANIL have demonstrated the opportunities opened by AI methods for trajectory reconstruction, particle identification and self-supervised detector calibration in the VAMOS++…

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Machine Learning-Based 3D Dose Reconstruction from Limited Scintillation Projections for Proton Therapy Dosimetry

GANIL : Medical imaging

Caen Normandie Physique, Sciences de l’Ingénieur, Matériaux, Énergie (PSIME) Saclay

Radiotherapy is an important modality in treatment cancer. In this domain, proton beams have ballistic superiority against photon beams. Among the existing delivery techniques, pencilbeam scanning…

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PIPERADE: Offline commissioning and first online experiments at DESIR

GANIL : Particle physics

Bordeaux Ecole Doctorale des Sciences Physiques et de l’Ingénieur Saclay

PIPERADE (PIèges de PEnning pour les RAdionucléides à DESIR) is a double Penning trap being developed in Bordeaux, which will be installed at the DESIR facility at GANIL. This instrument has two…

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