Experiments

ATLAS is one the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider and is operated by more than 3000 scientists. We are member of the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN since the beginning of the group in Mainz in 2012, where we took over responsibilities in the muon system of the ATLAS detector. We have been constructing drift-panels for the ATLAS New Small Wheel projects, design the new muon trigger system for the High Luminosity Phase of the LHC as well as coordinate the data-quality efforts of the full ATLAS muon system. Besides the detector operation and upgrade activities, we are focusing on precision measurements using W and Z bosons, studies of heavy ion collisions and searches for topological effects in QCD as well as axion like particles. Further information on the ATLAS experiment can be found here.

The FASER experiment at CERN aims at the search for weakly interacting particles that are produced in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. As founding members of the FASER Collaboration, we took over responsibilities in the calorimeter calibration system, the tracker commissioning, the support frame construction as well as the low-level readout systems. With our ERC grant on the search for axion-like particles, we are also involved in the development and the financing of the preshower upgrade of the FASER experiment. Further information on the experiment can be found here.

BabyIAXO aims for the search for axion-like particles, that are presumably produced in the sun. Most interestingly, the BabyIAXO experiments could test an interesting parameter space for QCD axions, i.e. those hypothetical particles that can explain the strong QCD problem. As founding members of the BabyIAXO Experiment, we took over the responsibility to develop and construct an active muon veto system with tracking and particle identification capabilities. The veto system does not only have to be highly efficient but also portable and have neutron detection capabilities that might pose an additional background for the experiment. Further information on the experiment can be found here.

Supax is haloscope experiment searching for QCD axions and based on a superconducting cavity operated currently in Mainz and from 2025 onwards in Bonn. We have been proposing Supax in 2021 and constructing it since. Supax will be sensitive to QCD axions with masses between 20 and 40 μeV, a region which is currently unexplored. First data was already taken and successfully analysed. Further information on the experiment can be found here.

Mergers of primordial black holes in the universe should yield high frequency gravitational waves with frequencies between several hundred MHz to several GHz. Such Gravitational waves should interact - similarly to axions - in a magnetic field within a resonant electromagnet cavity. Since gravitational wave signatures would appear nearly simultaneously across earth, we proposed to global network of dedicated cavity experiments enhancing the sensitivity to such fascinating signatures. Within GravNet, we are studying how to combine the signals from several experiments as well as construct first dedicated cavities. Further information on GravNet can be found here.