Astronomy and Astrophysics Division
The astronomy division supports research in important forefront areas of astrophysics, from exoplanets/stars, high-energy and multi-messenger astrophysics, to galaxies and cosmology, including theory/computation, observation and laboratory astrophysics.
Currently, the division is active in the following areas:
- Galaxies and cosmology: galaxy evolution, large-scale structure of the universe, cosmology.
- High-energy and relativistic astrophysics: compact objects (black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs), gravitational waves, particle astrophysics
- Exoplanets and stars: discovery and characterization of exoplanets (including atmospheres), dynamics and formation of planetary systems, stellar astrophysics
- Plasma astrophysics: laboratory astrophysics, high-energy density plasmas
The astronomy division works closely with the particle physics division, on particle astrophysics, dark matter search and other frontiers in fundamental physics. The astrophysics division expect to recruit many faculty members in the coming years, are open to expand/strengthen in other important areas of astrophysics. Some of the resources include the data access of DESI, PFS, SKA and the AliCPT CMB experiment. SHTDLC participates in several high-energy astrophysics’ projects such as EHT, LHASSO and SWGO. Available computing resource is the division’s local cluster (384 nodes).
SHTDLC astrophysics division has a visitor’s program and organize topical workshops and conferences each year to create a scientifically stimulating environment. The division sponsors several prize postdoctoral fellows each year, together with a number of project postdoc fellows.
Condensed Matter Division
Fundamental Condensed Matter Science is a branch of fundamental physics concerning nature at the small length scales of atoms and subatomic particles, including the properties of atomic and molecular, condensed matter (materials), nuclei and elementary particles. Understanding these collective behaviors and application of the nature of matter is the key toward the next generation of technology that defines human civilization.
Our division of SHTDLC intend to build world-class research teams on the following area:
1. Exploration of new states of matter: out-of-equilibrium, open systems, for example, time crystal; light-matter coupled systems, cold molecules; states with non-trivial topology and symmetry.
2. Understanding and improved control of emergent phenomena in many-body systems: Quasi-particles of fractional statistics, anyons; Non-abelian operation and long-rage entanglement; Description of doped Mott insulators, bad metals, and other non-Fermi liquid behaviors; Unconventional high-temperature superconductivity
3. New experimental, computational, and theoretical capabilities
Particle and Nuclear Physics Division
The Particle and Nuclear Physics Division at Shanghai Tsung-Dao Lee Center consists of an experimental group and a theory group. The experimental group’s research projects include direct dark matter detection (PandaX), neutrinoless double beta decay, and others. The theory group studies tests of the Standard Model (SM), new physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM), and their connections to cosmology and astrophysics.
Dark Matter
There are several reliable and independent pieces of evidence for the existence of dark matter in the universe. Dark matter contributes about 23% of the current energy density of the universe. Apart from gravitational interactions, almost nothing is known about the properties of dark matter, such as its mass, its interactions with Standard Model particles, its self-interactions, the number of species, and so on. Studying the nature of dark matter remains one of the most important tasks in modern physics. There are three traditional strategies for dark matter detection: direct detection, indirect detection, and collider searches. Members of Shanghai Tsung-Dao Lee Center have made important contributions in all three directions. The PandaX experiment is one of the world-leading collaborations for direct dark matter detection. It provides one of the best classes of constraints on the interaction strength between dark matter and nucleons. In addition to the traditional dark matter searches mentioned above, members of Shanghai Tsung-Dao Lee Center are also actively exploring new strategies for dark matter searches.
TeV-Scale Physics
After decades of exploration, the Higgs boson (125 GeV) was finally discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012, marking a turning point in particle physics. The particle content of the Standard Model (SM) appears complete, but this is far from the end of the story. The discovery of the Higgs boson has opened a new door for exploring new physics beyond the Standard Model. The vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field is determined by the Fermi constant v = 246 GeV, which sets the mass scale for all Standard Model particles. However, from naive field theory expectations, the probability of observing a Higgs particle with a mass of 125 GeV is surprisingly low. This is commonly referred to as the gauge hierarchy problem. Moreover, the mass spectrum of matter particles in the Standard Model is highly spread out, ranging from the top quark mass of 173 GeV to the electron mass of 0.511 MeV, and further to neutrino masses of O(0.1 eV). Understanding the mass puzzle is one of the major challenges facing modern physics. The Large Hadron Collider provides an ideal environment for studying the gauge hierarchy problem, since most of its explanations require new particles beyond the Standard Model to appear at the TeV scale. Through a top-down approach, one can start from some ultraviolet theory and study the predicted new particles or new phenomena. On the other hand, through a bottom-up approach, one can explore deviations of Higgs boson properties from the Standard Model. Understanding the newly discovered Higgs boson (125 GeV) and searching for new physics beyond the Standard Model are key tasks in particle physics today. Members of Shanghai Tsung-Dao Lee Center are actively working at this frontier.
Technical Division
In order to assure the high-level scientific research at Shanghai Tsung-Dao Lee Center, it is of great importance to build a professional research team that supports the large-scale scientific research and projects.
The Technical Division mainly serves the two major experimental platforms (Experimental Platform for Laboratory Astrophysics and Experimental Platform for Topological Materials) and three advance bases (the JUST Spectral Telescope, the TRIDENT Neutrino Telescope in the South China Sea and the PandaX Dark Matter and Neutrino Detector), and is responsible for the research and development, operation and maintenance, and management of instrumentation and equipment for large-scale scientific projects, as well as playing a supportive role for scientific research in the areas of mechanical engineering, electronics, optical engineering (laser technology), micro- and nano-processing technology, computing, and other general areas.