It’s been three weeks since I concluded my term as Exotics convener of the ATLAS collaboration, a role which put me at the heart of the programme of searches for new particles and interactions at the LHC fo two years. It’s been an intense but fulfilling ride and I wanted to dedicate a post toContinue reading “Looking back on two years as ATLAS Exotics convener”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
How a tiny flash of light can set a field ablaze
Image: the event which has sent the particle physics community into overdrive, indicated by the yellow arrows. Plot as presented by Sam Eriksen at the TeVPA 2026 conference on behalf of the LZ collaboration. On 16 June 2023 at 3:22pm and 39 seconds local time, at the bottom of a disused mine deep in SouthContinue reading “How a tiny flash of light can set a field ablaze”
Two lessons from ICHEP
Image: Me chairing a session on searches for particles beyond the Standard Model at ICHEP 2026. Photo by Giuliano Gustavino. About a month ago, I attended the “International Conference on High Energy Physics” (or ICHEP for short), which is the largest conference in the field and happens every two years. In contrast to Moriond, whichContinue reading “Two lessons from ICHEP”
The LHC is dead. Long live the HL-LHC!
Image: A screen shot of the “LHC Page 1” (accessible here), which is our real-time window on LHC operation (or lack thereof). This page is shown on screen all around CERN, including, most importantly, the coffee area. It’s now been three weeks since the LHC collided its last hadrons. After a bumpy start in 2008,Continue reading “The LHC is dead. Long live the HL-LHC!”
The machines are coming to steal our jobs (kidding, but let’s use them properly)
Image: You may be surprised that this illustration I have used was not AI generated! It has been used in literally dozens of web articles dealing with AI and jobs, but none give any citation for the original artist. Doing a reverse image search, the earliest use of it I find is 2013 (long beforeContinue reading “The machines are coming to steal our jobs (kidding, but let’s use them properly)”
The Look Elsewhere Effect in the age of AI
Image: A fascinating plot from the days where the first hints of the Higgs boson started to appear in early LHC data by CMS [Publication]. In addition to the actual Higgs boson peak, the plot shows “evidence” (at the 3σ level) for two other particles, with masses around 140 and 170 GeV). These turned outContinue reading “The Look Elsewhere Effect in the age of AI”
The ATLAS search community is coming to Clermont-Ferrand!
Image: A graphic I used in my interview for my job as junior professor at Université Clermont Auvergne. It’s an adaptation of “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” by Caspar David Friedrich, but I photoshopped out the fog in favour of the beautiful Chaîne des Puys which Clermont-Ferrand is nestled in. About a month ago,Continue reading “The ATLAS search community is coming to Clermont-Ferrand!”
An ode to Moriond
Image: The conference photo for the 60th edition of the “Rencontres de Moriond: Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories”. I’m somewhere on the left side of the zero. Credit: Moriond. This March, I had the pleasure of attending the “Rencontres de Moriond: Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories” conference (“Moriond” for short). It is one of theContinue reading “An ode to Moriond”
If Particle Physics were a railway, who would lay the track and who would drive the trains?
Image: LHC magnet being assembled. If Particle Physics were a railway, CERN would be in charge of laying and maintaining the tracks and signalling. Image © CERN. This weekend, I’ve been visiting some friends from my university days. While catching up, they asked me a question which I get a lot: are you still workingContinue reading “If Particle Physics were a railway, who would lay the track and who would drive the trains?”
High Energy Physics is a generational project
Image: The planned location of the Future Circular Collider at CERN. Credit: CERN. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the entire field of particle physics is less than 130 years old. I pick as a starting point the date that we discovered our first fundamental particle: the electron (discovered in 1897 by J. J. Thompson).Continue reading “High Energy Physics is a generational project “