Deutsches Elektronen- Synchotron (DESY)

Explore the Microcosm

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DESY (German Electron Synchrotron) is one of the world’s leading accelerator centers. Researchers use the large-scale facilities at DESY to explore the microcosm in all its variety – from the interactions of tiny elementary particles and the behavior of new types of nanomaterials to bimolecular processes that are essential to life. The accelerators and detectors that DESY develops and builds are unique research tools. The facilities generate the world’s most intense X-ray light, accelerate particles to record energies and open completely new windows onto the universe. That makes DESY not only a magnet for more than 3000 guest researchers from over 40 countries every year, but also a coveted partner for national and international cooperation.

Committed young researchers find an exciting interdisciplinary setting at DESY. The research center offers specialized training for a large number of professions. DESY cooperates with industry and business to promote new technologies that will benefit society and encourage innovations. This also benefits the metropolitan regions of the two DESY locations, Hamburg and Zeuthen near Berin.

Student Story|Ivy Li, Physics '20

Ivy Li, Physics '20

The LHC is where the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) experiment helped to discover the Higgs boson in July 2012. I worked in DESY’s ATLAS group in Higgs research. The Higgs boson is one of the elementary particles in the Standard Model, a theory that describes the three fundamental forces (strong, weak, electromagnetic) in the universe that govern particle interactions. ATLAS is currently searching for particle physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). I analyzed data from Higgs boson simulations through DESY’s ATLAS group to help with the BSM search. The ATLAS group was a welcoming, wonderful place for me to work at.

Going to Hamburg for particle physics research was fantastic, not only for taking the next step in my career ambitions, but also to connect with physics in a different context. Hamburg is one of the greenest and most beautiful cities in Germany. I engaged with the natural world both at work and in my free time. Analyzing Higgs boson decays, walking through forests, working in an international collaboration, eating fruit from the farmers’ market, hearing lectures of the fundamental forces of our universe, and learning to overcome cultural barriers gave me confidence in a global setting and allowed me to connect to the world in a way I had never experienced before.

Student Story|Brad Bachu, Math and Physics '17

Brad Bachu, Math and Physics '17

With the invention of the Soft Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) by Professor Iain Stewart at MIT, many of the calculations required for precision theory predictions to identify deviations from the Standard Model have significantly been reduced in complexity. Frank Tackmann at DESY has been leading the development of a software to do such calculations called SCET-lib. At DESY, my contribution to SCET-lib permits the study of certain properties of the top quark, specifically the cross section. This work builds on my senior thesis at MIT, and allows physicists in the future to conduct more general studies of other particles in the future.

The DESY theory group provided an amazing community to do a summer project with. The theory group in building 1B consisted of professors, post docs, and graduate students, who always had their doors open willing to provide help when requested. Physics aside, the group continuously bonded eating lunch together, coffee breaks, movie nights, and also the occasional dinner on Friday evenings. I am very happy to have had the opportunity to meet the physicists at DESY and I hope to run into them again in the future.