The continuing education of students and professionals in the world of science is essential for advancing up the academic ladder. The development of the diverse research that scientists conduct is generally linked to the training programs they embark on after completing their undergraduate studies.
In this context, the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID), through its annual competitions for postgraduate scholarships, especially doctoral scholarships, allows many young people, recently graduated from their undergraduate studies, to continue their studies in those institutions that they consider most compatible with their incipient lines of research, which are built continuously and in accordance with what they have been exploring with their tutors since before.
The SAPHIR Millennium Institute has a solid training of students at its different educational levels. To this end, each of our principal investigators acts as a leader of groups of young trainees entering PhD programs at our host universities related to particle physics.
In the last ANID PhD competition, our institute had three new PhD students selected with the coveted scholarship. They are: Paulo Areyuna, Mariel Poduje and Daniella Mora.
"Doing a PhD is the final phase of training as a scientist. Although in a bachelor's or master's degree you do research, it is always guided; in a doctorate, you work autonomously, which is a necessary step to dedicate yourself to science and make a living from it," says Paulo.
Under the supervision and guidance of academic Giovanna Cottin, his research will focus on exploring the connections between long-lived particles and modifications in the cosmological history of the universe. "Long-lived particles are particles that disintegrate into more stable particles, but over a long period of time. Because of this, they are expected to produce exotic signals at particle colliders, which are extensively searched for. On the other hand, there are still questions about the events that originated the universe as we know it today, particularly in relation to what happened shortly after the Big Bang. There are several models that explain the effects that long-lived particles could have on the evolution of the universe, so the idea is to use the searches for these particles to unravel what exactly happened in the early universe," Areyuna explains.
Mariel Poduje, who is also part of the PME project: "Atomic Girls" (promoted by SAPHIR, through Francisca Garay and Giovanna Cottin), says: "Starting my doctoral studies is a fundamental step to consolidate the academic career that I have built since undergraduate, always guided by curiosity and the dream of being part of a solid research that contributes to the particle physics community".
As for the future development of her PhD, Mariel will focus her efforts on proposing and developing strategies for the search of long-lived particles at the Future Circular Collider (FCC). "The future collider proposed by CERN, in the framework of heavy neutral lepton models (HNLs), whose hypothetical existence allows a non-zero mass for neutrinos in the Standard Model, is being studied. We investigate the possibility of finding long-lived HNLs in the GeV mass range, in the FCC electron-positron (FCC-ee) mode, where higher luminosity is expected. To this end, we are developing experimental projections that simulate the signal of an HNL in a detector, based on theoretical predictions. With respect to this project, I hope to continue advancing with research at a good pace, always developing in new areas and with novel questions", says Poduje.
For her part, Daniella Mora, a physics graduate from UNAB, says: "Studying for a doctorate is a great opportunity to dedicate myself fully to what I am most passionate about: trying to understand and 'uncover' the secrets of the universe from the perspective provided by particle physics. Winning the ANID Fellowship is a great boost, as it will allow me to fully concentrate on research, alleviating any external concerns that may arise."
In the future, Daniella sees herself working in research, either in academia or in specialized centers, contributing to answer key questions about physics beyond the Standard Model. Her main goal is to have a life dedicated to continuous learning and making meaningful contributions.
"During this stage, I will dedicate myself to the study of long-lived particles (LLPs) in new generation colliders, such as the FCC in its electron-positron (e-e+) and hadron-hadron (hh) stages, under the supervision of SAPHIR research associate Giovanna Cottin. These particles, predicted in theories beyond the Standard Model, have the peculiarity of traveling unusual distances before disintegrating, which makes them difficult to detect but key to discover new physics. I hope to contribute with theoretical and computational tools through the field of phenomenology in particle physics to optimize the search for these particles and, hopefully, contribute to bring us closer to new discoveries in physics", concludes Daniella, sharing her expectations for the development of her doctoral research.