Symmetry

Feeling left out of some traditional paths to community in particle physics, a group of Latin American researchers created their own way to connect.

Ground-based experiments designed to study the cosmic microwave background have gotten larger and more sophisticated over time. Now, nearly 200 scientists who have up until this point worked on different competing CMB experiments have joined forces to propose a fourth-generation experiment, the largest ground-based one yet, called CMB-S4.

A strong regional tradition of high-energy physics and astrophysics—plus the aspirations of one young researcher—brought the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-ray Observatory to Mexico.

A collaboration with fewer than 100 members has played an important role in Fermilab’s ongoing partnership with Latin American scientists and institutions.

A series of short physics schools organized in collaboration with CERN has had an outsized impact on the careers of scientists from Latin America.

Today, as vice president of research at the University of Colima in Mexico, Alfredo Ananda’s main occupation is building a more certain route to a research career for Latin American students. He does this by providing them with challenging academics and international connections.

Advances in subatomic physics heavily depend on ingenuity and technology. And when it comes to discovering the nature of some of the most elusive particles in the universe, neutrinos, scientists need the best and most sensitive detector technology possible. Scientists working at CERN have started tests of a new neutrino detector prototype, using a very promising technology called “dual phase.”

In the last few decades, Argentina and Chile have proven themselves prime spots for astronomical observation — a status that has been a boon in many ways for both countries.

Many researchers from Latin America can trace their entry into experimental particle physics to an initiative started by former Fermilab Director Leon Lederman.

Early Tuesday morning, three physicists—James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz—were rewarded for decades seminal contributions to advancing science with a phone call from Stockholm. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded “for contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth’s place in the cosmos.”