- juliedalgobbo
Name: Daniel Blixt
Current position: Postdoc
Affiliation: Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Naples, Italy
Field of research: Theoretical physics (Modified gravity)
What is your career trajectory to date?
After finishing my Bachelor and Master studies at Stockholm University, I immediately started a PhD at the University of Tartu. I remained very shortly a Postdoc there until I moved to Scuola Superiore Meridionale for my current position.
What are the most exciting open questions in your research area?
What are the observational predictions of modified teleparallel theories? Presence of strongly coupled fields have made this question surprisingly difficult to answer in this field.
What do you like and dislike about being a scientist?
Uncertainty for the future. However, I am currently very lucky to have a 3 year position which is quite long for a postdoc.
Which of your skills are you most proud of, or find most useful?
A good coworker. Being able to contribute to several projects side by side and have constructive discussions which makes all of us grow together.
In your career so far, at what point were you the most excited, and what were you excited about?
When I got accepted as a PhD student at the University of Tartu. It was the first time in memory I moved out from my hometown, and I was very interested in the PhD topic.
What new skills would you like to learn in the next year?
I would like to learn more about effective field theories and quantum gravity. Also I would like to improve my programming and teaching skills.
What advances or new results are you excited about or looking forward to?
Observational predictions in teleparallel gravity. I have a feeling that the teleparallel community have reached a point of wisdom where we soon can make reliable predictions in the field.
What role do you think a community network like EuCAPT can play in developing theoretical astroparticle physics and cosmology in Europe?
Networking is very important to push science forward. Our knowledge grows when we interact. Initiatives should optimally be done both in person and online.
What’s your favorite food?
Chole (Indian chickpea dish)
Have you lived in a different European country than you do now? If so, would you like to tell us something about it, e.g. a fond memory or something you found surprising?
I grew up in Sweden and spent 5 years in Estonia. In both countries I have spent a lot of time hiking in the forest which have been wonderful. In Estonia I met my wife from who I have gotten a lot of support.
How do you like to relax after a hard day of work?
I like to eat some good food. Either at home or at a restaurant with friends.
Do you have any non-physics interests that you would like to share?
I practice Kendo (Japanese martial art) twice a week. I also love traveling and spending time in nature.
If you were not a scientist, what do you think you would be doing?
I would be a high school teacher.
What do you hope to see accomplished scientifically in the next 50 years?
I would like to contribute to deeper insights regarding gravity. Hopefully the progress we make helps solving some of the mysterious of cosmology.
- juliedalgobbo
Name: Ruth Durrer
Current position: Faculty
Affiliation: Department of Theoretical physics, Geneva University
Field of research: Cosmology : Large scale structure, weak lensing, CMB, cosmic magnetic fields, GW background, phase transitions in the early Universe
What is your career trajectory to date?
I did my undergraduate & graduate studies in Zürich. After this, in 1988, we moved to Cambridge as a postdoc (with 2 little children). After that we went to Princeton (with 3 little ones). Since 1995 I am full professor at Geneva University.
What are the most exciting open questions in your research area?
Can we test General Relativity with cosmological observations?
What do you like and dislike about being a scientist?
I love discussions with my fellow scientists and, especially with my students. I love to sit down and do a calculation which helps me understand a topic. I hate grant application an evaluations and all other admin business.
In your career so far, at what point were you the most excited, and what were you excited about?
I was very excited when I realised that measuring galaxy correlations on large scale actually does not only contain information about the density field but also about our background lightcone and hence about the spacetime geometry.
What advances or new results are you excited about or looking forward to?
I look forward to see that we can do with the Rubin Observatory LSST and with Euclid, especially the photometric survey.
What is the biggest obstacle that is slowing down your research field right now?
Bias : How complicated is the relation between the matter distribution and the galaxy distribution in the Universe ?
What role do you think a community network like EuCAPT can play in developing theoretical astroparticle physics and cosmology in Europe?
I hope it brings us all closer together as a community.
How do you like to relax after a hard day of work?
I like to hang out with friends and chat with a glass of nice wine.
If you were not a scientist, what do you think you would be doing?
I would be a farmer.
What do you hope to see accomplished scientifically in the next 50 years?
We will hopefully solve at least one of the 'dark' questions : what is Dark matter ? or what is Dark energy ?
- juliedalgobbo
Name: Andrea Caputo
Current position: Postdoc
Affiliation: CERN
Field of research: Dark Matter direct and indirect detection, particle physics in stars, collider physics
What is your career trajectory to date?
I graduated in Theoretical Physics from University of Rome La Sapienza in 2016. After that I moved to Valencia for my PhD with Prof. Pilar Hernandez, within the ITN European Network Elusives. I then held a postdoc position for 2 years (2020-2022) at Tel Aviv University and Weizmann, in Israel, and I am now since November 2022 a Senior Postdoc at CERN-TH.
What are the most exciting open questions in your research area?
The most exciting question for me is: what is dark matter? This is the questions which drives my work, the fact we do not understand 80% of the matter in the universe drives me crazy.
What do you like and dislike about being a scientist?
I like the possibility to work on fundamental questions and do what I like, including hard core computations, and to think a lot. I also love to travel to present my research and to chat with smart, stimulating people all over the world. There is nothing I particularly dislike, I think it's a wonderful job.
What advances or new results are you excited about or looking forward to?
I am looking forward for the data of missions such as SKA, SPHEREx, Athena for the indirect detection of dark matter, as well as new experiments for direct detection to run in the next years, including IAXO and ALPSII.
What’s your favorite food?
Parmigiana di melanzane.
How do you like to relax after a hard day of work?
Gym and football, or just watch a movie or go out with my girlfriend, or friends.
Do you have any non-physics interests that you would like to share?
I love working out in the gym and play football.
If you were not a scientist, what do you think you would be doing?
A consultant in some strategic company.
What do you hope to see accomplished scientifically in the next 50 years?
Finding axion dark matter both in the sky and in the lab.