Current Lab events

The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, despite its remarkable success in explaining a vast array of phenomena, remains incomplete. Crucially, it fails to account for Dark Matter (DM) and the Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe (BAU), highlighting the need for physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM).

A necessary ingredient to dynamically generate the observed baryon–antibaryon asymmetry is the presence of additional sources of CP violation beyond those present in the SM. As a result, precision measurements of CP-odd observables serve as powerful probes of BSM scenarios. Among these, Electric Dipole Moments (EDMs) stand out as exceptionally sensitive tests of new CP-violating physics.

In this talk, I will discuss how EDM searches can probe dark sectors, which offer rich scenarios for viable DM candidates and may also introduce the necessary ingredients for successful baryogenesis. I will focus on the phenomenology of a CP violating portal between the Dark Sector and SM, possible if the Dark Sector interactions stem from a non-abelian gauge symmetry.

Finally, I will describe EDM searches in a model independent framework, using Effective Field Theories (EFT). I will discuss how, including loop effects in the EFT, EDM experiments can test a wide variety of CP-odd operators.

The goal of my work was to estimate the Hubble constant $H_0$ through the study of the quadruply lensed, variable QSO SDSSJ1433+6007. I combined multi-filter, archival HST data for lens modelling with a dedicated 3-year long time-delay monitoring campaign using the 2.1 m Fraunhofer telescope at the Wendelstein Observatory.\\
The lens modelling was performed with the public lenstronomy Python package individually for the infrared data, utilizing the higher resolution of the optical data to constrain image positions a priori. This approach revealed two luminous contaminants in one of the near-infrared exposures, which would bias the lensing potentials and cosmological inference if not accounted for. After masking these contaminants, I repeated the modelling and combined the lens posteriors, obtaining a constraint on the Fermat potential with a precision of $\sim 3.3\,\%$.\\
The g'-band Wendelstein light-curve data was reduced and then analyzed using a free-knot spline fitting method implemented in the public Python PyCS3 tools, accounting for microlensing correction. I obtained a precision of $\sim6.6\%$ for the time delays between the QSO images.
By combining the posteriors for the Fermat potential differences and time delays, and assuming a flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, I inferred a Hubble constant of $ H_0 = 73.7^{+4.3}_{-3.9}\frac{\text{km}}{\text{s Mpc}}$ achieving $\sim 6\,\%$ uncertainty for this single system.