The Swiss Institute of Particle Physics (CHIPP) is the bottom-up organisation of Swiss particle and astroparticle physics researchers in Switzerland as a legal entity of Swiss law. CHIPP is tasked with coordinating the national efforts in the realm of particle and astroparticle physics.
This is achieved by keeping a continuous dialogue between the particle physicists of different cantonal universities and federal institutes. CHIPP is recognized as the representative of Swiss particle physics both nationally and internationally. It awards yearly a Prize to a PhD student, supports workshops and conferences, organises PhD schools, and develops outreach projects.
Events, News, Publications
CERN and Switzerland: Seven decades of close collaboration and some lesser-known facts
2024 is the year that CERN turns 70. Its close connection to Switzerland is no secret, after all the confederation is one of the lab’s host countries and heavily involved in its physics programme by way of many universities and research institutes in the country. But what role does Winston Churchill play in this collaboration? And did you know that the canton of Geneva almost didn’t become host to the world’s largest particle accelerator (to date)? That there was a lot of improvisation in the early days and that the CERN-Swiss ties even extend up into space? Read on to find out more…
Image: CERNCHIPP PhD Winter School of Particle Physics 2025
The Swiss Institute for Particle Physics (CHIPP) hosts an annual winter school based on the activities of the swiss institutes involved in particle and astro-particle physics. The purpose of the school is to offer young physicists an opportunity to learn about recent advances in elementary-particle physics from local and world-leading researchers. The school program includes lectures on accelerator and non-accelerator particle physics (detectors, LHC physics, neutrinos, astrophysics, flavor physics) from an experimental and phenomenological perspective.
Image: CHIPPPiles of pile-up data turned to good use
Researcher Steven Schramm and his team from the University of Geneva have found a way to make use of the unloved and unwanted extra-stuff from the collisions of the ATLAS experiment: they turn it into a new dataset with the potential to perform precision tests for the Standard Model of particle physics and probes for potential future collider collisions. A study described in a reference paper shows that it is possible to extract the jet energy resolution from this extra data.
Image: denisismagilov, stock.adobe.comCHIPP prize 2024: When physics comes to life
Congratulations to Gabriela Rodrigues Araujo, this year’s winner of the CHIPP prize for the best thesis in particle physics! Gabriela is a neutrino explorer – exploring those events whose particular feature is a lack of neutrinos. She knows almost everything there is to know about the shy little beasts that cross our paths in abundance without us noticing and she’s set to find out even more. Currently a postdoc at the University of Zurich, she leads the R&D efforts in imaging techniques for PALEOCCENE, a collaboration she helped initiate and advance.
Image: Gabriela AraujoDark matter under Black Hills
Thanks to new arrival Björn Penning, the University of Zurich is now a member of another epic dark matter experiment.
Image: Google photoNeutrino experiment comes back to life
Good news from the “T2K” neutrino experiment project in Japan: it has started taking data again at the end of last year after an extensive upgrade of its neutrino beam and the near detector. The near detector is very firmly in the hands of Swiss institutes – University of Geneva and ETH Zurich. Federico Sánchez from the University of Geneva gives an update of what has happened and what we can expect.
Image: J-PARC/Rey.HoriContact
Swiss Institute of Particle Physics (CHIPP)
c/o Prof. Dr. Ben Kilminster
UZH
Department of Physics
36-J-50
Winterthurerstrasse 190
8057 Zürich
Switzerland