About us

Back row, L to R: Rachel Houtz, Andrea Caputo, Chloe Ransom, Simon King, Olcyr Sumensari, Bruno Martin, Sam Witte, Elena Perdomo, Edoardo Vitagliano, Julia Stadler and Julia Gehrlein
Front row, L to R: Nuno Agostinho, Álvaro Hernández, Rupert Coy, Gonzalo Alonso, Xabier Marcano and Josu Hernández

Elusives is a European ITN project (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015//674896-ELUSIVES), which focuses on Neutrino and Dark Matter phenomenology and their connection, with emphasis on the role of the symmetry relating matter and antimatter. Experimental and theoretical aspects are also encompassed. The network involves nodes in six European countries and its associated partners extend to seven non-European countries.

Neutrinos and Dark Matter are the most abundant and also the most elusive building-blocks of nature because of their tenuous couplings to the ordinary matter we are made of. Each particle has a mirror image with identical mass and opposite charge: its antiparticle. What is the essential nature of particles and antiparticles? This is a most fundamental open question in science. The laws of physics are almost -but not quite- symmetric for particles and antiparticles, and this could explain why the universe is made of matter, i.e. why we are here. Tiny differences detected in visible matter are largely insufficient, while an asymmetric behaviour of neutrinos or of DM may be the seed. In turn, the unnaturally symmetric behaviour of strong interactions points to a new particle, the axion, also a superb DM candidate. For the first time, the connection between these asymmetries in the visible and invisible world will be addressed. Very timely, an ambitious experimental search of asymmetric behaviour has been launched on neutrinos, axions and other DM, and the Higgs, with imminent major breakthroughs. The path to understand the Universe and build the New Standard Model must confront this problem. The mission of Elusives ITN is to form the new generation of researchers to accomplish this task, focusing on phenomenology with the necessary link to experiment. This is the first transnational such program, exploiting the capital investment in new experiments and overcoming the fragmentation of the research effort.

Elusives ITN is uniquely placed to achieve this task:

1. World-leadership in all relevant scientific areas is present
2. A multidisciplinary approach fosters the neutrino-dark matter synergy
3. In addition to theorists, it includes neutrino and dark matter experimentalists; theory-experiment cross training is a characteristic of this ITN
4. Outstanding training record
5. Partnership of major HEP international laboratories and key experiments
6. Partnership with world-leading cutting-edge research-related industry
7. Strong expertise in outreach and communication with three dedicated companies including a major national newspaper
8. Top quality expertise from emerging countries
9. Optimal in gender balance and role models, with over 50% female international leaders as coordinators.

This European project will provide funding for PhD and young postdoc positions, from 2016 on.

This program is synergetic with that of the FP7 ITN invisibles (www.invisibles.eu) which is about to finish, building upon its expertise and exploring a new scientific realm. Iy will also run in parallel with the recently approved “staff-exchange” EC RISE project InvisiblesPlus (www.invisiblesplus.eu) which will complement the action of Elusives.

For a  list of network members (including both beneficiary or partner nodes) and friends of the network, please click here (under construction).