The Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEF) is an integral part of Nikhef, the national institute for subatomic physics. The research focuses on both theoretical and experimental particle and astroparticle physics. The IHEF is a division of the Institute of Physics (IoP).

Prof. dr. ir. Paul de Jong is head of the division.

Research at IHEF

Particle and Astroparticle Physics is the research program of the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEF). This institute is an integral part of Nikhef, the national institute of subatomic physics.

IHEF scientists at the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN study the Higgs particle and top quarks, and search for new particles associated with dark matter, or with supersymmetry. Large parts of the ATLAS detector were built by IHEF scientists, and new components are now being designed and constructed at Nikhef.

Cosmic and atmospheric neutrinos will be studied by the KM3NeT experiment, and IHEF scientists are deeply involved in its construction in the Mediterranean Sea. KM3NeT will search for the sources of high-energy cosmic neutrinos, and determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. IHEF scientists are also analyzing the data of the predecessor of KM3NeT, the Antares neutrino telescope.

Finding direct evidence for dark matter particles is the aim of the XENON collaboration. The XENON1T experiment is installed at the underground Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy.

The experimental efforts are supported by a theory group and an advanced-computing group, and the detector R&D group studies advanced particle detection technologies for the experiments and for society.

More information can be found on the Nikhef website: