Theses

Nuclei are prototypical examples of self-bound and strongly correlated quantum systems. Nuclear momentum distributions contain the information about the nuclear ground state in the momentum space. Over the last decade a technique to compute nuclear momentum distributions over the full momentum range has been developed in the research group Theoretical Nuclear Physics and Statistical Physics.

The goal of the thesis is to numerically study the impact of the fat tails of the momentum distributions on the complexity of atomic nuclei.

Supervisors:​ Jan Ryckebusch

Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness in a system, reflecting the system’s level of uncertainty or information content. The concept of entropy is not uniquely relevant to thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, but can also be applied in the analysis of time series, in particular financial data.

Entropic complexity measures can be used to quantify market volatility and to characterize sudden economic events that can induce abrupt changes with potentially long-term consequences.

Supervisors:​ Jan Ryckebusch, Stijn De Backer

The discrete-time quantum walk can be looked upon as the quantum counterpart of the classical random walk. It distinguishes itself from the classical random walk by the fact that the randomness does not arise from a stochastic transition between states, but from the inherent unpredictability of the outcome of a quantum measurement process.

In recent times, the quantum walk algorithm has been proposed as a promising tool to model the temporal evolution of financial assets.
Advanced adaptations of the quantum walk can serve as a building block of more sophisticated quantum computation algorithms.

Supervisors:​ Jan Ryckebusch, Stijn De Backer

Since the experimental confirmation of neutrino oscillations, several collaborations worldwide are working on extending our knowledge about neutrino masses and mixing angles.

With this master thesis project, we aim at using the cross section modeling tools developed in our research group to provide dedicated cross section predictions for targets and reaction channels in the energy regime relevant for ESSnuSB.

Supervisors:​ Natalie Jachowicz, Kajetan Niewczas

While the future generation of accelerator-based neutrino experiments are built with the primary aim of enhancing our knowledge on neutrino oscillations and determing the CP violating phase, the detectors that are constructed are also able to observe the low-energy neutrinos reaching the Earth from a galactic supernova.

The aim of this master proof is to study these low energy neutrino-nucleus cross sections and investigate the role of nuclear effects and uncertainties for supernova neutrino detection.

Supervisors:​ Natalie Jachowicz

Coherent pion production refers to pion-nucleus scattering that leaves the nucleus intact.

In this project, we aim to model coherent pion production following a method based on the Gent model for pion production with a relativistic mean field (RMF) model for the bound nucleon states.

This thesis subject offers the opportunity to spend a research stay in the neutrino research group of Complutense University of Madrid or University of Seville

Supervisors:​ Natalie Jachowicz, Javier Garcia Marcos

In long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrinos are produced with a broad energy range. This results in several competing reaction mechanisms for the neutrino-nucleus interaction used for detecting the neutrino, that all need to be modeled in order to fully understand the oscillation signal.

The goal of this project is to explore the development of a kaon production model for lepton-induced charged-current kaon production.

Supervisors:​ Natalie Jachowicz, Javier Garcia Marcos

In neutrino-nucleus scattering experiments, neutrino energies typically span a broad range. Neutrino-induced single pion production
constitutes a large part of the signal in present and future oscillation experiments aiming at measuring the CP violating phase in the leptonic sector.

Our model for single pion production is under development, especially at higher values of the invariant masses. A master thesis in this research line aims to extend the electroweak single pion production model and implement the new developments in the computational model. In this context, several topics are available for the thesis research.

Supervisors:​ Natalie Jachowicz, Matthias Hooft

In our group, we study interactions of neutrinos with bound nucleons inside atomic nuclei, providing essential theoretical input needed to conduct neutrino measurements and experimental analyses. Modeling neutrino-nucleus scattering processes is a complex many-body problem, traditionally performed in the independent-particle picture, focusing on the quasielastic neutrino-nucleon interactions or the excitation of nucleon resonances.

For this project the student will work directly with our numerical code, contributing to its further development. The multidimensional cross section calculations involve extensive numerical calculations on the computer cluster, which utilize analytical and numerical integration methods depending on the final purpose.

Supervisors:​ Natalie Jachowicz, Kajetan Niewczas