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Strategic lines
Fundamental research
At the heart of the Institute’s scientific programme, research in the field of physics of the infinitely small is organised according to three main themes, which sketch out the main lines of the discipline, the aims of which are as follows:
- Towards the elementary: identify the most elementary constituents of matter, understand the way in which they interact and determine the origin of their masses
- Towards the complex: reconstruct the manner in which these elementary objects come together to form the first structures, protons and neutrons, up to the nuclei formed from their assemblies, and understand the latter’s structure and behaviour
- Using the Universe as a laboratory: access energies far greater than those accessible in an accelerator in order to get as close as possible to the very structure of matter and deepen understanding of the Universe (the infinitely large) by making available all the resources held by physicists of the infinitely small, particles and nuclei playing a primordial role in the evolution of the Universe
Thus, from the infinitely small to the infinitely large, we successively cover particle physics, nuclear and hadronic physics, then the more recent field of astroparticle physics, to which is associated that of neutrino physics, the implications for which are also significant in the physics of the Universe.
Dedicated instrumentation
The instruments used to conduct such explorations, basic tools within the field, are as follows:
- particle accelerators
- particle detectors placed with high-energy accelerators
- ground-based or built-on instruments used to observe high-energy cosmic rays emanating from the violent phenomena occurring in the Universe or the cosmological manifestations of particle physics
Advancing in the field of the infinitely small requires ever more powerful, perfected instruments, with their performance determining the progress that can be made in the discipline. Researchers, engineers and technicians participate in the laboratory-based design and construction of these innovative tools as they always stand at the limit of existing technology.
Close links with other disciplines
The scientific and instrument competencies of the Institute are opened out to the benefit of other scientific fields as much as possible. Thus, strong links have been created with other scientific fields of the CNRS:
- with astrophysics and cosmology, via nuclear astrophysics and particle astrophysics
- with chemical sciences, via nuclear chemistry and radiochemistry
- with material physics
- with life sciences via fruitful instrumentation collaborations, notably through medical imagery and the use of accelerators for therapeutic purposes
As regards questions relating to downstream of the nuclear-energy cycle, a close cooperation focusing on radioactive waste storage has been undertaken with chemistry and earth sciences, whilst nuclear physicists are working to develop innovative systems to enable this waste to be incinerated.
A strong partnership with universities and the CEA
The Institute’s laboratories are all jointly managed with the universities or higher-education bodies where they are based. Working at the heart of them are teachers involved in cutting-edge research and students preparing doctoral theses. The Institute is a site providing high-level training in fundamental physics and high technologies. The PhD students preparing in its laboratories acquire double competency – in research and in major project management - and recognised expertise in terms of both research and industry.
Moreover, for a number of years there has been close cooperation in place between the IN2P3 and the CEA, the latter also focusing on this field of physics through its research Institute on the fundamental laws of the Universe (Irfu).
Links with society and the social and economic world
As a fundamental research institute at the cutting edge of technology, IN2P3 commits to helping with the issues faced by society, to which it can provide answers. Its involvement occurs on several different levels:
- in research on the future of radioactive waste and on future modes of energy generation
- in the design and development of new instruments for diagnostics and therapy in medicine
- in the distribution of high-technology microelectronics resources to the world of business
- in offering the industrial and economic world the benefit of the competencies acquired in the computer processing of large data masses
