About our research
Research institute
The Master’s specialisation Particle and Astrophysics is offered in close collaboration with the Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP). The overarching research theme of IMAPP is the origin and evolution of the universe and its underlying mathematical structures. Examples of research at IMAPP include the investigation of the Higgs boson particle, the image of a black hole and gravitational waves.
Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP)
Research departments
During your Master's you will do at least one internship at one of our research departments. Relevant departments are:
High Energy Physics (HEP) performs exciting, cutting-edge theoretical and experimental research in Quantum Fields, Particles and Gravity. Its scientific aim is to uncover the ultimate building blocks of matter, space and time and the fundamental laws governing their interaction at extremely high energies and short distances, beyond currently established theories.
The Universe forms a laboratory for extreme physics, in which events take place that cannot be recreated on Earth and which are settled at or even beyond the edge of our knowledge of physics. They involve the complex interplay between gas, dust, cosmic rays, gravitational waves and magnetic fields with planets, stars, black holes and galaxies. The Department of Astrophysics aims to understand these phenomena using theoretical, computational and observational approaches and by developing new high-tech (space) instruments.
Researchers
Get to know our researchers and their work, you could be working alongside them in this Master's!
Research projects
Curious what are researchers are working on? Discover our current projects.
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Solar Orbiter Mission
Solar Orbiter is a mission dedicated to solar and heliospheric physics. It was selected as the first medium-class mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Programme.
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Africa Millimetre Telescope
Astronomers from Radboud University have teamed up with the University of Namibia to realise a millimetre-wave radio telescope in Africa, to provide an essential link in the network of telescopes around the globe known as the Event Horizon Telescope.
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Polarisation around Black Holes
The Event Horizon Telescope is a global effort to construct an Earth-sized virtual radio telescope array that can be used for making pictures and films of two neighbouring supermassive black holes. Detailed theoretical models of black holes will now be needed to correctly interpret these new...
Research facilities
The experimental groups of IMAPP make use of leading national and international observatories and large infrastructures. In addition, IMAPP houses two optical telescopes and a radio interferometer which are used for educational activities and to encourage public participation.
Radio telescope
Radboud University is the only university in the Netherlands with its own radio interferometer. The telescope is located on the roof of the Huygens building. The Radio Interferometer (RIF) consists of two 3.5-m dishes and is used for education and student projects.
Optical telescope
More than a hundred years old, everything is in perfect condition and fully operational: this telescope on the roof of the Huygens building is a very special, priceless telescope. We use the telescope for solar projection observations, public observations and astrophotography, in education and research.
Radboud Radio Lab
The Radboud Radio Lab is a specialist department with a state-of-the-art laboratory fully dedicated to supporting instrument development for all astronomical projects in the Astrophysics department.
Research collaborations
Research at extremely small and extremely large scales both require very large infrastructure, that often exceeds university budgets. IMAPP is therefore involved in several large-scale national and international collaborations. Students are encouraged to participate in these research projects as well. Every year, students of this specialisation go to Geneva to take part in the CERN summer school. In addition, we organise trips to other facilities for students who want to perform specific experiments for their internship.
Large Hadron Collider (LHC), Switzerland
The Large Hadron collider is a circular particle accelerator, built by CERN. Radboud University is involved in the ATLAS experiment, which is aimed at collisions of protons of extraordinarily high energy. One of the major outcomes so far is the discovery of the Higgs boson.
Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory, Argentina
This observatory is studying ultra-high energy cosmic rays, the most energetic and rarest particles in the universe.
European Southern Observatory (ESO), Chile
ESO has built and operated some of the largest and most technologically-advanced telescopes in the world. Findings include the discovery of the most distant gamma-ray burst and evidence for a black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
Event Horizon Telescope
In this project, worldwide existing and planned millimetre/submillimetre facilities are combined into a high-sensitivity, high angular resolution Event Horizon Telescope. Its first successes have been the image of the immediate environment of the supermassive black holes in the galaxy M87 and in our own Milky Way.
Learn more about how Master's students helped with the capturing the first image of a black hole in a interview with professor Falcke.
Low-frequency array for Radio Astronomy (LOFAR)
LOFAR is a Dutch ICT project, that connects radio telescopes in the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Sweden. Together, they can produce much more detailed information about the early start of our universe.
HiSPARC, The Netherlands
In the project HiSPARC, researchers provide secondary school students with a kit for a cosmic ray detector that they can install on the roof of their school. The information from all these different locations is highly valuable for determining the source of the cosmic rays.