COSMIC WISPers Prize 2024 for Laura Roberts

PhD student receives presentation award and invitation to speak at general meeting

Laura (Lo) Roberts, a PhD student in the “Precision Interferometry and Fundamental Interactions” department, attended the COST Action COSMIC WISPers 2nd Training School, held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 11-14, 2024. She received a COSMIC WISPers Prize 2024 for her presentation “Polarimetry for Vacuum Magnetic Birefringence” and was invited to speak at the 2nd General Assembly of the COST Action COSMIC WISPers in Istanbul, Turkey

“I presented plans for an experiment we’re setting up to measure vacuum magnetic birefringence,” says Lo Roberts. “This very small effect is an old prediction from quantum electrodynamics that has yet to be directly measured.”

Vacuum magnetic birefringence should manifest itself when a laser beam is sent through a strong perpendicular magnetic field in a vacuum. According to quantum electrodynamics, even a perfect vacuum  is not entirely empty space: It contains virtual pairs of electrons and their antiparticles, which briefly pop in and out of existence. Under the influence of the magnetic field, they affect the propagation of the laser light.

In a student presentation at the COST Action COSMIC WISPers 2nd Training School Lo Roberts discussed plans for an experiment to be set up at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Hannover, Germany. For her presentation, Lo Roberts received one of three COSMIC WISPers Prizes and was invited to present her work at the 2nd General Assembly of the COST Action COSMIC WISPers in September.

“I am very grateful to receive this award and look forward to discussing our experiments more at the COSMIC WISPers General Assembly,” says Lo Roberts.

Researchers in the department “Precision Interferometry and Fundamental Interactions” study fundamental interactions such as vacuum magnetic birefringence and conduct related searches for axion-like particles, that could explain dark matter and other phenomena outside the standard model of particle physics.

Cosmic WISPers

COST is a framework for coordinating national research activities in all areas of science and technology at European level through conferences, meetings, trainings, and scientific exchange. COSMIC WISPers is a COST action, funded until the fall of 2026. It focuses on very weakly interacting particles (WISPs) which are a consequence of several extensions of the standard model of particle physics. The aim of this action is an exhaustive study of these WISPs by bringing together an international team covering topics from theoretical descriptions over indirect astrophysical observations to direct searches.