Physics

For more than ten years I had the opportunity of doing physics research at a professional level. During my early years, my interest in nuclear fusion led me to do experimental work at a plasma-physics laboratory; later, my research topics included black-hole thermodynamics, theoretical particle physics, nuclear physics, cosmology, and high-energy astrophysics.

Despite the wide range of research areas that I explored, they were all aligned in the long term with the scientific question that captured my interest: the matter-antimatter imbalance in the early universe, which is usually rephrased as why is there something, rather of nothing? The existence of the universe as we know it is the consequence of a minute excess of matter over antimatter after the big bang due to a process known as baryogenesis. In 1967, three conditions were identified as the basic prerequisites for baryogenesis to occur and all conventional studies in the past half century have made use of these conditions as their starting point. It was discovered in 1995 that one of these conditions could be relaxed if tiny deviations from an exact symmetry known as CPT invariance are allowed, opening a new way to explore the origin of baryogenesis. CPT symmetry is an ingredient of all well-established theoretical physics (known as relativistic quantum field theory and general relativity); hence, CPT violation would imply not only a way to explain the observed universe and our existence but also would led to a paradigm shift at the core of fundamental physics.

My PhD work consisted in the theoretical study of the breakdown of spacetime symmetries (Lorentz and CPT invariance) and the corresponding effects that would arise in neutrino experiments. These studies triggered a series of experimental searches of Lorentz and CPT violation using particle accelerators, nuclear reactors, and natural sources of these ghostly particles. Later, I extended these studies to cosmic messengers: astrophysical neutrinos, astrophysical gamma rays, and cosmic rays. Please visit my scientific web for general introduction to spacetime symmetries as well as links to my peer-reviewed publications and research interests. In 2016, I had the opportunity to perpetuate an overview of my research as an online seminar available on YouTube.

In addition to my work as a researcher, for years I have also shared physics with the general public through a blog in Spanish for non experts called Conexion Causal.