Contact
Name
Marco Drewes

Position
Academic staff

Email
marco.drewes@uclouvain.be

Address
Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology - CP3
Université catholique de Louvain
2, Chemin du Cyclotron - Box L7.01.05
B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium

Phone
+32 10 473232

Office
E.248

Personal homepage
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0521-7586

UCL member card
http://www.uclouvain.be/marco.drewes
People responsibilities
Postdocs
Isabel Oldengott
My research focuses on the intersection between particle physics and cosmology. By applying Monte Carlo methods on cosmological data of e.g. the cosmic microwave background or the large scale structure of the Universe I constrain theories of physics beyond the standard model. I am particularly interested in aspects of neutrino physics like non-standard interactions or large lepton asymmety but I also have a strong interest in the even less understood particle content of the Universe, namely dark matter.
Sebastian Zell (IISN) (member since October 2022)
My research based at the interface of particle physics and cosmology revolves around fundamental open problems and their observable implications. I am particularly interested in various aspects of gravity as well as inflation – an early phase of exponential expansion in our Universe. Close connections exist with a range of other topics such as dark matter, thermal effects, quantum coherence, scale symmetry, infrared physics and the mass scales of Nature.

PhD students
Mubarak Abdallah (member since April 2021)
Yannis Georis (Other - FSR 2021) (member since October 2021)
Working on potential explanations for the origin of Baryonic and Dark matter. I focus on extensions of the Standard Model with "light" particles, e.g. particles having a mass at the MeV to TeV scale for which thermal corrections are crucial.
Valentin Weber
I am currently working on light hidden sector Dark Matter (including sterile neutrinos and ALPs). The main focus of this work lies on the Dark Matter production in the early universe, in particular on the computation of thermal corrections to the product during freeze-in. I want to make more reliable predictions for the relic density in such models, which can be tested in experiments.

Master students

Visitors
Michele Lucente (member since January 2016)
I work on extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics aimed at accounting for the observed neutrino masses and flavour mixing, the origin of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe and the nature of dark matter. I am currently developing a new computer tool (MadbaM) devoted to precision computations of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe in beyond the Standard Model realisations.

Interns

Former members
Research statement
Many properties of the cosmos that we observe today can be understood as the result of quantum processes in the hot and dense plasma that filled the universe in the first moments after the "big bang". This allows cosmologists to understand the history of the observable universe in terms of elementary particles and the fundamental interactions between them. On the other hand, the extreme conditions in the primordial plasma allow particle physicists to test their ideas in an environment that cannot be created in the laboratory. With our research, we exploit this mutual benefit to learn about both, the fundamental laws of nature and how they shaped the cosmos that we live in.
Projects
Research directions:
Cosmology and General Relativity
Phenomenology of elementary particles
Theories of the fundamental interactions

Active projects
Neutrino Masses as a Key to New Physics
Marco Drewes, Yannis Georis, Michele Lucente, Antony Wendels

We study the perspectives to probe the origin of neutrino mass with existing or near future experiments. The focus lies on low scale seesaw scenarios involving heavy right handed neutrinos. We are also interested in cosmological implications, such as leptogenesis or connections to Dark Matter.
Neutrinos in the Early Universe
Marco Drewes, Isabel Oldengott

We study the production and interactions of neutrinos in the primordial plasma from first principles of quantum field theory. This includes Standard Model computations such as QED corrections to Neff as well as constraints on new neutrinos species from cosmology and astrophysics.
Non-thermal Dark Matter
Marco Drewes, Yannis Georis, Valentin Weber, Sebastian Zell

We study the production of Dark Matter from non-thermal initial states in the early universe, e.g., in freeze-in scenarios. A focus of the project lies in the computation of thermal corrections.
Scalar Fields in the Early Universe
Mubarak Abdallah, Marco Drewes, Sebastian Zell

We study the nonequilibrium dynamics of scalar fields in the early universe in the framework of the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. We are interested in several applications, including inflation, reheating, Dark Matter production and the fate of the Higgs field in the early universe.
Testable Baryogenesis
Marco Drewes, Yannis Georis, Michele Lucente

We study the perspectives to probe the origin of baryonic matter in the observable universe with laboratory experiments. Currently the focus lies on low scale leptogenesis scenarios. A key element of our approach lies in the description of CP violating nonequilibrium processes in the early universe from first principles of nonequilibrium quantum field theory.

Non-active projects
Publications in IRMP
All my publications on Inspire

Number of publications as IRMP member: 54
Last 5 publications

2024

IRMP-CP3-24-06: Prospects for Heavy Neutral Lepton Searches at Short and Medium Baseline Reactor Experiments
van Remortel, N. and Colomer Molla, M. and Clerbeaux, B. and De Roeck, A. and Drewes, M. and Keloth, R. and Sfar, H. and Vercaemer, S. and Verstraeten, M.

[Abstract] [PDF]
Refereed paper. March 8.
IRMP-CP3-24-05: Towards a precision calculation of $N_{\rm eff}$ in the Standard Model III: Improved estimate of NLO corrections to the collision integral
Drewes, Marco and Georis, Yannis and Klasen, Michael and Wiggering, Luca Paolo and Wong, Yvonne Y. Y.

[Abstract] [PDF]
Refereed paper. February 29.

2023

IRMP-CP3-23-77: Feebly Interacting Particles: FIPs 2022 workshop report
Antel, C. and others

[Abstract] [PDF] [Journal] [Dial]
Refereed paper. Contribution to proceedings. December 22.
IRMP-CP3-23-76: Upper Bound on Thermal Gravitational Wave Backgrounds from Hidden Sectors
Drewes, Marco and Georis, Yannis and Klaric, Juraj and Klose, Philipp

[Abstract] [PDF]
43 pages, 6 figures
Refereed paper. December 22.
IRMP-CP3-23-75: On Sphaleron Heating in the Presence of Fermions
Drewes, Marco and Zell, Sebastian

[Abstract] [PDF]
30 pages, 1 figure
Refereed paper. December 22.

More publications