My research interests

Hi there, my Vicente Pesudo Fortes and I define myself as a father, physicist and activist.

My main research interests are low background experiments, particularly direct searches of dark matter (DM), nuclear physics and physics instrumentation and RnD. I participate in DarkSide, DArTInArDM and DEAP-3600, which are three experiments embedded in the Global Argon Dark Matter collaboration. Our ultimate goal is the direct detection of DM with an approach focused on the search for Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs). WIMPs are particles in the GeV to TeV mass range that are candidates to conform all the DM content in the universe. There are other feasible and equally exciting dark matter candidates being investigated, but WIMPs remain among the favorite ones mainly due to how naturally they fit in the Lambda-Cold dark matter model.

I got my PhD in June 2015, after 5 years working at the Instituto de Estructura de la Materia (IEM-CSIC) under the supervision of M.J.G. Borge and A. Moro (U. Sevilla), granted by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Summa Cum Laude). During this time I studied nuclear reactions in a comprehensive way that ranged all the way from instrumentation to theoretical calculations. For my first postdoc, I spent two years at iThemba LABS- University of the Western Cape (Cape Town, South Africa). Other than teaching at the university, I was permanently based at the lab, where I participated in around 20 experiments with several setups exploiting the accelerator facilities.

Currently, I work in the Dark Matter group of the Department of Basic Research, CIEMAT. Besides participating in large experiments, I perform RnD exploring new detectors to measure radiopurity and potential improvements in current liquid argon technologies.

I am actively involved in outreach, giving talks in secondary school centers and from time to time in pubs in a PintOfScience format.

Wanna work with us or know more? You can contact our group at darkmatter@ciemat.es or reach me directly at vicente.pesudo@ciemat.es.