Possible PhD theses

There are many more dissertation topics. If you don’t find a suitable topic here, please have a look at the research fields, and in case of interest, contact one of the mentioned PIs directly.

On this page here only a selection of dissertation topics are given. Behind each title (preliminary) you find the names of supervisors. Please contact them directly in case of interest (list of supervisors).

Experimental Particle Physics
  • Search for long-lived axion-like particles in B+→K+a, a→γγ at Belle II (Ferber)
  • Search for sterile neutrinos in B+→ μ+ ν at Belle II (Goldenzweig/Ferber)
  • Search for light particles beyond the Standard Model with SHiP (Ferber)
  • Measurement of Higgs boson self-coupling in the bb τ+τ- final state (Klute/Wolf)
  • Neural simulation-based inference for parameter estimation in high energy physics (Klute)
  • Systematic uncertainty-aware neural network training in high energy physics (Klute/Wolf)
  • Differential measurement of 4 top quark production and interpretation in terms of top-Higgs coupling modifications as well as heavy quark operators (Kieseler)
Experimental Astroparticle Physics
  • Aperture-corrected interferometric reconstruction for radio measurements of extensive air showers (Huege)
  • High-performance Monte Carlo simulations of particle showers with CORSIKA 8 (Huege)
  • Analysis of the mass composition of the highest-energy cosmic rays with the Auger Radio Detector (Huege)
  • Search for Dark Matter & Neutrino signatures with the XENONnT experiment (Valerius, Eitel)
  • Development of key hardware components for the XLZD observatory (Valerius, Eitel)
  • Development of a calibration scheme for DELight (Valerius, Eitel)
  • Signal and background modeling in the XLZD detector and sensitivity estimation of non-standard dark matter candidates (Biondi)
  • Development of new detector instruments and calibration techniques for noble liquid detectors (Biondi)
  • Cosmic relic neutrino searches with the KATRIN experiment (Biondi)
  • Enhancement of IceCube's surface array at the South Pole (Haungs, Engel)
  • Cosmic shower detection with IceCube: development, optimization, calibration and application of a new hybrid data acquisition system (Simon, Haungs, Kleifges)
  • Development and Installation of quasi-realtime data management of generation and analysis of alerts in Multimessenger Astrophysics (Streit, Haungs)
  • Analysis of IceCube data and comparison with astrophysical models on the origin of the knee and the galactic- extragalactic transition of the source of cosmic rays (Haungs, Engel)
  • Cross-correlation of the expected gravitational wave and gamma-ray signals with neutrinos in IceCube-Gen2 (Haungs, Engel)
  • Searches for dark matter with DELight (Valerius/Klute)
Theoretical Physics
  • Accelerator searches for feebly-interacting particles (Kahlhöfer)
  • Models and phenomenology of light dark matter (Kahlhöfer)
  • Cosmological and astrophysical constraints on dark matter (Kahlhöfer)
  • Strongly-interacting dark sectors and dark sector phase transitions (Kahlhöfer)
  • Precision calculations to Higgs boson pair production (Steinhauser)
  • Electroweak corrections to gluon-induced processes (Steinhauser)
  • Penguin contributions to radiative B meson decays (Steinhauser)
  • Massive multi-loop integrals and deep expansions (Steinhauser)
  • Flavor phenomenology of light dark matter (Ziegler)
  • Supernova production of new light particles (Ziegler)
  • Flavor Model Building (Ziegler)
  • Phenomenology of neutrinos and/or dark matter (Schwetz-Mangold)
  • Neutrinos and dark sectors in cosmology and particle physics (Schwetz-Mangold)
  • Precision calculations combined with Effective Field Theories in the Higgs sector (Heinrich)
  • Unstable particles in Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) (Heinrich)
  • New methods for multi-loop amplitudes (Heinrich)
  • Application of machine learning methods to loop amplitudes (Heinrich)
Technology Development
  • Efficient and pure self-triggering for the radio detection technique (Huege)
  • Development of real-time AI algorithms for track reconstruction (Ferber)
  • Development of detector reconstruction algorithms for heterogeneous System on Chip architectures (Ferber/Becker)
  • High-throughput analysis facilities in high energy physics (Klute/Giffels)
  • Integration of heterogeneous hardware as a service into high-throughput experimental computing workflows (Kieseler/Giffels)
  • Silicon detectors for 4D tracking (Klute/Hartmann)
  • End-to-end optimisation of future detectors with generative AI methods (Kieseler)
  • Robust end-to-end particle flow reconstruction foundation models (Kieseler)
  • Magnetic-field resilient quantum sensors for neutrino mass measurements (Kempf)
  • Large-Area Magnetic Microcalorimeters (LAMCALs) for Light Dark Matter Searches using Superfluid Helium within the DELight project (Kempf)
  • SQUID-Optimization for the DELight project (Kempf)
  • Magnetic field-resilient nanoSQUIDs for a next-generation neutrino mass measurement (Kempf)
  • Data acquisition, trigger and online reconstruction for the CMS High Granularity Calorimeter and the L1 Track Trigger. (Simon)
  • Data acquisition for the Belle II Pixel Detector and for future Belle II Upgrades. (Simon)
  • Development of detector concepts and technology for FCC Experiments in the FCC, DRD6 and DRD7 collaborations: Highly granular calorimeters, DAQ concepts and next-generation DAQ technologies, AI-driven reconstruction and optimization. (Simon) 
  • Design of HVCMOS pixel sensors for applications in high-energy physics such as LHCb Upgrade II, and for applications in medical therapy. (Peric)
  • Concepts for 2.5D and 3D Integration technologies for large-scale detector systems and optical data transmission combining state-of-the-art particle tracking sensors and silicon photonics elements. (Simon, Peric, Kopmann)
  • Scalable readout systems for superconducting devices for precision experiments in neutrino physics and dark matter searches and for applications in quantum computing. (Kopmann, Simon)
  • Data acquisition and online data processing on high-performance FPGA-based and heterogeneous systems for sterile neutrino searches with TRISTAN and neutrino mass measurements with future upgrades of KATRIN. (Simon, Wüstling)
  • Development of an intelligent cloud-based data acquisition platform for semi-automatic or automatic data analysis and management for experiments in astroparticle physics. (Kopmann)
Joint research topics
  • Quantum-enhanced machine learning for high energy physics (Klute/Spannowsky)
  • Cosmic shower detection with IceCube: development, optimization, calibration and application of a new hybrid data acquisition system (Simon, Haungs, Kleifges)
  • Development and Installation of quasi-realtime data management of generation and analysis of alerts in Multimessenger Astrophysics (Streit, Haungs)