Research Spotlight

ALICE: Quark-Gluon Plasma

To solve mysteries surrounding quarks and gluons, the ALICE experiment tries to put quarks and gluons into a new state of aggregation at extremely high temperatures. This is the quark-gluon plasma. The researchers study this plasma before the quarks cool down and regroup into ‘normal’ matter.

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Research

Astroparticle physics

Astroparticle physics combines physics and astronomy. In the cosmos, very strong magnetic fields create what can be considered a ‘natural’ particle accelerator. To perform astrophysics research, scientists ‘just’ need to build the right detectors. Nikhef is active in KM3NeT, Auger, XENON1T/nT and Virgo.

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Outreach website

Nikhef's Outreach activities

Want to find out more about our research? On our Outreach website you will find all our outreach activities organised by Nikhef in Amsterdam for the general public, students and teachers. See you at Nikhef!

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Technology at Nikhef

Technology departments

The technology departments at Nikhef employ about 80 people. They support the scientific projects by designing and building (parts of) detectors, accelerators, readout and control systems, and computer and network infrastructures.

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Research Spotlight

KM3NeT: Neutrinos

Nikhef researchers are researching neutrinos, uncharged subatomic particles that shoot straight through our planet. The researchers do so in a collaborative effort at an international project called KM3NeT.

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Research

Particle Physics

In particle physics, very large detectors are used to study elementary particles. Particles such as protons are accelerated in a particle accelerator, and made to collide with each other. Nikhef is active in ALICE, ATLAS and LHCb at CERN.

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Research Spotlight

eEDM

Researchers at the University of Groningen, part of the Nikhef collaboration, cool and manipulate molecules to study the fundamental interactions and symmetries of the Standard Model of particle physics.

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National Institute for Subatomic Physics

Welcome to Nikhef. We are the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics. Our institute performs research into the elementary building blocks of our Universe, their mutual forces and the structure of space and time.
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Recent news

15 April 2024

Test with superfast 800 Gbit internet between Amsterdam and CERN successful

Nokia and SURF have successfully tested an 800 Gbit/s data connection between Nikhef in Amsterdam and CERN in Geneva. Such a record speed is needed to transmit data…

10 April 2024

Virgo detector rejoins the hunt for gravitational waves

Italy’s Virgo gravitational wave detector is officially participating again in the hunt for space-time oscillations since Wednesday afternoon. At 5 p.m. in Pisa, glasses were raised to the…

9 April 2024

Theorist Peter Higgs passes away at age 94

British theoretical physicist Peter Higgs died Monday in his hometown of Edinburgh at the age of 94. His family announced his passing on Tuesday. The National Institute for…

Future events

1 May 2024

Public debate on artificial intelligence in science

Artificial intelligence is gaining influence in all kinds of fields, and thus also in basic scientific research. But how much, and is that a good idea? At this…
13 May / 14 May 2024

Nikhef Annual Scientific Meeting: Jamboree 2024

We are happy to announce that this year’s Nikhef Jamboree will take place on Monday May 13 and Tuesday May 14 in Amsterdam. The meeting is held in…
16 May 2024

Nikhef-viewing of Neutrino, a film about “the poet particle”

Filmmakers Jan van den Berg and Hannie van den Bergh created a poetic portrait of the universe’s most elusive particle, the neutrino. For “Neutrino,” they traveled to the…