Student Information

Our group regularly supervises students from B.Sc. to PhD. level. If you are thinking about doing a thesis with us, have a question about what we offer, or want tips on how to get into our field, please don’t hesitate to contact our senior scientists listed below together with other information you might find useful. Note that as we are mainly a research and not an educational institution we can not always guarantee availability for student projects, but we give our best and might advise you on possible alternatives as well.

Lectures

We occasionally give courses at both the Tartu and TalTech universities. If we have any ongoing course we will mention it here.
See course material from previous course iterations.

Book Recommendations & other useful reads

The level of particle physics related education in Estonia outside doing research in a thesis is limited. If you are interested in getting deeper into the subject we recommend a couple of resources to get a better understanding of the underlying science and tools. Note, while studying (some) of these more equivalent materials is recommended while doing a thesis with us, we in general do not have specific prerequisites and there will will be the opportunity to pick up knowledge during your work.

Experimental Particle Physics

  • “Modern Particle Physics” by Mark Thomson

  • “Introduction to Elementary Particles” by David Griffiths

  • “Quarks and Leptons” by Halzen & Martin

Experimental Astrophysics and Cosmology

  • “A Course in Cosmology: From Theory to Practice” by Dragan Huterer

  • “Modern Cosmology” Scott Dodelson and Fabian Schmidt

  • “The Early Universe” by Edward Kolb and Michael Turner

Theoretical Partical Physics and QFT

  • “Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell” by A. Zee

  • “The Quantum Theory of Fields Vol. 1-3” by Steven Weinberg

  • “An Introduction To Quantum Field Theory” by Michael E. Peskin and Dan V. Schroeder

  • “Quantum Field Theory” by Franz Mandl

Gravity and Cosmology (Theory)

  • “Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity” by Sean M. Carroll

  • “Einstein Gravity in a Nutshell” by A. Zee

Gravitational Waves (Theory)

  • “Gravitational Waves” by Michele Maggiore

Tools/Programming

Internships

Students at TalTech are required todo internships during their study programs.
These can occasionally be done, ideally in preparation for a Bachelor or Master thesis project.
Availability and exact nature of the nature of the internship will vary based on the chosen topic/supervisor.
If of interest, please get in touch and we can discuss what is possible.

CERN/DESY Summer Student Program

If you are in the middle/end phase of your bachelor studies and want to get a deeper look into (particle) physics or other CERN related activities, we highly recommend applying to the Summer student programs at CERN and DESY. If accepted you will be paid to travel to CERN or Germany and work on a short physics or technology related science project supervised by an expert scientists, visit interesting lectures and meet young science interested students from all over the world. More information can be found under CERN program and DESY program. Application deadlines are usually in the end of January with the programs themselves taking place for a few weeks in summer (June/July-September).

Opportunities for high school students

Beamline for Schools is a physics competition for high-school students from all around the world inviting them to propose an experiment that they want to perform at a particle accelerator. The popular competition celebrates its 12th edition in 2025. Three winning teams will be selected, two of which will perform their experiments at CERN and one at DESY. There will be additional prizes for up to 70 selected teams (prizes). All teams who preregister to the competition will have the possibility to follow several online events (preregistration). In these online events, the teams will learn more about Beamline for Schools and how to prepare their experiment proposal. Preregistered teams will also be invited to virtual visits to CERN and DESY. The deadline to submit a proposal is 10 April 2025 at 23:59 CEST. Further information can be found on the BL4S website. The Beamline for Schools competition is fully funded via the CERN & Society Foundation.

Last years winning team was the Mavericks from Estonia! Our senior researcher Torben Lange had the great pleasure of meeting them and helping them in their physics analysis at CERN.

List of possible supervisors:

 

Dr. Martti Raidal

Head of Laboratory

Dr. Martti Raidal
Email
CV ORCID
Inspire

Theory
Dr. Torben Lange

Senior Researcher

Dr. Torben Lange
Email
CV ORCID Inspire
Linkedin Mastodon

Experiment
Dr. Joosep Pata

Senior Researcher

Joosep Pata
Email Group
CV ORCID Inspire
Linkedin

Experiment
Dr. Tomi Koivisto

Senior Researcher

Dr. Tomi Koivisto
Email
CV ORCID
Inspire

Theory
Dr. Gert Hütsi

Senior Researcher

Dr.Gert Hütsi
Email
CV ORCID
Inspire

Theory
Dr. Kristjan Kannike

Senior Researcher

Dr. Kristjan Kannike
Email
CV ORCID
Inspire

Theory
Dr. Luca Marzola

Senior Researcher

Dr. Luca Marzola
Email
CV ORCID
Inspire

Theory
Dr. Antonio Racioppi

Senior Researcher

Dr. Antonio Racioppi
Email
CV ORCID Inspire
Outreach (Facebook)

Theory
Dr. Ville Vaskonen

Senior Researcher

Dr. Ville Vaskonen
Email
CV ORCID
Inspire

Theory
Dr. Hardi Veermäe

Senior Researcher

Dr. Hardi Veermäe
Email
CV ORCID
Inspire

Theory

Thesis under supervision:

  • “Search for Di-Higgs production in final states with tau leptons using the CMS experiment at the LHC”, PhD. project of Norman Seeba, Supervisors Torben Lange and Joosep Pata (2023 – Ongoing)

  • “Fundamental Physics with Gravitational Waves”, PhD. project of Juhan Tiitus Raidal, Supervisors Hardi Veermäe and Ville Vaskonen (2023 – Ongoing)

  • “Gravitational wave probes of dark matter”, PhD. project of Juan Urrutia Pérez, Supervisors Martti Raidal and Ville Vaskonen (2022 – Ongoing)

  • “Numerical study of processes in the early Universe”, PhD. project of Martin Vasar, Supervisors Hardi Veermäe, Joosep Pata and Margus Saal (2022 – Ongoing)

  • “Search for dark substructures in the Milky Way using machine learning techniques”, PhD. project of Sven Põder, Supervisors María Benito Castaño and Joosep Pata (2021 – Ongoing)

  • “Palatini F(R) gravity, inflation and beyond”, PhD. project of Christian Dioguardi, Supervisor Antonio Racioppi (2021 – Ongoing)

  • “Cosmic Phase Transitions in Multi-Scalar Potentials”, PhD. project of Aleksei Kubarski, Supervisors Laur Järv, Luca Marzola and Kristjan Kannike (2021 – Ongoing)

  • “Towards unification of gauge gravity and particle physics theories”, PhD. project of Ernest Michael Priidik Gallagher, Supervisors Tomi Sebastian Koivisto, Luca Marzola and Stefan Groote (2020 – Ongoing)

Supervised Thesis

  • “Phenomenological implications of Standard Model extensions”, PhD. thesis by Kristjan Müürsepp [link], Supervisors: Luca Marzola and Martti Raidal (2020-2024)

  • “Measurement of Higgs Boson Properties in Leptonic Final States using ML-methods”, PhD. thesis this by Laurits Tani [link], Supervisors: Mario Kadastik and Christian Veelken (2019-2024)

  • “Prospects for di-Higgs boson searches with multilepton final states in the qqHH production mode”, Masters thesis by Norman Seeba [link], Supervisors: Torben Lange and Christian Veelken (2022-2023)

  • “Aspects of Higgs Boson Physics: Vacuum Stability, Yukawa Couplings and SO(10) Unification”, PhD. thesis by Ruiwen Ouyang [link], Supervisors: Martti Raidal and Abdelhak Djouadi (2019-2023)

  • “Phase transitions and gravitational waves in models of dark matter, PhD. thesis by Nico Alexis Benincasa [link], Supervisors: Kristjan Kannike, Margus Saal and Abdelhak Djouadi (2019-2023)

  • “Measurement of Higgs Boson Couplings in Final States Featuring Multiple Leptons and Hadronic τ Decay Products”, PhD. thesis this by Karl Ehatäht [link], Supervisors: Mario Kadastik and Christian Veelken (2017-2023)

  • “Official Master in High Energy Physics and Cosmology”, Masters thesis this by Juan Urrutia Pérez, Supervisors: Martti Raidal and Ville Vaskonen (2021-2022)

  • “Searching for dark matter subhaloes with a classification algorithm”, Masters thesis this by Abdullah Bazarov, Supervisors: María Benito Castaño and Joosep Pata (2019-2022)

  • “Galactic parameter estimation using spectroscopic data from the Gaia space telescope”, Masters thesis by Sven Põder, Supervisors: María Benito Castaño and Andi Hektor (2019-2021)

  • “Inverse seesaw via a new approach to Gildener-Weinberg formalism, Masters thesis by Aleksei Kubarski [link], Supervisors: Kristjan Kannike (2018-2021)

  • “The Flavor Hierarchy Problem in the Standard Model and Beyond the Standard Model Theories, Masters thesis by Kristjan Müürsepp [link], Supervisors: Luca Marzola and Stefan Groote (2018-2020)

  • “Genetic algorithms in machine learning for parameter space optimization, Masters thesis by Diana Rand, Supervisors: Mario Kadastik (2016-2019)

  • “Constraints on the Lyman-α radiation and the temperature of gas from the cosmological 21-cm signal”, Masters thesis this by Venno Vipp [link], Supervisors: Andi Hektor, Madis Kiisk and Gert Hütsi (2016-2019)

  • “Search for \(ttH\) production in \(3\ell+1\tau_{h}\) in final state”, Masters thesis this by Karl Ehatäht [link], Supervisors: Luca Marzola and Christian Veelken (2015-2017)

  • “Dark matter with long-range vector-mediated interactions”, PhD. thesis this by Hardi Veermäe [link], Supervisors: Emidio Gabrielli, Stefan Groote and Martti Raidal (2009-2023)

  • “Measurement of Single-top Quark Properties with the CMS detector”,PhD. thesis this by Andres Tiko [link], Supervisors: Martti Raidal, Andrea Giammanco and Mario Kadastik (2010-2016)

  • “Measurement of top quark polarisation in t-channel single top production with the CMS detector”, Masters thesis this by Joosep Pata [link], Supervisors: Martti Raidal, Mario Kadastik and Andrea Giammanco (2012-2014)

  • “Production mechanism of cosmic rays by supernova remnants”, Masters thesis this by Taavi Tuvi [link], Supervisors: Andi Hektor, Martti Raidal and Alessandro Strumia (2012-2014)

  • “Spin orientation of a Z-boson in the process \(e^+e^- \rightarrow ZZ\)”, Masters thesis this by Liina Roots [link], Supervisors: Stefan Groote, Hannes Liivat and Hardi Veermäe (2010-2013)

  • “Measurement of the W- >tau nu cross section and a search for a doubly charged Higgs boson decaying to tau-leptons with the CMS detector”, PhD. thesis this by Liis Rebane [link], Supervisors: Martti Raidal and Alessandro Strumia (2006-2012)

  • “Fermion condensate as dark matter”, Masters thesis this by Siim Ainsaar, Supervisors: Martti Raidal (2008-2011)

  • “Production of doubly charged Higgs boson in electron-positron collisions at linear collider”, Masters thesis this by Oleg Košik, Supervisors: Martti Raidal and Kristjan Kannike (2006-2009)

  • “Doubly charged Higgs boson decays and implications on neutrino physics”, PhD. thesis this by Mario Kadastik [link], Supervisors: Rein-Karl Loide and Martti Raidal (2005-2008)

  • “Implications of Neutrino Masses, PhD. thesis by Kristjan Kannike [link], Supervisors: Martti Raidal and Rein Saar (2005-2008)

  • “Detection of doubly charged Higgs boson in the CMS detector”, PhD. thesis this by Mait Müntel [link], Supervisors: Martti Raidal (2002-2008)

  • “Neutrino physics beyond the Standard Model”, PhD. thesis this by Andi Hektor [link], Supervisors: Martti Raidal (2000-2008)

  • “Doubly charged Higgs boson decays and implications on neutrino physics”,Masters thesis this by Mario Kadastik, Supervisors: Martti Raidal (2004-2005)

  • “Running of Low-Energy Neutrino Masses and Mixing Angles in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, Masters thesis by Kristjan Kannike, Supervisors: Martti Raidal (2002-2005)

Contact Information