To path indicator Subpages of “Newsdetail“ To navigation To quick access To footer with other services
To content
English Logo - Department of Physics - TU Dortmund
Studierende sitzt am Arbeitsplatz und schaut auf den Laptop. © Aliona Kardash​/​TU Dortmund
ERC Consolidator Grant

Using Precise Simulations to Search for New Physics

© Axel Griesch​​/​​MPP
Dr. Marius Wiesemann has been with the Department of Physics since September. His work is funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant.
The European Research Council (ERC) has been supporting Dr. Marius Wiesemann’s research at the Department of Physics with two million euros since September 2026. Over the next five years, the physicist will use his ERC Consolidator Grant to develop innovative simulation techniques that can be used to predict particle collisions. These simulations are needed to analyze data from the particle accelerator operated at the CERN research center.

At CERN in Switzerland, an international team of scientists is working together to detect previously unknown particles and resolve unresolved questions in physics. To do this, protons are accelerated and made to collide in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator. This process produces countless elementary particles, whose energies and decay processes are recorded by massive detectors. To discover new particles and phenomena beyond the scope of known particle physics—as described by the Standard Model—researchers need precise theoretical predictions. These predictions serve as a kind of roadmap for the LHC experiments.

In his “UPGREAT-LHC” project, Dr. Marius Wiesemann—who has been leading an independent research group at the Department of Physics since September—is developing novel theoretical methods that enable highly precise simulations. “In this way, we’re helping to ensure that the theoretical predictions are precise enough to extract everything from the collision data, search through it even more effectively, and understand it better,” says Wiesemann. “The more precisely we can calculate what we expect, and the more accurately we measure, the sooner we can detect even the smallest deviations from the Standard Model of particle physics.”

Dr. Marius Wiesemann studied physics at the University of Wuppertal and earned his Ph.D. there with honors in 2013. As a postdoc, he conducted research at the University of Zurich, CERN, and the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich. In late 2025, the European Research Council selected his UPGREAT-LHC project from among 3,121 proposals submitted by scientists from across Europe. The success rate for one of the coveted ERC Consolidator Grants in this round was 11.2 percent.

At TU Dortmund University, Dr. Marius Wiesemann is now part of a large team of about 50 physicists involved in two major experiments at the LHC as well as in the accompanying development of theoretical models. His simulations will also contribute to the research of the “Color meets Flavor” Cluster of Excellence, in which researchers from TU Dortmund University, together with colleagues from the University of Bonn, the University of Siegen, and the Jülich Research Center, are investigating the interaction of elementary particles in greater detail.

Contact person for inquiries: