Marcela Carena

Marcela Carena, born in 1962 in Argentina, is a senior theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Background and education

Carena received her diploma in Physics from the Instituto Balseiro of Bariloche, Argentina in 1985, and her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Hamburg in 1989. She was a John Stuart Bell Fellow at CERN in 1993–95 and was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship in 1996. She was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2002.

As of 2008, Carena is both a senior scientist at Fermilab and a professor in the Physics Department and the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago.

Research

Carena's research is focused on models of new physics beyond the Standard Model and their manifestations in particle physics experiments. She explores possible connections between Higgs boson, Supersymmetry, Grand Unification, Flavor Physics and Dark Matter. For example, she has developed a particle physics model which explains the matter – anti-matter asymmetry of the universe (also known as baryogenesis). This model posits key super-symmetric particles, such as a light stop (scalar top) quark, as well as a relatively light Higgs boson. The LHC experiments should be able to test this model definitively.

Carena works closely with experimental physicists. Her interest in experimental tests of theoretical models started with the e+e- LEP experiments at CERN, and include now the proton anti-proton experiments at the Tevatron and the proton-proton experiments at the LHC. Her goal is to develop experimental tests of the latest theoretical ideas for the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking, which is purported to be responsible for the masses of the fundamental particles. Recently she has demonstrated the complementary interplay of direct searches for Dark Matter and searches for Higgs bosons in collider experiments.

Professional activities

Carena is a General Councillor of the American Physical Society (APS) and a member of the APS Committee on International Scientific Affairs. She is a former member of the Executive Committee for the APS Division of Particles and Fields (DPF) and a former chair of the DPF Nominating Committee. She served on the Particles Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) of the U.S. DOE/NSF High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP).

Carena originated a visitor program which brings students from Latin America to Fermilab so that they can pursue research projects with Fermilab theoretical physicists as part of their graduate education.

Carena frequently delivers public lectures in conjunction with professional workshops in the Fermilab area and elsewhere. She was featured in the 2008 documentary film The Atom Smashers.

Dr. Carena is married to the theoretical physicist Carlos E.M. Wagner.

Publications

Dr. Carena's publications are available on the SPIRES HEP Literature Database [1].

External links

• Dr. Carena's website at Fermilab
• Fermilab Theory Department homepage
• Fermilab Program for Latin American Students
• The Atom Smashers
• MSNBC : Women explore the frontiers of physics
• Profile in Science (AAAS), From Buenos Aires to Bosons