Ramon Miquel

Institut de Física d'Altes Energies

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

Born in 1962 in Gelida (Barcelona). Graduated in physics in 1985 at Universitat de Barcelona (UB). PhD in experimental high-energy physics in 1989 at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Post-doctoral stay at CERN, Geneva (Switzerland) from 1991 to 1996, mostly working on the ALEPH experiment at the LEP accelerator. "Professor Titular" at UB 1997-2000. Moved to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley (USA) as a Career Staff Scientist in 2001, where started a transition towards observational cosmology. Since 2006, ICREA Research Professor at Institut de Física d'Altes Energies (IFAE). Associate Director of IFAE from 2008 to 2014. Director since 2015. Working mostly on the "Dark Energy Survey" (DES), "Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument" (DESI), and IFAE-led "Physics of the Accelerated Universe" (PAU) projects. All of them try to shed light into the nature of the "dark energy" that is causing the current acceleration of the expansion of the Universe.


Research interests

I am an experimental particle physicist trying to understand the ultimate building blocks of the Universe and their interactions, through both experiments involving particle accelerators and astronomical observations. Recently, my work has been mostly devoted to planning instruments  and performing observations to try to unveil the nature of the so-called "dark-energy" component of the Universe, which accounts for about 70% of the matter-energy of the Universe, counters the attractive effect of gravity on all other forms of matter and energy, and drives the current accelerated expansion of the Universe.

Selected publications

- Kwan J et al. (DES Collaboration) 2017, 'Cosmology from large-scale galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing with Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data', MNRAS, 464, 4045. 

- Sanchez C et al. (DES Collaboration) 2017, 'Cosmic voids and void lensing in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data', MNRAS, 465, 746.

- Kovacs A et al. (DES Collaboration) 2017, 'Imprint of DES superstructures on the cosmic microwave background', MNRAS, 465, 4166.

- Clampitt J et al. (DES Collaboration) 2017, 'Galaxy-galaxy lensing in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data', MNRAS, 465, 4204.

- Prat J et al. (DES Collaboration) 2017, 'Galaxy bias from galaxy-galaxy lensing in the DES Science Verification data', MNRAS, 473, 1667.

- Albert A et al. (Fermi-LAT and DES Collaborations) 2017, 'Searching for dark matter annihilation in recently discovered Milky Way satellites with Fermi-LAT', ApJ, 834, 110.

- Abbott BP et al. 2017a, 'Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger', ApJL, 848, L12.

- Soares-Santos M et al. 2017, 'The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. I. Discovery of the Optical Counterpart Using the Dark Energy Camera', ApJL, 848, 2, L16.

- Abbott BP et al. 2017b, 'A gravitational-wave standard siren measurement of the Hubble constant', Nature , 551, 85.

Selected research activities

- Adviser of the PhD thesis "Dark energy properties from the combination of large-scale structure and weak gravitational lensing in the Dark Energy Survey," by Carles Sánchez (UAB, 28/9/2017). Grade: Excellent cum laude.

- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of APPEC, the Astroparticle Physics European Consortium of funding agencies.

- Spanish representative in the Management Committee of the "Dark Energy Survey" (DES) Collaboration.

- Member of the DES Publication Board, the DES Builders' Committee, and the Advisory Board to the DES Director.

- Member of the Speakers Board of the "Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument" (DESI) Collaboration.