Sebastian Grinstein

Institut de Física d'Altes Energies

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

I completed my MSc at the University of Buenos Aires in 1998 working on the measurement of the production cross section of direct photons at the D0 experiment (Fermilab, USA). Afterwards, I worked in Sweden as a member of the Astroparticle Group of the Royal Institute of Technology studying cosmic rays. I did my PhD (2003, University of Buenos Aires) measuring the properties of quarks and gluons in high energy collisions at D0. In 2003 I became a postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University where I worked mainly at the CDF experiment (Fermilab) on top-quark physics and detector operations. In 2008 I joined the IFAE (Institut de Física d'Altes Energies) LHC-ATLAS experiment group as an ICREA Researcher. I am currently leading the ATLAS Detector upgrade effort at IFAE. In 2012 I became an ICREA Research Professor.


Research interests

My research has been focused on high-energy experimental particle physics: understanding which are the fundamental constitutes of nature and how they interact. At the Fermilab Tevatron accelerator I have performed studies of QCD and the properties of the heaviest quark, the top quark. At the LHC accelerator at CERN I conducted searches for new physics in the top sector. I have always been drawn to the challenges related to the development of the next generation of high energy physics detectors, and, in general, to instrumentation R&D. Currently I lead a coordinated project between IMB-CNM and IFAE to develop semiconductor pixel detectors for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. As a result of this project, 3D pixel silicon sensors designed and produced at Barcelona have been included in the new innermost detector layer of ATLAS and in the tracking system of the ATLAS Forward Proton (AFP) detector. My on going work aims to develop radiation hard and silicon based timing technologies for the high luminosity LHC era. I am also co-leading a project to produce a new generation of real time breast biopsy machines based on CdTe sensors.

Selected publications

- Lange J et al., 'Radiation hardness of small-pitch 3D pixel sensors up to a fluence of 3E16 neq/cm2', Journal of Instrumentation, 13, P09009 (2018).

- Abbott B et al., 'Production and integration of the ATLAS Insertable B-Layer', Journal of Instrumentation, 13, T05008 (2018). 

- Aaboud M et al., 'Comparison between simulated and observed LHC beam backgrounds in the ATLAS experiment at Ebeam=4 TeV', Journal of Instrumentation, 13, P12006 (2018).    

- Benoit M et al., 'Test beam measurement of ams H35 HV-CMOS capacitively coupled pixel sensor prototypes with high-resistivity substrate', Journal of Instrumentation, 13, P12009 (2018).


Selected research activities

* Principal investigator of the ATLAS-Upgrade group at IFAE (FPA, MINECO).

* Principal investigator of the Instrumentation group at IFAE (SGR, AGAUR).

* Co-principal investigator of the 3D Biopsy on Tomosynthesis project (RIS3CAT, ACCIO).

* Coordinator of AIDA-2020 activities at IFAE and WP6 co-coordinator (H2020, EU).

Two PhD theses completed in 2018 (I. Lopez Paz and E. Cavallaro). Four PhD theses currently underway.

* Member of the ATLAS ITk Pixel coordinator team.

* Member of the ATLAS High Granularity Timing Detector management group.