Joseph Bramante

Queen's University

Assistant Professor - Particle Theory
Visiting Fellow at Perimeter Institute

After completing his PhD at the University of Hawaii, Joe held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Notre Dame and the Perimeter Institute, where he focused on the theory and phenomenology of dark matter and the early universe. His main research objective is to construct well-motivated theories that describe fundamental physics and to find new and hopefully elegant ways for humans to test those theories.

Currently most of Joe’s time is spent on identifying extensions of our standard understanding of nature, that experimental physicists and astronomers can then search for. Right now, he is in the process of demonstrating how detectors already operating at SNOLAB can be used to search for a new type of dark matter particle: multiply interacting massive particles (MIMPs).

He is particularly attracted to the creativity of the McDonald Institute team, citing doping scintillator with tellurium (SNO+) and using superheated liquids to hunt for dark matter (PICO) as some examples of the effective and innovative research that makes him excited to be part of this group of experimentalists, astrophysicists, and theorists.

Contact Information:
Room 208D, Stirling Hall
Queen’s University,
Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada.
email: joseph.bramante@queensu.ca

• Department Website

How would you describe your work at the most basic level?

“I explore the structure and history of our universe at the smallest and largest scales.”

What is something in your career you are especially proud of?

“I showed how dark matter may be causing the kind of supernova that results from thermonuclear burning inside white dwarf stars.”

Something that might surprise your students?

“When I started as an undergraduate, I mostly studied music and philosophy.”