La Tercera | Jilberto Zamora: Science and the passion to understand it all

He is a mechanical engineer and holds a PhD in physics. To be more specific, a student of particle physics, i.e., of subatomic particles and their interactions, which are fundamental for understanding the phenomena of nature. And ‘understand’ is a word perfectly associated with Jilberto Zamora, current professor in the Department of Physical Sciences and deputy director of the Experimental Theoretical Center for Particle Physics at the Universidad Andrés Bello(UNAB).

Before becoming one, some 30 years ago, he was a child of unbridled passion for science and knowledge. He has no idea when it all started, but he remembers talking to his first grade teacher about Newton’s laws and reading some physics books from his home in Putaendo. «I was very loved by some teachers and very hated by others,» he laughingly recounts, adding that he tends to get stuck when he can’t find a quick answer, a characteristic that his mother describes as ‘obsession,’ but which he calls ‘passion.’ He adds:

I love to understand things, all kinds of things. I like many subjects, science, philosophy, and the origin of words. When I reach the moment of understanding something, it is like the ‘eureka’ of the Greeks; it gives me great pleasure.

Since understanding all things involves going to the very smallest, it was not unusual for him to enter the world of particle physics. After all, it focuses on understanding the fundamental structure of matter and the forces that govern its behavior at the subatomic level. Professor Zamora knows these concepts are not even remotely close to the ordinary people, but he refers to them with the utmost naturalness and humility. Today, at the age of 40, he is an associate researcher at the SAPHIR Millennium Institute, also housed at UNAB, and a founding member of the international project CREDO (Cosmic Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory), which is dedicated to the investigation of cosmic radiation.

He is also part of a group of 10 Chilean researchers who collaborate with experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), one of the world’s most influential scientific research centers based in Switzerland. He was confirmed as an author in the ATLAS collaboration at CERN and participates in the same institution’s NA-64 and SND experiments.

Jilberto Zamora: Science and the Passion to Understand it All

La Tercera

Gilberto Zamora is a Physics Ph.D. and deputy director of the Theoretical Experimental Center for Particle Physics at the Universidad Andrés Bello; he is one of the few Chileans collaborating with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). This year, he says, our country could be accepted as an associate member of this institution, one of the most important in the world in scientific research.

He is a mechanical engineer and holds a PhD in physics. To be more specific, a student of particle physics, i.e., of subatomic particles and their interactions, which are fundamental to understanding the phenomena of nature. And ‘understand’ is a word perfectly associated with Jilberto Zamora, current professor in the Department of Physical Sciences and deputy director of the Experimental Theoretical Center for Particle Physics at the Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB).

Before becoming one, some 30 years ago, he was a child with an unbridled passion for science and knowledge. He has no idea when it all started, but he remembers talking to his first-grade teacher about Newton’s laws and reading some physics books from his home in Putaendo. «I was very loved by some teachers and very hated by others,» he laughingly recounts, adding that he tends to get stuck when he can’t find a quick answer, a characteristic that his mother describes as ‘obsession,’ but which he calls ‘passion.’

«I love figuring things out, all kinds of things. I like many subjects, including science, philosophy, and the origin of words. When I get to the point where I understand something, it’s like the Greek ‘eureka,’ it gives me great pleasure,» he says.

Since understanding all things involves going to the very smallest, it was not unusual for him to enter the world of particle physics. After all, it focuses on understanding the fundamental structure of matter and the forces that govern its behavior at the subatomic level. Professor Zamora knows these concepts are not even remotely close to ordinary people, but he refers to them with the utmost naturalness and humility. Today, at the age of 40, he is an associate researcher at the SAPHIR Millennium Institute, also housed at UNAB, and a founding member of the international project CREDO (Cosmic Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory), which is dedicated to the investigation of cosmic radiation.

He is also part of a group of 10 Chilean researchers who collaborate with experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), one of the world’s most influential scientific research centers, based in Switzerland. He was confirmed as an author in the ATLAS collaboration at CERN and participates in the same institution’s NA-64 and SND experiments.

ATLAS is a huge detector of fundamental particles,» he explains. It is a super-famous experiment because of the Higgs boson; this particle was discovered in 2012 and participates in the mechanism that gives mass to other particles. Another experiment we are participating in is called NA-64, which is focused on the search for dark matter.»

ATLAS is a cylindrical machine measuring 46 meters long and 25 meters in diameter; it weighs 7,000 tons and rests in a cavern 100 meters underground. It is the largest fundamental particle detector ever built at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN’s particle accelerator, and the most considerable collaborative scientific effort in the history of humanity. It has over 5,500 members, including physicists, engineers, technicians, students, support staff, and nearly 3,000 scientific authors worldwide. The objective is to learn the secrets of the Universe by studying subatomic particles colliding at very high energy.

Cosmic Rays and Earthquakes

A few years ago, Professor Zamora participated in research that demonstrated a link between changes in the flux of cosmic rays reaching the Earth and the planet’s seismicity. Although there is no cause and effect between the two phenomena, he clarifies, there is a correlation.

«What we did was to review the earthquake occurrence data and contrast them with the cosmic ray flux data and, although it may seem like magic, about two weeks before a seismic event, we observed important anomalies in the cosmic ray flux,» the scientist explains and specifies that the problem is that it does not serve as a predictive tool for the place of occurrence, because it is a global phenomenon.

But they are making progress on the issue, he says. «We are building some cosmic ray detectors in our lab. We conducted a new investigation, for now considering only data taken at a cosmic ray observatory in Argentina, near Chile, and only with local earthquakes, to see if the effect is repeated.»

Chile and CERN

In July last year, Professor Zamora and other Chilean researchers welcomed President Gabriel Boric during his visit to CERN, when the President announced that he would begin the process of making our country an Associate State of this organization. So far, Chilean scientists only participate as ‘users,’ which, although an outstanding achievement, limits their access to all the benefits of CERN. Chile has proven to be quite competent in the activities carried out at CERN,» says Zamora, » that is why we are participating as users, but we must move forward. The member states, which are those of the European Community, have all the privileges because the center is theirs and because they put up the money. There are also the observer countries, such as China, the United States, and Russia, which have a gigantic scientific infrastructure, and there are the user countries, with fewer benefits because, to be fair, we don’t put in the money, or we put in very little.»

However, in 2010, CERN created the ‘Associate State’ level, which is somewhat lower than Member State, and Chile is applying for it. Zamora indicates that it implies providing economic resources but that the Chilean researchers themselves will ultimately use them. This gives us access to the institution’s know-how and guidance,» says the UNAB professor, «and also opens doors for Chilean industry to participate in tenders. It’s going to be an important boost and a chance to be in the big leagues.»

Chile officially applied last year, and next March, a CERN delegation will come to analyze the country’s suitability. The final report should be ready by the middle of this year.