Education
Carena received her diploma in Physics from the Instituto Balseiro of Bariloche, Argentina in 1985, and her Doctor of Philosophy in Physics from the University of Hamburg in 1989.
Carena received her diploma in Physics from the Instituto Balseiro of Bariloche, Argentina in 1985, and her Doctor of Philosophy in Physics from the University of Hamburg in 1989.
She is the Director of International Relations at Fermilab, as well as the head of the Theoretical Physics Department. As of January 1, 2016 she is the Chair Elect of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society. She was a John Stuart Bell Fellow at European Organization of Nuclear Research in 1993-1995 and was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship in 1996.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2002.
Doctor Carena is married to the theoretical physicist Carlos East.M. Wagner. 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. Foreign 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+eLEP experiments at European Organization of Nuclear Research, 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.
She is a former chair of the DPF Nominating Committee. She served on the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) of the United States. Department of Energy/National Science Foundation 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.
American Physical Society]
Carena was a General Councilor of the American Physical Society (Australian Psychological Society ) and a member of the Australian Psychological Society Committee on International Scientific Affairs.