Cedric Verstege

Last updated: September 2026

Institute of Experimental Particle Physics (ETP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Building 30.23, Room 8-21, Karlsruhe, Germany
cedric.verstege@kit.edu

European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Building 32, Room 4-B06, Geneva, Switzerland
cedric.verstege@cern.ch

0000-0002-2816-7713 INSPIRE 2863346 cedric-verstege cverstege cverstege

Research

I am an experimental particle physicist working on the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). My research focuses on precision measurements of Standard Model processes for the determination of parton distribution functions (PDFs), which describe the inner structure of the proton. In my doctoral work I carried out the triple-differential measurement of Z+jet production with the full CMS Run 2 dataset (CMS-PAS-SMP-24-010) as the main analyst. The measurement is differential in the transverse momentum of the Z boson and two rapidity variables directly sensitive to the parton momentum fractions. Together with theorists I derived the nonperturbative correction factors for dijet and Z+jet production (SciPost Phys. 21, 033). My second line of work is high-performance computing for Monte Carlo event generation: scalable event generation and Rivet analysis workflows with MC-Run, and currently SIMD (single instruction, multiple data) acceleration of matrix-element calculations in the Pepper event generator at CERN within an MCnet Short-Term Studentship.

Positions and Education

Theses

Grades follow the German scale, on which 1.0 is the best possible grade.

Publications

Publications with direct personal contribution are listed below. Member of the CMS author list since January 2025 (128 collaboration papers as of August 2026, full list on INSPIRE-HEP).

Peer-reviewed publications

• S. Gieseke, M. Horzela, M. Kaur, D. Leonardi, K. Rabbertz, A. Singla, and C. Verstege. Nonperturbative effects in triple-differential dijet and Z+jet production at the LHC. SciPost Phys., 21:033, 2026. Derived the nonperturbative correction factors for dijet and Z+jet production. [ bib | DOI | arXiv ]

Preprints, proceedings and public notes

• J. Gäßler, G. Quast, D. Savoiu, and C. Verstege. kafe2 – a modern tool for model fitting in physics lab courses. Co-developer of the open-source fitting framework, in use in undergraduate physics lab courses at KIT., 2022. [ bib | arXiv ]
• CMS Collaboration. Triple-differential measurement of Z+jet production in proton-proton collisions at \(\sqrt{s} = 13\,\text{TeV}\). CMS Physics Analysis Summary CMS-PAS-SMP-24-010, 2026. Main analyst and analysis contact. Journal submission in preparation. [ bib | CDS ]
• C. Verstege. Standard model W, Z (+jet) at CMS and ATLAS. In 60th Rencontres de Moriond on QCD and High Energy Interactions, April 2026. Proceedings of the plenary talk given on behalf of the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations. [ bib | arXiv ]

Selected Talks

Talks at international conferences.

Software

• MC-Run: scalable Monte Carlo event generation and Rivet analysis workflows (presented at CHEP 2026).
• kafe2: open-source model-fitting framework used in undergraduate physics lab courses at KIT.
• Analysis tools for CMS data developed and used at KIT (KIT-CMS).
• Contributions to open-source high-energy physics (HEP) software: mplhep, Rivet, Sherpa, law, das2go.

Responsibilities and Service

Teaching and Supervision

Awards and Fellowships

Conferences and Workshops

Contributions to collaboration meetings and national conferences. International conferences are listed under Selected Talks.

Schools

Outreach