Master 2 courses in Physics - Nuclei, Particles, Astroparticles and Cosmology track

The NPAC track is designed to provide training for students interested in nuclear physics, particle physics, astroparticles, and cosmology. More specifically, it prepares students for a PhD — primarily experimental, but also theoretical — in these fields, in laboratories affiliated with universities or major research institutions.

For all details and up-to-date information, including an overview of the programme, detailed course syllabi, and prerequisites please check our website

Published on 31/03/2023 - Updated on 22/04/2026

Important information regarding this track

It is necessary to plan your arrival in France before the start of classes in order to be settled and ready to begin from the first day.
Attendance of classes is mandatory, and no course handouts will be distributed.
Please note that classes are not all held on the same campus. Depending on the day, they may take place at the Diderot campus of Paris Cité University, the Pierre and Marie Curie campus of Sorbonne University, or in Orsay, on the Paris-Saclay University campus, about 30 km from Paris.

For Erasmus students

The NPAC programme welcomes Erasmus students. However, several important points should be considered before submitting your Learning Agreement:

NPAC is a selective programme, and Erasmus applications are assessed according to criteria similar to those used for all the other candidates.
The NPAC academic calendar does not follow the usual semester pattern (see the “Organisation” section above and the course-by-course information below). Please ensure the timing of the courses you wish to take — as well as the corresponding exams — is compatible with your travel plans, and with any other academic commitments.
The Experimental Project is not open to Erasmus students. Rare exceptions may occasionally be made depending on the number of enrolled NPAC students, but no decision can be taken before the beginning of July preceding the start of the course.
NPAC courses are designed to be attended in person, and in general, no handouts are provided. Learning Agreements that include non-NPAC courses incompatible with this requirement will be systematically rejected.
You should plan to arrive in France before the start of classes in order to be settled and ready to begin on the first day.
Given the NPAC calendar (see the point below), in the second semester it is not possible to take more than one “Advanced Course” and one “Additional Topics” course. These courses run in parallel over three weeks and are therefore incompatible with other second-semester courses outside NPAC. Please note that they rely heavily on the NPAC lectures from the first semester.
The detailed course schedule for the upcoming academic year is typically published by the end of June. However, you can get a good indication of the expected schedule by consulting that of the current academic year, available on the NPAC web page https://npac.ijclab.in2p3.fr.

2nd year Master courses (M2) taught in English

Semester 1

2nd year master – 1st semester – 6 ECTS - English level: B2 (no formal English test required)

Brief description
This course runs almost every weekday throughout the month of September, typically as full-day sessions.
It is not open to Erasmus students (see the note under “For Erasmus students” above).