Particle Physics: From the Early Universe to the Large Hadron Collider
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Particle physics is all about understanding the elementary building blocks of nature and their interactions. Over the years, physicists have developed the Standard Model of particle physics, which is extremely successful in describing a very wide range of natural phenomena from things as basic as how light works and why atoms form through to the complicated workings inside stars and the synthesis of nuclei in the first few minutes after the Big Bang. However, we know that the Standard Model is not the whole story for it leaves many questions unanswered. Our proposal focuses on these unanswered questions and the way that scientists hope to address them in the coming years using experiments like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) or observations like those that will be made using the Planck satellite. At the LHC, physicists are searching for the Higgs boson, which represents our current best guess as to what is responsible for the origin of mass. They are also searching for a whole host of new particles such as those predicted by supersymmetry. If supersymmetry is discovered then it offers the hope also to explain the origin of the Dark Matter that makes up a large fraction of the material that is known to exist in the Universe. The scientists in our consortium will explore the theory of supersymmetry and dark matter. We will use data from experiments like the LHC to identify which of the many possible variants of supersymmetry are allowed by the data and to suggest new ways to explore those models in experiments. Any 'new physics' produced at the LHC will be produced as a result of smashing two protons into each other and that means they will be produced in a complicated environment, probably in association with 'jets' of other particles. Members of our consortium will explore how we can make use of these jets to learn more about the associated new physics: the better we understand the environment in which new physics occurs, the more we are able to learn about the new physics itself. This is a complicated business that often necessitates computer simulations of particle collisions. Our members are experts in these simulations and have plans on how the make them more accurate, which is necessary if we are to make the most of the exciting data from the LHC. The Standard Model of particle physics is also deficient when it comes to explaining the early history of the Universe, when it was hot and dense. The evidence is now very strong that the history began with an era of accelerating expansion, called inflation. We are experts on inflation and its consequences. Inflation makes the Universe featureless, except for quantum fluctuations which somehow grow, causing the density of matter and energy in the Universe to vary with position. These initially small variations grow to become observable effects. One effect is the formation of the billions of galaxies that populate the night sky. Another effect is to leave a tiny imprint on the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), a faint hum of microwave radiation in which the earth is bathed. The CMB will be studied in exquisite detail by the Planck satellite, which was launched in 2009. We hope to be at the forefront of interpreting the Planck data in the hope of pinning down which of the various theories of the early universe are ruled out and which remain viable. The deficiencies of the Standard Model extend still further for it does not explain the amount nor even the existence of ordinary matter. Our scientists will use this to constrain possible physics beyond the Standard Model and to do that they need to master the dynamics of the Universe shortly after the end of inflation. Last but not least, we hope to understand better the mysterious 'Dark Energy' that drives the current and future acceleration of the Universe: perhaps it is because Einstein's theory of gravity is not quite right and that is something we will explore.
Organisations
Publications
McDonald J
(2016)
Nonminimally coupled inflation with initial conditions from a preinflation anamorphic contracting era
in Physical Review D
Mazumdar A
(2016)
Nonperturbative overproduction of axionlike particles via derivative interactions
in Physical Review D
Mazumdar A
(2016)
Nonthermal axion dark radiation and constraints
in Physical Review D
Nolan P
(2015)
Octupolar invariants for compact binaries on quasicircular orbits
in Physical Review D
Dasgupta M
(2015)
On jet substructure methods for signal jets
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Forshaw J
(2012)
On the breaking of collinear factorization in QCD
Forshaw J
(2012)
On the breaking of collinear factorization in QCD
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Pilaftsis A
(2012)
On the classification of accidental symmetries of the two Higgs doublet model potential
in Physics Letters B
Nolan B
(2012)
On the existence of dyons and dyonic black holes in Einstein-Yang-Mills theory
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Bezrukov F
(2018)
On the robustness of the primordial power spectrum in renormalized Higgs inflation
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Nolan B
(2016)
On the stability of dyons and dyonic black holes in Einstein-Yang-Mills theory
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Baxter J
(2016)
On the stability of soliton and hairy black hole solutions of ( N ) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory with a negative cosmological constant
in Journal of Mathematical Physics
Ángeles-Martínez R
(2016)
Ordering multiple soft gluon emissions
Ángeles Martínez R
(2016)
Ordering Multiple Soft Gluon Emissions.
in Physical review letters
Dimopoulos K
(2012)
Parity Violating Statistical Anisotropy
Dimopoulos K
(2012)
Parity Violating Statistical Anisotropy
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Millington P
(2012)
Perturbative Non-Equilibrium Thermal Field Theory
Millington P
(2013)
Perturbative non-equilibrium thermal field theory to all orders in gradient expansion
in Physics Letters B
Millington P
(2013)
Perturbative nonequilibrium thermal field theory
in Physical Review D
Biswas T
(2013)
Phase transitions during cyclic inflation and non-Gaussianity
in Physical Review D
Charnock T
(2017)
Planck data versus large scale structure: Methods to quantify discordance
in Physical Review D
Mazumdar A
(2015)
Possible resolution of the domain wall problem in the NMSSM
Mazumdar A
(2016)
Possible resolution of the domain wall problem in the NMSSM
in Physical Review D
Babu K
(2013)
Post-sphaleron baryogenesis and an upper limit on the neutron-antineutron oscillation time
in Physical Review D
De Bruck C
(2014)
Power spectra beyond the slow roll approximation in theories with non-canonical kinetic terms
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Carr B
(2018)
Primordial black hole formation during slow reheating after inflation
in Physical Review D
Choudhury S
(2014)
Primordial blackholes and gravitational waves for an inflection-point model of inflation
in Physics Letters B
Dickinson R
(2016)
Probabilities and signalling in quantum field theory
Dickinson R
(2016)
Probabilities and signalling in quantum field theory
in Physical Review D
Chen C
(2013)
Probing heavy-light neutrino mixing in left-right seesaw models at the LHC
in Physical Review D
Mifsud J
(2017)
Probing the imprints of generalized interacting dark energy on the growth of perturbations
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Dev P
(2016)
Probing the scale of new physics by Advanced LIGO/VIRGO
in Physical Review D
Bœhm C
(2013)
Probing the supersymmetric inflaton and dark matter link via the CMB, LHC, and XENON1T experiments
in Physical Review D
Bélanger G
(2015)
Probing U(1) extensions of the MSSM at the LHC Run I and in dark matter searches
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Nicolini P
(2013)
Production and evaporation of Planck scale black holes at the LHC
Sanidas S
(2013)
PROJECTED CONSTRAINTS ON THE COSMIC (SUPER)STRING TENSION WITH FUTURE GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DETECTION EXPERIMENTS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Mazumdar A
(2015)
Projecting the graviton to probe higher or lower dimensions
Roszkowski L
(2015)
Prospects for dark matter searches in the pMSSM
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Banerjee S
(2015)
Prospects of heavy neutrino searches at future lepton colliders
in Physical Review D
Branchina V
(2018)
Protecting the stability of the electroweak vacuum from Planck-scale gravitational effects
in Physical Review D
Mazumdar A
(2014)
Quantifying the reheating temperature of the universe
in Nuclear Physics B
Mazumdar A
(2013)
Quantifying the reheating temperature of the universe
Description | Progress on many fronts towards a better understanding of the universe, by developing theoretical models constrained by data from the LHC and cosmology experiments such as Planck. |
Exploitation Route | By continued research. |
Sectors | Education |
Description | Researchers supported by this award have been very active in outreach activities for the general public, schools and scientists from other fields. |
First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |