The Standard Model and Beyond
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Currently, our understanding of Nature at the most fundamental level is at the crossroads. This year, the LHC at CERN will collide protons at higher energies than ever before, sufficient to explore physics in depth at the TeV scale. Nobody yet knows what these data will reveal. However, there are very good reasons to believe that something fundamentally new will be discovered, which might transform our understanding of basic physics, making the next few years the most exciting time for a generation or more. The discoveries could be new types of particle, such as the Higgs boson, new kinds of symmetries such as supersymmetry, or indeed something even more dramatic such as extra dimensions. Our rolling programme of research in Particle Physics Theory at the University of Edinburgh is designed to be at the forefront of these new discoveries: indeed Peter Higgs himself is Emeritus Professor here. Specifically, we provide theoretical calculations, using pen and paper, and the most powerful supercomputers, of both the huge number of background processes to be seen at LHC due to known physics, and the tiny signals expected in various models of new physics, in order to discriminate between signal and background, and thus maximise the discovery potential of the LHC. In parallel, we will attempt to understand the more complete picture of all the forces of Nature that should begin to emerge, in our ultimate quest for a Theory of Everything.
Organisations
Publications
Szabo R
(2010)
Instantons, Topological Strings, and Enumerative Geometry
in Advances in Mathematical Physics
Bruzzo U
(2015)
Framed sheaves on projective stacks
in Advances in Mathematics
Cirafici M
(2012)
Instanton Counting and Wall-Crossing for Orbifold Quivers
in Annales Henri Poincaré
Hickling A
(2015)
Null infinity and extremal horizons in AdS-CFT
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Kunduri H
(2014)
The first law of soliton and black hole mechanics in five dimensions
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Kunduri H
(2009)
Uniqueness of near-horizon geometries of rotating extremal AdS 4 black holes
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Figueroa-O'Farrill J
(2013)
Symmetric backgrounds of type IIB supergravity
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Balasubramanian V
(2014)
Black holes, entanglement and random matrices
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Figueras P
(2010)
On the uniqueness of extremal vacuum black holes
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Figueroa-O'Farrill J
(2009)
On the maximal superalgebras of supersymmetric backgrounds
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
| Description | Lots of interesting Particle Physics |
| Exploitation Route | Lots of ways |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education |