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
Kittel O
(2012)
CP violation in correlated production and decay of unstable particles
in Nuclear Physics B
Allahverdi R
(2012)
A mini review on Affleck-Dine baryogenesis
in New Journal of Physics
McDonald J
(2012)
Simultaneous Generation of WIMP Miracle-like Densities of Baryons and Dark Matter
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Pilaftsis A
(2012)
On the classification of accidental symmetries of the two Higgs doublet model potential
in Physics Letters B
Mazumdar A
(2012)
Separable and non-separable multi-field inflation and large non-Gaussianity
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Battye R
(2012)
Classically spinning and isospinning solitons
Kowalska K
(2013)
Two ultimate tests of constrained supersymmetry
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Battye R
(2013)
Classically isospinning Hopf solitons
in Physical Review D
ROSZKOWSKI L
(2013)
BAYESIAN IMPLICATIONS OF COLLIDER AND SUSY DARK MATTER DIRECT AND INDIRECT SEARCHES
in Modern Physics Letters A
Dasgupta M
(2013)
Towards an understanding of jet substructure
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Millington P
(2013)
Perturbative non-equilibrium thermal field theory to all orders in gradient expansion
in Physics Letters B
Dev P
(2013)
Erratum: 125 GeV Higgs boson and the type-II seesaw model
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Lyth D
(2013)
The CMB modulation from inflation
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Lee J
(2013)
CPsuperH2.3: An updated tool for phenomenology in the MSSM with explicit CP violation
in Computer Physics Communications
Wang L
(2013)
Cosmological perturbations from a spectator field during inflation
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Lee C
(2013)
Natural TeV-scale left-right seesaw mechanism for neutrinos and experimental tests
in Physical Review D
Munir S
(2013)
Simultaneous enhancement in ? ? , b b ¯ and t + t - rates in the NMSSM with nearly degenerate scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs bosons
in Physical Review D
McDonald J
(2013)
Baryon-to-dark matter ratio from random angular fields
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Choi K
(2013)
Review of axino dark matter
in Journal of the Korean Physical Society
Wang L
(2013)
Small non-Gaussianity and dipole asymmetry in the cosmic microwave background
in Physical Review D
Bœhm C
(2013)
Naturalness of light neutralino dark matter in pMSSM after LHC, XENON100 and Planck data
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Millington P
(2013)
Perturbative nonequilibrium thermal field theory
in Physical Review D
Campanario F
(2013)
Electroweak Higgs boson plus three jet production at next-to-leading-order QCD.
in Physical review letters
Millington P
(2013)
Thermal field theory to all orders in gradient expansion
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Dimopoulos K
(2013)
Correlated curvature perturbations and magnetogenesis from the GUT gauge bosons
in Astroparticle Physics
Babu K
(2013)
Post-sphaleron baryogenesis and an upper limit on the neutron-antineutron oscillation time
in Physical Review D
Seymour M
(2013)
Constraining MPI models using s eff and recent Tevatron and LHC Underlying Event data
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Lyth D
(2013)
The statistically anisotropic curvature perturbation generated by f 2 (?) F µ? F µ?
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Roszkowski L
(2013)
Gravitino dark matter with constraints from Higgs boson mass and sneutrino decays
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Bezrukov F
(2013)
Higgs-dilaton cosmology: An effective field theory approach
in Physical Review D
Dev P
(2013)
Light and superlight sterile neutrinos in the minimal radiative inverse seesaw model
in Physical Review D
Roszkowski L
(2013)
Gravitino Dark Matter with Constraints from Higgs Boson Mass and Sneutrino Decays
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Dolan S
(2013)
Scattering by a draining bathtub vortex
in Physical Review D
Dimopoulos K
(2013)
Statistical anisotropy from vector curvaton in D-brane inflation
in Nuclear Physics B
Pilaftsis A
(2013)
Symmetry-improved CJT effective action
in Nuclear Physics B
Dasgupta M
(2013)
Jet substructure with analytical methods
in The European Physical Journal C
Dev P
(2013)
125 GeV Higgs boson and the type-II seesaw model
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Van De Bruck C
(2013)
Modified gravity and the radiation dominated epoch
in Physical Review D
Ilakovac A
(2013)
Charged lepton flavor violation in supersymmetric low-scale seesaw models
in Physical Review D
Fowlie A
(2013)
Dark matter and collider signatures of the MSSM
in Physical Review D
Mazumdar A
(2013)
CMB dipole asymmetry from a fast roll phase
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Wang L
(2013)
Visible sector inflation and the right thermal history in light of Planck data
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Casals M
(2013)
Quantization of fermions on Kerr space-time
in Physical Review D
Bezrukov F
(2013)
The Higgs field as an inflaton
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Battye R
(2013)
Isospinning baby Skyrmion solutions
in Physical Review D
Casals M
(2013)
Self-force and Green function in Schwarzschild spacetime via quasinormal modes and branch cut
in Physical Review D
Chialva D
(2013)
Multiple dark matter scenarios from ubiquitous stringy throats
in Physical Review D
McDonald J
(2013)
Explaining the dark energy, baryon and dark matter coincidence via domain-dependent random densities
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Biswas T
(2013)
Cosmological perturbations from statistical thermal fluctuations
in Physical Review D
Doddato F
(2013)
Dark matter gravitinos and baryons via Q-ball decay in the gauge-mediated MSSM
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
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 |