Theoretical Particle Physics Research
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
Our overall aim is to elucidate the nature of matter and its fundamental interactions via a variety of phenomenological and theoretical studies. Of crucial importance will be the new results coming from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The proposed research will improve our ability to predict the effects of the strong interactions (QCD) on the processes that will be studied at the LHC and develop efficient methods to determine the properties of any new states of matter discovered there. Both analytical and numerical methods will be used to study the properties of hadrons, strongly interacting bound states of quarks. Our research will seek to determine what lies beyond the Standard Model of the strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions, with the ultimate goal of providing a fully unified theory, including gravity. The most promising candidate theories will be studied, including Grand and superstring unification and theories with additional space dimensions. Laboratory, astrophysical and cosmological implications will be analysed to determine the most sensitive experimental tests of these theories. We hope these studies will lead to a complete understanding of the origin of mass, including an understanding of the quark, charged lepton and neutrino masses, mixing angles and CP violation, as well as of the nature of dark matter. In addition to having direct relevance to the LHC program, our research will have relevance to present and future neutrino and astroparticle experiments and to astrophysical and cosmological studies. In particular a concerted effort will be made to understand the nature of the dark matter and optimise strategies for detecting both direct and indirect signals. The implications of particle physics models for early universe processed such as inflation will also be studied.
Organisations
Publications
Abbasi R
(2011)
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory III: Cosmic Rays
Abbasi R
(2011)
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory III: Cosmic Rays
Aartsen M
(2013)
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory Part I: Point Source
Searches
Aartsen M
(2013)
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory Part I: Point Source Searches
Aartsen M
(2013)
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory Part III: Cosmic Rays
Aartsen M
(2013)
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory Part III: Cosmic Rays
Abbasi R
(2011)
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory V: Future
Developments
Abbasi R
(2011)
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory V: Future Developments
Aartsen M
(2017)
The IceCube realtime alert system
in Astroparticle Physics
Aartsen M
(2015)
The IceProd framework: Distributed data processing for the IceCube neutrino observatory
in Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing
Haisch U
(2013)
The impact of heavy-quark loops on LHC dark-matter searches
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Nadathur S
(2012)
The integrated Sachs-Wolfe imprint of cosmic superstructures: a problem for ?CDM
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Buchbinder E
(2014)
The moduli space of heterotic line bundle models: a case study for the tetra-quadric
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Abreu P
(2011)
The Pierre Auger Observatory IV: Operation and
Monitoring
Abreu P
(2011)
The Pierre Auger Observatory IV: Operation and Monitoring
Collaboration T
(2011)
The Pierre Auger Observatory scaler mode for the study of solar activity modulation of galactic cosmic rays
in Journal of Instrumentation
Abreu P
(2011)
The Pierre Auger Observatory V: Enhancements
Gauld R
(2016)
The prompt atmospheric neutrino flux in the light of LHCb
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aartsen M
(2016)
THE SEARCH FOR TRANSIENT ASTROPHYSICAL NEUTRINO EMISSION WITH ICECUBE-DEEPCORE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Frandsen M
(2013)
The unbearable lightness of being: CDMS versus XENON
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Sarkar S
(2013)
Theory Summary: Very High Energy Cosmic Rays
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Abbasi R
(2011)
TIME-DEPENDENT SEARCHES FOR POINT SOURCES OF NEUTRINOS WITH THE 40-STRING AND 22-STRING CONFIGURATIONS OF ICECUBE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbasi R
(2011)
TIME-INTEGRATED SEARCHES FOR POINT-LIKE SOURCES OF NEUTRINOS WITH THE 40-STRING IceCube DETECTOR
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gray J
(2014)
Topological invariants and fibration structure of complete intersection Calabi-Yau four-folds
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Abreu P
(2013)
Ultrahigh Energy Neutrinos at the Pierre Auger Observatory
in Advances in High Energy Physics
Alioli S
(2014)
Update of the Binoth Les Houches Accord for a standard interface between Monte Carlo tools and one-loop programs
in Computer Physics Communications
Scott P
(2012)
Use of event-level neutrino telescope data in global fits for theories of new physics
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Anderson L
(2013)
Vacuum varieties, holomorphic bundles and complex structure stabilization in heterotic theories
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Campbell J
(2013)
W and Z bosons in association with two jets using the POWHEG method
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Description | Our overall aim is to elucidate the nature of matter and its fundamental interactions via a variety of phenomenological and theoretical studies. It was anticipated in the proposal that new results coming from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN would be of crucial importance and the proposed research was intended to improve our ability to predict the effects of the strong interactions (QCD) on the processes that will be studied at the LHC and develop efficient methods to determine the properties of any new states of matter discovered there. This expectation was more than adequately fulfilled with the discovery of the Higgs boson - responsible for giving mass to all known fundamental particles in the Standard Model of the strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions. Our research also seeks to determine what lies beyond the Standard Model, with the ultimate goal of providing a fully unified theory, including gravity. Experimental progress here has not been as dramatic, in fact the Standard Model has been amazingly successful at explaining all laboratory measurements. Nevertheless there must be new physics, if only to account for the observed universe with its asymmetry between matter and antimatter, preponderance of dark over luminous matter, and inhomogeneities which grow under gravity into the large-scale structure of galaxies, clusters and superclusters ... none of which can be explained in the framework of the Standard Model. We have continued to make progress in studying promising candidate theories, including unified theories and theories with additional space dimensions. |
Exploitation Route | Our work forms part of a collective effort by theoretical physicists all over the world - each generation builds on the work of those who came before. |
Sectors | Education |
URL | http://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/research/particle-theory |
Description | An innovative website to explain `Why String Theory?' (http://whystringtheory.com/) has received over 100,000 unique visitors. |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Consolidated grant |
Amount | £717,699 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/P000770/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 09/2020 |