The Lancaster, Manchester, Sheffield Consortium for Fundamental Physics: Particle Physics from the LHC to the Universe
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.
The discovery at the LHC of a Higgs boson was a major milestone in our quest to understand the origin of mass. It is certainly not, however, the whole story. The LHC experiments are working hard to measure its properties. They are also searching for new particles such as those predicted by supersymmetry and other new physics theories. If supersymmetry is discovered then it offers the hope 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 explore the theory of supersymmetry and dark matter. We use data from experiments like the LHC to identify which of the many possible new theories are allowed by the data and to suggest new ways to explore them in experiments. Any "new physics" produced at the LHC will be produced as a result of smashing two protons into each other, a very complicated environment, usually 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 to 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 insufficient 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 tiny quantum fluctuations that cause 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 is to leave a tiny imprint on the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), a faint hum of microwave radiation in which the Universe is bathed. The CMB has been studied in exquisite detail by the Planck satellite. We are 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 during and 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: one possibility is that it is because Einstein's theory of gravity is not quite right and that is something we will explore.
The discovery at the LHC of a Higgs boson was a major milestone in our quest to understand the origin of mass. It is certainly not, however, the whole story. The LHC experiments are working hard to measure its properties. They are also searching for new particles such as those predicted by supersymmetry and other new physics theories. If supersymmetry is discovered then it offers the hope 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 explore the theory of supersymmetry and dark matter. We use data from experiments like the LHC to identify which of the many possible new theories are allowed by the data and to suggest new ways to explore them in experiments. Any "new physics" produced at the LHC will be produced as a result of smashing two protons into each other, a very complicated environment, usually 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 to 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 insufficient 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 tiny quantum fluctuations that cause 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 is to leave a tiny imprint on the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), a faint hum of microwave radiation in which the Universe is bathed. The CMB has been studied in exquisite detail by the Planck satellite. We are 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 during and 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: one possibility is that it is because Einstein's theory of gravity is not quite right and that is something we will explore.
Planned Impact
See the attached "Pathways to Impact" document for details.
This project has impact beyond the international scientific community mainly through the training of highly skilled graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and through extensive "outreach" activities of various kinds aimed at engaging directly with the general public, school children, teachers, policy makers and the media. Undergraduate teaching is also impacted beneficially by our research.
This project has impact beyond the international scientific community mainly through the training of highly skilled graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and through extensive "outreach" activities of various kinds aimed at engaging directly with the general public, school children, teachers, policy makers and the media. Undergraduate teaching is also impacted beneficially by our research.
Organisations
Publications
Bezrukov F
(2021)
Light inflaton model in a metastable Universe
Finn K
(2021)
Quantizing the Eisenhart lift
in Physical Review D
Dimopoulos K
(2021)
Jointly modelling Cosmic Inflation and Dark Energy
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Srinivasan S
(2021)
Cosmological gravity on all scales. Part II. Model independent modified gravity N-body simulations
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Dasgupta M
(2021)
Dissecting the collinear structure of quark splitting at NNLL
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Darvishi N.
(2021)
Higgs-Sector Predictions from Maximally Symmetric multi-Higgs Doublet Models
in Proceedings of Science
Pace F
(2021)
Comparison of different approaches to the quasi-static approximation in Horndeski models
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Morley T
(2021)
Vacuum polarization on topological black holes with Robin boundary conditions
in Physical Review D
Di Valentino E
(2021)
Snowmass2021 - Letter of interest cosmology intertwined IV: The age of the universe and its curvature
in Astroparticle Physics
Darvishi N
(2021)
CP violation in the extension of SM with a complex singlet scalar and vector quarks
in Nuclear Physics B
Dasgupta M
(2021)
Investigating top tagging with Ym-Splitter and N-subjettiness
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Battye R
(2021)
Photon interactions with superconducting topological defects
in Physics Letters B
Batell B
(2021)
Detecting dark matter with far-forward emulsion and liquid argon detectors at the LHC
in Physical Review D
Darvishi N
(2021)
Maximally symmetric three-Higgs-doublet model
in Physical Review D
Van De Bruck C
(2021)
Inflation and scale-invariant R 2 gravity
in Physical Review D
Forshaw J
(2021)
Coulomb gluons will generally destroy coherence
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Di Valentino E
(2021)
Snowmass2021 - Letter of interest cosmology intertwined I: Perspectives for the next decade
in Astroparticle Physics
Battye R
(2021)
Radio line properties of axion dark matter conversion in neutron stars
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Forshaw J
(2021)
Ordering multiple soft gluon emissions using SCET with Glauber operators
in Physical Review D
Dimopoulos K
(2021)
Quintessential inflation in Palatini f ( R ) gravity
in Physical Review D
Holguin J
(2021)
Improvements on dipole shower colour
in The European Physical Journal C
Ambrus V
(2021)
Vortical Effects for Free Fermions on Anti-De Sitter Space-Time
Di Valentino E
(2021)
Snowmass2021 - Letter of interest cosmology intertwined II: The hubble constant tension
in Astroparticle Physics
Finn K
(2021)
Frame covariant formalism for fermionic theories
in The European Physical Journal C
Battye R
(2021)
Simulations of domain walls in Two Higgs Doublet Models
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Darvishi N
(2021)
Signature of the maximally symmetric 2HDM via W ± / Z -quadruplet productions at the LHC
in Physical Review D
Ambrus V
(2021)
Vortical Effects for Free Fermions on Anti-De Sitter Space-Time
in Symmetry
Bezrukov F
(2021)
Light inflaton model in a metastable universe
in Physical Review D
Law K
(2022)
Charged and C P -violating kink solutions in the two-Higgs-doublet model
in Physical Review D
Hijazi M
(2022)
Frictionless UV-finite Instantons in Curved Spacetime
Karamitros D
(2022)
Towards a Localised S-Matrix Theory
Torres T
(2022)
Electromagnetic self-force on a charged particle on Kerr spacetime: Equatorial circular orbits
in Physical Review D
Dolan SR
(2022)
Gravitational Perturbations of Rotating Black Holes in Lorenz Gauge.
in Physical review letters
Da Silva P
(2022)
Tri-Resonant Leptogenesis in a Seesaw Extension of the Standard Model
Dimopoulos K
(2022)
Modelling Quintessential Inflation in Palatini Modified Gravity
Battye R
(2022)
A detailed study of the stability of vortons
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Goudelis A
(2022)
Ultraviolet freeze-in baryogenesis
Bewick G
(2022)
Initial state radiation in the Herwig 7 angular-ordered parton shower
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Forshaw J
(2022)
Rings and strings: a basis for understanding subleading colour and QCD coherence beyond the two-jet limit
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Torres T
(2022)
Wave focusing by submerged islands and gravitational analogues
in Physical Review Research
Balakumar V
(2022)
Quantization of a charged scalar field on a charged black hole background
Karamitros D
(2022)
Quantum Coherence of Critical Unstable Two-Level Systems
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. |
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 | 2017 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |