Physics within and beyond the Standard Model

Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have confirmed the existence of a Higgs boson, a discovery which led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics. The Higgs mechanism is therefore the one chosen by Nature for
the generation of mass. Currently, all measurements of the properties of the newly discovered object are consistent with the Standard Model (SM), the current prevalent description of particle physics. The SM has therefore been remarkably successful, yet it leaves unsolved the following well known puzzles: the large difference between the Electro-Weak and Planck scale, the absence of unification of forces and the problem of flavour. Hence, in spite of the Higgs boson discovery, there remains a need for Beyond the SM (BSM) physics.

This PhD project is to support the research which addresses these questions. The main goal is to provide the theoretical ideas and techniques which will help our experimental colleagues to discover BSM signatures, to influence the analyses which will be performed and to contribute to the theoretical interpretation of the experimental data.