Interactions of Particles, Fields and Strings

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The proposed research involves group research in Particle, Fields and Strings. The group proposes to explore physics beyond the standard model with an eye on understanding two important fine-tuning problems, the hierarchy problem (why are the masses of the particles very different (much lighter) than the Planck mass) and the cosmological constant problem. In the context of higher dimensions, the hierarchy problem becomes why are the extra dimensions so large? The PI's intend to explore discretized extra dimensions as a method of constructing new classes of field theories using the principle of deconstruction. This is an entirely new method of model building. As an alternative to Supersymmetry and its inherent doubling of the spectrum of particles being the relevant physics expected at new colliders such as LHC, the PI's are exploring a qualitatively new approach to the hierarchy problem based on having a light Higgs that is a pseudo-Goldstone Boson. This approach is called the "little Higgs" model and it has new predictions for TeV Physics. The PI's intend to continue their exploration of duality symmetries as well as the geometric engineering of quantum field theories using string geometry.