Research in High Energy Physics: Theory and Phenomenology of Supersymmetry

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One of the main goals of the proposed research is to develop precise calculations and tools that will aid in the interpretation and understanding of a future discovery of supersymmetry. The PI will produce more accurate formulas relating the masses of the new particles to the parameters of the underlying theory. He will also study the precise manner in which these new particles might be detected, and then studied, in present and future experiments. A related goal of this research is to understand supersymmetry breaking; in other words, the mechanism which causes the new particles predicted by supersymmetry to be very heavy. This is the central theoretical problem of supersymmetry, and answering it will inevitably have a profound effect both on hypotheses for physics at very high energies and on strategies for experimental searches. More generally, the PI proposes to work on aspects of physics beyond the Standard Model that may appear in future experiments. They have a good chance of shedding light on the mechanism of the breakdown of electroweak symmetry within a few years. The PI recognizes the possibility that this may or may not involve supersymmetry, and proposes to follow the experimental data closely wherever it may lead in an effort to interpret it in terms of new fundamental theories of nature.