Theoretical Particle Physics Consortium Sussex - Royal Holloway

这项提议的研究将苏塞克斯大学和皇家霍洛威大学的粒子理论小组联合起来，在三个大标题下寻找新的物理学：对撞机和低能现象。大型强子对撞机将基本粒子的速度提高到接近光速，以至于它们的有效质量增加了10亿倍。通过将这些粒子粉碎在一起，将会有新的发现，也会有新的物理理论有待检验。我们将致力于一项复杂的任务，将这些碰撞的碎片与理论家提出的新模型联系起来，以解释宇宙中一些最令人困惑的问题——质量的起源是什么？有量子引力理论吗？粒子天体物理学和宇宙学在过去的十年中，粒子物理学和宇宙学之间的界面一直是最活跃的研究领域之一。为了了解宇宙的历史，我们必须了解大爆炸最初时刻的物理定律，当时温度和粒子能量都很大。相反，通过今天对宇宙的详细观察，我们可以追溯到当时的条件，并推断出高能的物理定律。我们的研究将解决关于宇宙的重大问题：为什么物质比反物质多？什么是暗物质？弦和黑洞的存在有证据吗？我们能不能用一个包罗万象的理论来理解宇宙从暴胀时代到现在的历史？计量量子引力的新途径理论物理学的关键挑战之一与引力的量子性质有关，以及引力如何与成功的粒子物理学标准模型相适应。我们的研究主要涉及时空本身的量子涨落，我们想要了解这是如何影响最高能量的粒子物理，非常早和非常晚的宇宙演化，或者最小黑洞的性质。我们还提出了系统的研究，以确定时空度规的量子理论是否作为一种基本理论存在。

The proposed research unites the particle theory groups at Sussex and Royal Holloway in the hunt for new physics under three broad headings:Collider and low-energy phenomenologyThe Large Hadron Collider boosts elementary particles to velocities so close to that of light that their effective mass grows by a factor of a billion. By smashing these particles together there are new discoveries to be made, and new theories of physics to test. We will work on the complex task of relating the debris of these collisions to the new models put forward by theorists to explain some of the most puzzling questions of the universe - what is the origin of mass? and is there a quantum theory of gravity?Particle astrophysics and cosmologyOne of the most active areas of research in the past decade has been at the interface between particle physics and cosmology. In order to understand the history of the universe we must understand physical laws in the first moments of the Big Bang, when temperatures and particle energies were huge. Conversely, by detailed observations of the universe today we can trace back the conditions and make deductions about physical laws at high energies.Our research will tackle big questions about the universe: why is there more matter than antimatter? what is dark matter? is there any evidence out there for strings and black holes? and can we understand the history of the universe from the epoch of inflation until the present day in one overarching theory?New pathways to metric quantum gravityOne of the key challenges in theoretical physics relates to the quantum nature of gravity, and how gravity fits in with the successful Standard Model of particle physics. Our research deals primarily with the quantum fluctuations of space-time itself, where we want to understand how this affects particle physics at highest energies, the cosmological evolution at very early and very late times, or the properties of smallest black holes. We also put systematic searches forward to decide whether a quantum theory of the space-time metric exists as a fundamental theory.