The Lancaster, Manchester, Sheffield Consortium for Fundamental Physics: Particle Physics from the LHC to the Universe

粒子物理学是关于理解自然界的基本组成部分及其相互作用的。多年来，物理学家们开发了粒子物理的标准模型，该模型非常成功地描述了非常广泛的自然现象，从光是如何工作的，为什么原子形成，到大爆炸后最初几分钟内恒星内部的复杂工作和原子核的合成。然而，我们知道标准模型并不是全部，因为它留下了许多问题没有得到回答。我们的计划集中在这些悬而未决的问题上，以及科学家们希望在未来几年利用大型强子对撞机(LHC)或将使用普朗克卫星进行的观测等实验来解决这些问题的方式。在大型强子对撞机上发现希格斯玻色子是我们探索质量起源的一个重要里程碑。然而，这肯定不是故事的全部。大型强子对撞机的实验正在努力测量它的性质。他们还在寻找新的粒子，比如超对称性和其他新的物理理论所预测的粒子。如果超对称性被发现，那么它为解释暗物质的起源提供了希望，暗物质构成了已知存在于宇宙中的物质的很大一部分。我们联盟中的科学家探索超对称性和暗物质理论。我们使用来自大型强子对撞机等实验的数据来识别数据允许的许多可能的新理论中的哪些，并提出在实验中探索这些理论的新方法。在大型强子对撞机上产生的任何“新物理学”都将是两个质子相互碰撞的结果，这是一个非常复杂的环境，通常与其他粒子的“喷流”有关。我们联盟的成员将探索如何利用这些喷嘴来更多地了解相关的新物理：我们对新物理发生的环境了解得越好，我们就能更多地了解新物理本身。这是一项复杂的业务，经常需要对粒子碰撞进行计算机模拟。我们的成员是这些模拟方面的专家，他们计划如何使模拟更加准确，如果我们要最大限度地利用来自LHC的令人兴奋的数据，这是必要的。粒子物理的标准模型在解释宇宙早期历史时也是不够的，当时宇宙是热和密集的。现在有非常有力的证据表明，历史始于一个称为通胀的加速扩张时代。我们是通胀及其后果方面的专家。膨胀使宇宙变得平淡无奇，除了微小的量子波动，导致宇宙中物质和能量的密度随着位置的变化而变化。这些最初的微小变化逐渐变成了可观察到的效果。其中一个影响是形成了充斥着夜空的数十亿个星系。另一种方法是在宇宙微波背景辐射(CMB)上留下微小的印记，CMB是一种微弱的微波辐射，宇宙沐浴在其中。普朗克卫星对中巴进行了细致的研究。我们站在解释普朗克数据的前沿，希望确定早期宇宙的各种理论中，哪些是被排除的，哪些是仍然可行的。标准模型的不足之处进一步扩大，因为它不能解释普通物质的数量，甚至不能解释普通物质的存在。我们的科学家将利用这一点来约束超越标准模型的可能的物理，为了做到这一点，他们需要掌握宇宙在膨胀结束期间和之后的动力学。最后但并非最不重要的一点是，我们希望更好地了解推动宇宙当前和未来加速运动的神秘“暗能量”：一种可能性是，这是因为爱因斯坦的引力理论不太正确，这是我们将探索的东西。

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.