The Lancaster, Manchester, Sheffield Consortium for Fundamental Physics: Particle Physics from colliders 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。我们的提议集中在这些悬而未决的问题上，以及科学家们利用大型强子对撞机(LHC)等实验或使用普朗克卫星进行观测的方式来解决这些问题。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，这肯定不是整个故事的全部，大型强子对撞机的实验正在不断改进他们对其性质的测量，以了解它是否真的是预期的希格斯玻色子或新物理的信使。在目前的大型强子对撞机升级关闭期间，他们仍在数据中寻找新粒子的证据。最有希望的可能性之一是大型强子对撞机将发现负责暗物质的粒子(S)，暗物质构成了宇宙中已知物质的很大一部分。我们联盟中的科学家使用来自大型强子对撞机的数据、专门的暗物质搜索和天体物理观测来研究暗物质理论。大型强子对撞机上产生的任何新的物理现象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，他们正在取得理论上的进步，这将支持它们精度的提高，如果我们要最大限度地利用来自LHC的令人兴奋的数据，这是至关重要的。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。膨胀在早期宇宙中引起微小的量子波动，最终发展成为可观察到的效应。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，这是一种微弱的辐射嗡嗡声，宇宙沐浴在其中。普朗克卫星对中巴进行了细致的研究。我们一直站在解释普朗克数据有关通胀理论确切形式的线索的前沿。也有压倒性的证据表明，宇宙的膨胀目前正在加速。我们的科学家正在研究这种膨胀的粒子物理解释，即所谓的暗能量理论，以及它们与暗物质理论之间的相互作用。宇宙本身的演化受到爱因斯坦广义相对论的支配。这一理论还预测了极端区域，在那里空间弯曲得甚至连光都无法逃脱--黑洞(BH)。我们的科学家正在研究BHS稳定的条件，它们如何影响它们周围粒子的相互作用，包括假想的称为轴子的极轻粒子，以及BH溶液是否与“时间之箭”有关。

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 are addressing them using experiments like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) or observations like those 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 was certainly not, however, the whole story and the LHC experiments are continually improving their measurements of its properties to understand whether it is really the expected Higgs boson or a messenger of new physics. During the current shut-down for upgrade of the LHC, they are still searching for evidence of new particles in their data. One of the most promising possibilities is that the LHC will discover the particle(s) responsible for the Dark Matter that makes up a large fraction of the known material in the Universe. The scientists in our consortium study theories of dark matter, using data from the LHC, dedicated dark matter searches, and astrophysical observations. 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 are making theoretical advances that will underpin improvements in their accuracy, which is essential 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 causes tiny quantum fluctuations in the early Universe, which ultimately grew 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 radiation in which the Universe is bathed. The CMB has been studied in exquisite detail by the Planck satellite. We have been at the forefront of interpreting the Planck data's clues about the precise form of the inflationary theory. There is also overwhelming evidence that the expansion of the Universe is currently accelerating. Our scientists are working on particle physics explanations of this expansion, known as Dark Energy theories, and the interplay between them and Dark Matter theories.The evolution of the Universe itself is governed by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. This theory also predicts extreme regions in which space is so curved that not even light can escape - black holes (BH). Our scientists are studying the conditions under which BHs are stable, how they affect the interactions of particles around them, including hypothetical extremely light particles called axions, and whether BH solutions are related to the "arrow of time".