The phenomenology of the standard model and the search for new physics

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The coming years will almost certainly revolutionize our understanding of the fundamental interactions. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN Laboratory near Geneva Switzerland is opening up a new high energy frontier as the highest energy particle accelerator ever built. The current theory of the elementary particles and their interactions is referred to as the Standard Model. Although it explains all known phenomena involving elementary particles it leaves several fundamental questions unanswered: What is the mechanism which gives particles mass (technically known as electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB)), why is there so much more matter in the universe than antimatter, and what is the dark matter in the universe? The purpose of the LHC is to answer these questions and to search for physics beyond the standard model. Canada has made a significant investment in this project with well over 100 experimental physicists in Canada contributing to the LHC research program. Theoretical support for the Canadian experimental LHC program is important to maximize the scientific return on this investment. In my research I study theories of physics "Beyond the Standard Model" and predict the experimental signatures that will indicate that new physics has been discovered and devise experimental strategies for the physicists performing the experiments. I am building up expertise and developing tools for doing LHC calculations so that if something unusual is observed I can apply these techniques to analyse the experimental results and suggest further measurements to identify the underlying theory. Some of my research uses these approaches to distinguish between the different theories proposed to give particles mass. Other projects focus on developing strategies to to search for and identify exotic particles predicted by new theories. My research provides the theoretical input that is necessary to fully exploit the physics potential of the LHC.