Effective Field Theory for Hadronic Physics

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is currently studying the nature of matter at the smallest experimentally accessible distances. By colliding protons at high energies, physicists probe the details of the physical world at distances of order 1/10,000th the size of the proton, and by studying the debris of these collisions they are able to infer the existence of new subatomic particles and forces, such as the recently-discovered Higgs Boson. Because proton-proton collisions are incredibly complex events, a great deal of theoretical work is required in order to relate the signals measured in detectors to the details of the microscopic physics in the collision. In particular, subatomic particles called quarks and gluons produced in the collisions turn into energetic jets of particles by the time they hit the detectors. Calculating the details of this process, and hence inferring the properties of the short-distance collision from the measurements, is a challenging task. A technique known as "effective field theory" has proved very successful in recent years in helping unravel some of these complexities. The proposed research focuses on theoretical studies of the application of effective field theory to the production of jets at the LHC, with the goal of increasing the accuracy of theoretical predictions for the LHC. This in term will increase the accuracy with which the LHC can measure the details of the subatomic world. This research is of benefit primarily as basic research, increasing our understanding of the world around us; however, there are more practical benefits. Particle physics tends to attract some of the brightest minds in physics and trains them to think rigorously and creatively. Those that do not end up pursuing careers in physics often have great impact in other fields (finance and computing being two obvious examples). Foreign graduate students and postdocs often choose to stay in Canada, providing examples of "brain-gain."