Interactions of the Higgs particle with nucleons, dark matter, and gravitons

希格斯粒子与核子、暗物质和引力子的相互作用

• 批准号: 238996-2013
• 负责人: Dick, Rainer
• 金额: $ 1.46万
• 依托单位: University of Saskatchewan
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=570545
• 关键词: Interactions; Higgs; particle; nucleons; dark

The Higgs particle plays a very special role in nature, because the universe is filled with a condensate of Higgs particles. Interactions of other known particles, e.g. electrons, with this condensate of Higgs particles gives mass to the other particles. Without mass, all particles would move at light speed and could not bind together to form structures like stars, planets, or our bodies. The Higgs particle therefore plays an important role in explaining the universe that we observe. The interactions of the Higgs particle with the known fundamental particles like electrons are well understood and verified through the discovery of the Higgs particle at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This success had an important Canadian contribution through Canada's partnership in the collaboration which operates the ATLAS detector at the LHC. However, besides its interactions with the known fundamental particles like electrons or quarks, the Higgs particle may also play another special role in nature as a messenger between the dark matter that makes up most of the mass in galaxies, and the "ordinary" matter that we can observe and manipulate in laboratories. Canada is also at the forefront of experimental searches for dark matter, either through collider based searches at the LHC, or through direct detection experiments at SNOLAB. I am particularly interested in the Higgs particle and its possible role in dark matter search experiments from a theoretical perspective. There are two kinds of interactions of the Higgs particle which are much less understood than its interactions with the known elementary particles, and those not well understood interactions play an important role for dark matter searches if the Higgs particle is the messenger to dark matter. Those two interactions are 1. the interaction of Higgs particles with atomic nuclei, and 2. the interactions of Higgs particles with dark matter particles. Both kinds of interactions of Higgs particles are important to relate dark matter theory to dark matter search experiments. My research program during the next five years will therefore focus on updating and extending theories of these interactions, in the hope to use the Higgs particle as a probe for dark matter both in collider experiments and in direct search experiments.

希格斯粒子在自然界中扮演着非常特殊的角色，因为宇宙充满了希格斯粒子的凝聚体。其他已知的粒子，例如电子，与希格斯粒子的凝聚体的相互作用给了其他粒子质量。没有质量，所有粒子都将以光速运动，无法结合在一起形成恒星、行星或我们的身体等结构。因此，希格斯粒子在解释我们所观察到的宇宙方面起着重要作用。希格斯粒子与已知基本粒子（如电子）的相互作用通过大型强子对撞机（LHC）的希格斯粒子的发现得到了很好的理解和验证。这一成功通过加拿大在大型强子对撞机操作ATLAS探测器的合作中的伙伴关系作出了重要贡献。然而，除了与电子或夸克等已知基本粒子的相互作用外，希格斯粒子还可能在自然界中扮演另一个特殊角色，作为构成星系中大部分质量的暗物质与我们可以在实验室中观察和操纵的“普通”物质之间的信使。加拿大也站在暗物质实验研究的最前沿，无论是通过大型强子对撞机的对撞机研究，还是通过SNOLAB的直接探测实验。我特别感兴趣的是希格斯粒子和它可能在暗物质搜索实验从理论的角度来看的作用。希格斯粒子有两种相互作用，它们比它与已知基本粒子的相互作用少得多，如果希格斯粒子是暗物质的信使，那么这些不太清楚的相互作用在暗物质搜索中起着重要作用。这两个互动是1。希格斯粒子与原子核的相互作用，以及2。希格斯粒子与暗物质粒子的相互作用希格斯粒子的这两种相互作用对于将暗物质理论与暗物质搜索实验联系起来都很重要。因此，我在未来五年的研究计划将专注于更新和扩展这些相互作用的理论，希望在对撞机实验和直接搜索实验中使用希格斯粒子作为暗物质的探测器。