Particle Physics Phenomenology: Understanding The Standard Model and Searching for What Lies Beyond

粒子物理现象学：理解标准模型并寻找超越的东西

• 批准号: SAPIN-2016-00041
• 负责人: Godfrey, Stephen
• 金额: $ 5.1万
• 依托单位: Carleton University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=617845
• 关键词: Particle; Physics; Phenomenology; Understanding; Standard

The goal of particle physics is to understand the fundamental particles that make up everything in the universe and their interactions. We currently have a model called the standard model that works remarkably well in describing all the known elementary particles and their interactions. Yet we know that it can't be the final theory because of both theoretical inconsistencies in the standard model and the observation of phenomena that it cannot explain such as the existence of "dark matter" that makes up roughly 85% of the matter in the universe. My research focuses on new theories of particle physics that attempt to address these problems. I work in phenomenology which makes predictions based on theoretical models that can be tested by experiment and attempts to construct theoretical models to explain experimental results. It is a very exciting time to be working in this field. The Large Hadron Collider, operating at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, is probing the highest energy scales ever probed by accelerator based experiments so that the physics community is anticipating new results that might help us understand what lies beyond the standard model. There is also a constant stream of new results on dark matter ranging from accelerator based limits on dark matter production, direct detection experiments such as DEAP which is situated in SNOLab in Sudbury to astrophysical observations. There is an exciting interplay between constructing theories and confronting all these new experimental results. This requires detailed calculations of the expectations of these models. This is the focus of my research, to construct models that can explain these phenomena and new discoveries as they arise, to calculate the experimental signals predicted by these models and to develop strategies that experimentalists can use to find these signals. This interplay between theory and experiment is crucial to making advances in our understanding of the fundamental interactions.

粒子物理学的目标是了解构成宇宙中一切的基本粒子及其相互作用。我们目前有一个称为标准模型的模型，它在描述所有已知的基本粒子及其相互作用方面效果非常好。然而我们知道它不可能是最终的理论，因为标准模型中的理论不一致以及它无法解释的现象的观察，例如构成宇宙中大约 85% 物质的“暗物质”的存在。我的研究重点是试图解决这些问题的粒子物理学新理论。我从事现象学工作，根据可以通过实验检验的理论模型进行预测，并尝试构建理论模型来解释实验结果。在这个领域工作是一个非常令人兴奋的时刻。在日内瓦欧洲核子研究中心实验室运行的大型强子对撞机正在探测基于加速器的实验所探测到的最高能量尺度，因此物理学界正在期待新的结果，这些结果可能有助于我们了解标准模型之外的东西。关于暗物质的新结果也不断涌现，从基于加速器对暗物质产生的限制、直接探测实验（例如位于萨德伯里 SNOLab 的 DEAP）到天体物理观测。构建理论和面对所有这些新的实验结果之间存在着令人兴奋的相互作用。这需要对这些模型的期望进行详细计算。这是我研究的重点，构建可以解释这些现象和新发现的模型，计算这些模型预测的实验信号，并制定实验人员可以用来查找这些信号的策略。理论与实验之间的相互作用对于增进我们对基本相互作用的理解至关重要。