Tovrards the fate of our Universe: Uncovering the Global Structure of Scalar Potentials

从根本上说，我们为什么存在，更重要的是，我们为什么还在这里，其中一个论点是，今天的宇宙中物质比反物质多。然而，这种不平衡的原因仍然是一个未解之谜，可以说是基础物理学中最引人注目的问题之一。从粒子物理学的角度来看，答案可能与希格斯玻色子粒子有很大关系，希格斯玻色子粒子最初被引入是为了赋予我们宇宙中的任何粒子质量。它在欧洲核子研究中心大型强子对撞机(LHC)上的实验发现建立了所有已知基本粒子中最成功的理论，即所谓的粒子物理标准模型。目前，大多数理论和实验工作都集中在精确确定LHC上的希格斯玻色子的性质上，以提高我们对基本粒子如何获得质量的理解。然而，它的一些可能处于我们存在的核心的特征仍然没有通过大型强子对撞机实验的所有测试，因此仍然未知。最重要的是，大型强子对撞机实验不可能测量所谓希格斯势的整体形状。比喻地说，希格斯势是一幅有不同山丘和山谷的景观，描述了空间中每个点可以储存的能量的量。大型强子对撞机上可获得的能量只能探测局部的希格斯势，也就是山谷附近的希格斯势。在我提出的研究中，我的目标是超越这些山谷，探索进入希格斯势的全球结构的可能方法，也就是高能的山丘。为了做到这一点，我想要考虑从亚原子到星系尺度的物理物体，它们对希格斯势的全球特征很敏感，并预测其可观察到的后果。这些天体可能是与希格斯势的丘陵有关的新的假想粒子，可以在粒子对撞机实验中发现。有趣的是，这也可以包括修正的引力波信号，这些信号受到LIGO实验提出的引力波天文学最新进展的检测。我的目标是弥合这些可以探测希格斯势的整体形状和由大型强子对撞机实验确定的希格斯玻色子的局部性质的观测数据之间的差距。因此，通过我的研究，我希望提供实质性的理论和实验指导，以极大地提高发现迄今未被发现的未知物理现象的潜力。最后，我提议的研究的影响远远超出了确定希格斯玻色子本身的性质，并可以极大地加深我们对我们今天观察到的宇宙中物质丰富性的最基本问题之一的理解，即我们为什么存在和为什么还在这里。

Fundamentally, one of the arguments why we exist and, more importantly, why we are still here is that there is more matter than anti-matter in the universe today. The reason for this imbalance, however, is still an unresolved mystery and arguably one of the most compelling questions in fundamental physics. From a particle physics point of view, the answer might be deeply related to the Higgs boson particle, which was originally introduced to give mass to any particle in our universe. Its experimental discovery at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN has established the most successful theory of all known elementary particles, the so-called Standard Model of particle physics.Currently, most theoretical and experimental efforts are focussed on the precise determination of the properties of the Higgs boson at the LHC in order to improve our understanding of how elementary particles acquire their mass. However, some of its features that might lie at the heart of our very existence still elude all tests by the LHC experiments and therefore remain unknown. Most importantly, the LHC experiments cannot possibly measure the global shape of the so-called Higgs potential. Figuratively, the Higgs potential is a landscape with different hills and valleys, describing the amount of energy that can be stored at each point in space. Energies accessible at the LHC can only probe the Higgs potential locally, that is, in the vicinity of a valley. In my proposed research I aim to go beyond these valleys and explore possible ways to access the global structures of the Higgs potential, i.e. also the hills at high energies.In order to do so, I want to consider physical objects, ranging from subatomic to galactic scales, that are sensitive to the global features of the Higgs potential and predict their observable consequences. These objects can be new, hypothetical particles associated to the hills of the Higgs potential, that can be found at particle collider experiments. Intriguingly, this can also include modified gravitational wave signals, which are subject to detection by the recent advances in gravitational wave astronomy put forward by the LIGO experiment. I aim to bridge the gap between these observables that can probe the global shape of the Higgs potential and the local properties of the Higgs boson as determined by the LHC experiments. Therefore, with my research I expect to provide substantial theoretical as well as experimental guidance to drastically enhance the discovery potential for yet unknown physics phenomena that have eluded detection so far.Finally, the implications of my proposed research go far beyond the determination of the properties of the Higgs boson itself and can tremendously deepen our understanding of presumably one of the most fundamental questions about the abundance of matter in the universe that we observe today, i.e. about why we exist and why we are still here.