Theory Consolidated Grant. - Standard Model Phenomenology and Beyond the Standard Model Phenomenology.

Hamilton的主要研究重点是进一步发展基于QCD计算（所谓的蒙特卡罗技术）的精确计算机模拟，以用于对撞机物理过程中的大量最终状态粒子。这将有助于在大型强子对撞机（LHC）上发现和解释新的物理现象。虽然并不总是需要精确的模拟来宣布一个发现，例如，如果新的物理揭示了自己是一个重的，容易分解的新粒子，在许多情况下，比如超对称，信号预计会表现为分布形状的微妙扭曲。因此，对标准模型背景的准确理解，受制于所有的实验削减，是宣称发现或设置排除限制的基础。此外，精确的模拟对于确定被发现的是什么是必不可少的。新发现的125 GeV质量的类希格斯玻色子就是一个典型的例子，汉密尔顿参与的模拟被大型强子对撞机希格斯工作小组用于这一目的。在不久的将来，研究将集中在提高精度和理论严谨性的蒙特卡罗发电机用于模拟。索恩的作品是互补的，在很多方面是相似的。它涉及粒子碰撞初始状态的细节。在使用强子的对撞机中，例如使用质子的大型强子对撞机，光束实际上由强子成分，夸克和胶子组成，通常称为部分子。因此，为了对任何反应做出预测，无论是标准模型还是新物理学，人们都需要从强子的能量分数和散射过程的能量尺度（例如，产生的粒子的质量）两方面了解强子的精确部分组成。索恩是MSTW小组的主要成员，该小组提供了一套标准的部分分布函数集（pdf），用于大型强子对撞机和以前的对撞机的实验和理论分析。该技术在理论基础方面不断得到改进，并且出现了更多有助于进一步限制pdf的数据。因此，索恩的工作将基于改进PDF确定，为对撞机提供更新的PDF，并帮助确定中心值和不确定性的任何变化的后果。汉密尔顿和索恩都参与了大型强子对撞机的精密计算，并将提供专业知识来解释任何偏差，这些偏差可能是超越标准模型（BSM）物理学的第一个迹象。BSM现象学旨在揭示比目前已知的更深层次的自然规律和结构。Deppisch的工作通过将实验结果（例如LHC）与新理论（例如超过三维空间的概念）得出的预测进行比较来实现这一目标。中微子扮演着非常重要的角色，因为它们是所有已知物质粒子中最不为人所知的。它们最神秘的特性是它们的轻盈；确切的质量是未知的，但它至少比第二轻的粒子——电子小一百万倍。对于这一巨大的差异，目前还没有统一的解释，这一差异涉及到一个基本问题的核心：什么是质量？即使希格斯玻色子被大型强子对撞机证实是夸克等粒子质量的来源，中微子的轻度仍然是一个谜，但我们也希望，一旦我们解决了这个问题，自然之谜的一大块就会落在我们的面前。这项提议的研究旨在通过一系列实验结果尽可能精确和可靠地确定中微子的绝对质量，这些实验结果预计将在未来几年内实现。此外，这项工作将在一个理论框架内将不同实验中的物理现象联系起来。这是必要的，因为没有一个单一的实验可以探索自然的所有方面。

The main focus of Hamilton's research is to further develop precise computer simulations based on QCD calculations (so-called Monte Carlo techniques) for the large number of final state particles in collider physics processes. This will facilitate discovery and interpretation of new physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). While precision simulations may not always be needed to claim a discovery, e.g. if new physics reveals itself as a heavy, easily resolved new particle, in many scenarios, such as supersymmetry, signals are expected to manifest as subtle distortions in the shapes of distributions. Hence, an accurate understanding of the Standard Model background, subject to all experimental cuts, is fundamental to claiming a discovery, or setting exclusion limits. Moreover, precise simulations are essential in attempting to determine what it is that has been found. The newly discovered 125 GeV mass Higgs-like boson is a prime example of this, and one for which simulations that Hamilton contributes to are being used to this end by the LHC Higgs working group. Research in the near future will focus on improved precision and theoretical rigour for the Monte Carlo generators used in simulations. Thorne's work is complementary and in many senses similar. It involves the details of the initial state in particle collisions. At colliders which use hadrons, e.g. the LHC which uses protons, the beam is effectively made up of the hadronic constituents, quarks and gluons, generically known as partons. Hence, in order to make predictions for any reaction, both for Standard Model and new physics, one needs to know the precise partonic composition of the hadrons in terms of both the energy fraction of the hadron and the energy scale of the scattering process (e.g., the mass of a particle produced). Thorne is the lead member of the MSTW group that provides one of the standard sets of parton distribution functions (PDFs) used in both the experimental and theoretical analyses at the LHC and previous colliders. The technique is constantly being improved in terms of the theoretical basis, and more data are appearing which help constrain the PDFs further. Hence, Thorne's work will be based on improving PDF determination, providing updated PDFs for use at colliders and helping to determine the consequences of any changes in both central values and uncertainties. Both Hamilton and Thorne are involved in precision calculations at the LHC and will provide expertise in interpreting any deviations which could be the first sign of Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) Physics. BSM phenomenology aims to uncover deeper laws and structures in nature than currently known. The work of Deppisch achieves this by taking experimental results (e.g. from the LHC) and comparing them with predictions derived from new theoretical ideas (e.g. the notion of more than three space dimensions). Neutrinos play a very important role as they are the least understood of all known matter particles. Their most mysterious property is their lightness; the exact value of the mass is unknown but it is at least a million times smaller than the next lightest particle, the electron. There is no agreed explanation for this huge discrepancy which goes at the heart of the fundamental question: What is mass? Even if the Higgs boson is confirmed by the LHC as the source of the mass of particles such as quarks, the lightness of neutrinos still remains a mystery, but we also expect that once we solve this, a large piece of the puzzle of nature will fall in our lap. The proposed research aims to determine the absolute neutrino mass as precisely and robustly as possible from a range of experimental results which are expected over the next years. In addition, the work will correlate physics phenomena at different experiments within a theoretical framework. This is necessary as no single experiment can probe all aspects of nature.