The Lancaster, Manchester, Sheffield Consortium for Fundamental Physics: Particle Physics from colliders to the Universe

粒子物理学是关于理解自然的基本组成部分及其相互作用的。多年来，物理学家已经发展出粒子物理学的标准模型，它在描述非常广泛的自然现象方面非常成功，从光如何工作和原子为什么形成到恒星内部的复杂工作以及大爆炸后最初几分钟的原子核合成。然而，我们知道标准模型并不是故事的全部，因为它留下了许多未解答的问题。我们的建议集中在这些未解的问题上，以及科学家们使用大型强子对撞机（LHC）等实验或普朗克卫星等观测来解决这些问题的方式。在LHC上发现希格斯玻色子是我们寻求理解质量起源的一个重要里程碑。然而，这肯定不是故事的全部，LHC实验正在不断改进其性质的测量，以了解它是否真的是预期的希格斯玻色子或新物理学的信使。在目前LHC关闭升级期间，他们仍在数据中寻找新粒子的证据。最有希望的可能性之一是LHC将发现负责暗物质的粒子，暗物质构成了宇宙中已知物质的很大一部分。我们联盟的科学家研究暗物质理论，使用LHC的数据，专门的暗物质搜索和天体物理观测。LHC产生的任何新物理都将是两个质子相互撞击的结果，这是一个非常复杂的环境，通常与其他粒子的“喷射”有关。我们联盟的成员将探索如何利用这些喷流来更多地了解相关的新物理学：我们越了解新物理学发生的环境，我们就越能够了解新物理学本身。这是一项复杂的工作，通常需要计算机模拟粒子碰撞。我们的成员都是模拟方面的专家，并且在理论上取得了进展，这将有助于提高模拟的准确性，如果我们要充分利用LHC提供的激动人心的数据，这是至关重要的。粒子物理学的标准模型在解释宇宙早期的历史时也是不够的，当时宇宙是热而致密的。现在有非常有力的证据表明，历史开始于一个加速膨胀的时代，称为通货膨胀。我们是通货膨胀及其后果的专家。暴胀在早期宇宙中引起微小的量子波动，最终发展成为可观察到的效应。一个影响是形成了数十亿的星系，居住在夜空中。另一种方法是在宇宙微波背景辐射（CMB）上留下一个微小的印记，宇宙沐浴在一种微弱的辐射嗡嗡声中。普朗克卫星对宇宙微波背景进行了细致的研究。我们一直站在解释普朗克数据中关于暴胀理论精确形式的线索的最前沿。还有压倒性的证据表明，宇宙的膨胀目前正在加速。我们的科学家正在研究这种膨胀的粒子物理学解释，称为暗能量理论，以及它们与暗物质理论之间的相互作用。宇宙本身的演化受爱因斯坦的广义相对论的支配。这个理论还预测了极端的区域，在那里空间是如此弯曲，甚至连光都无法逃脱-黑洞（BH）。我们的科学家正在研究BH稳定的条件，它们如何影响周围粒子的相互作用，包括被称为轴子的假设极轻粒子，以及BH解决方案是否与“时间之箭”有关。

Particle physics is all about understanding the elementary building blocks of nature and their interactions. Over the years, physicists have developed the Standard Model of particle physics, which is extremely successful in describing a very wide range of natural phenomena from things as basic as how light works and why atoms form through to the complicated workings inside stars and the synthesis of nuclei in the first few minutes after the Big Bang. However, we know that the Standard Model is not the whole story for it leaves many questions unanswered. Our proposal focuses on these unanswered questions and the way that scientists are addressing them using experiments like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) or observations like those made using the Planck satellite.The discovery at the LHC of a Higgs boson was a major milestone in our quest to understand the origin of mass. It was certainly not, however, the whole story and the LHC experiments are continually improving their measurements of its properties to understand whether it is really the expected Higgs boson or a messenger of new physics. During the current shut-down for upgrade of the LHC, they are still searching for evidence of new particles in their data. One of the most promising possibilities is that the LHC will discover the particle(s) responsible for the Dark Matter that makes up a large fraction of the known material in the Universe. The scientists in our consortium study theories of dark matter, using data from the LHC, dedicated dark matter searches, and astrophysical observations. Any new physics produced at the LHC will be produced as a result of smashing two protons into each other, a very complicated environment, usually in association with "jets" of other particles. Members of our consortium will explore how we can make use of these jets to learn more about the associated new physics: the better we understand the environment in which new physics occurs, the more we are able to learn about the new physics itself. This is a complicated business that often necessitates computer simulations of particle collisions. Our members are experts in these simulations and are making theoretical advances that will underpin improvements in their accuracy, which is essential if we are to make the most of the exciting data from the LHC.The Standard Model of particle physics is also insufficient when it comes to explaining the early history of the Universe, when it was hot and dense. The evidence is now very strong that the history began with an era of accelerating expansion, called inflation. We are experts on inflation and its consequences. Inflation causes tiny quantum fluctuations in the early Universe, which ultimately grew to become observable effects. One effect is the formation of the billions of galaxies that populate the night sky. Another is to leave a tiny imprint on the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), a faint hum of radiation in which the Universe is bathed. The CMB has been studied in exquisite detail by the Planck satellite. We have been at the forefront of interpreting the Planck data's clues about the precise form of the inflationary theory. There is also overwhelming evidence that the expansion of the Universe is currently accelerating. Our scientists are working on particle physics explanations of this expansion, known as Dark Energy theories, and the interplay between them and Dark Matter theories.The evolution of the Universe itself is governed by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. This theory also predicts extreme regions in which space is so curved that not even light can escape - black holes (BH). Our scientists are studying the conditions under which BHs are stable, how they affect the interactions of particles around them, including hypothetical extremely light particles called axions, and whether BH solutions are related to the "arrow of time".