The phenomenology of the standard model and the search for new physics

未来几年几乎肯定会彻底改变我们对基本相互作用的理解。位于瑞士日内瓦附近的欧洲核子研究中心实验室的大型强子对撞机（LHC）作为迄今为止建造的最高能量粒子加速器，开辟了一个新的高能前沿。目前关于基本粒子及其相互作用的理论被称为标准模型。虽然它解释了所有已知的涉及基本粒子的现象，但仍有几个基本问题没有得到解答：粒子质量的机制是什么（技术上称为电弱对称破缺（EWSB）），为什么宇宙中的物质比反物质多得多，宇宙中的暗物质是什么？大型强子对撞机的目的就是要回答这些问题，并寻找超越标准模型的物理学。加拿大在这个项目上投入了大量资金，在加拿大有100多名实验物理学家为大型强子对撞机研究项目做出了贡献。对加拿大实验性大型强子对撞机项目的理论支持对于使这项投资的科学回报最大化是非常重要的。在我的研究中，我学习物理学理论“超越标准模型”，预测实验特征，这将表明新的物理学已经被发现，并为物理学家设计实验策略进行实验。我正在积累专业知识，开发进行大型强子对撞机计算的工具，这样，如果观察到不寻常的东西，我就可以应用这些技术来分析实验结果，并提出进一步的测量建议，以确定潜在的理论。我的一些研究使用这些方法来区分给出粒子质量的不同理论。其他项目的重点是制定策略，以寻找和识别由新理论预测的外来粒子。我的研究为充分利用大型强子对撞机的物理潜力提供了必要的理论输入。

The coming years will almost certainly revolutionize our understanding of the fundamental interactions. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN Laboratory near Geneva Switzerland is opening up a new high energy frontier as the highest energy particle accelerator ever built. The current theory of the elementary particles and their interactions is referred to as the Standard Model. Although it explains all known phenomena involving elementary particles it leaves several fundamental questions unanswered: What is the mechanism which gives particles mass (technically known as electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB)), why is there so much more matter in the universe than antimatter, and what is the dark matter in the universe? The purpose of the LHC is to answer these questions and to search for physics beyond the standard model. Canada has made a significant investment in this project with well over 100 experimental physicists in Canada contributing to the LHC research program. Theoretical support for the Canadian experimental LHC program is important to maximize the scientific return on this investment. In my research I study theories of physics "Beyond the Standard Model" and predict the experimental signatures that will indicate that new physics has been discovered and devise experimental strategies for the physicists performing the experiments. I am building up expertise and developing tools for doing LHC calculations so that if something unusual is observed I can apply these techniques to analyse the experimental results and suggest further measurements to identify the underlying theory. Some of my research uses these approaches to distinguish between the different theories proposed to give particles mass. Other projects focus on developing strategies to to search for and identify exotic particles predicted by new theories. My research provides the theoretical input that is necessary to fully exploit the physics potential of the LHC.