Dynamics and Signatures of New Physics

我的研究目标是揭示自然的基本规律。我们目前的理论——粒子物理学的标准模型和广义相对论——在描述从实验室实验到整个宇宙的大量现象方面非常成功。然而，实验和理论证据表明，这些理论是不完整的，有几个关键的拼图缺失。确定能够完成和取代它们的理论构成了现代亚原子物理学的中心任务。大多数新物理学的实验证据都来自宇宙。我们目前的宇宙学范式表明，普通物质只占宇宙总质量的一小部分，其余的都是由神秘的暗物质和暗能量组成的。此外，宇宙中所有结构（如星系和星系团）形成的初始条件被认为是由一段被称为暴胀的快速指数膨胀时期设定的，而暴胀是由超出标准模型的物理学所驱动的。考虑到这一点，我建立了一个将粒子物理学与宇宙学和天体物理学联系起来的研究项目。我研究暗物质和暴胀的理论驱动模型，目的是识别它们的特征和测试它们的方法。大量关于暗物质、暗能量和暴胀的动态信息被编码在超星系尺度（宇宙的大尺度结构）的物质分布中。这些信息的提取需要有效的理论方法来将大尺度结构的可观测值与基础理论联系起来。我开发这样的方法，为新的物理搜索提供工具。我研究的一个重要部分是关于量子引力的问题。近一个世纪以来，如何调和引力与量子力学的原理一直是理论物理学面临的一个挑战。我探索了一种旨在建立量子引力的方法，这种方法与描述其他基本力的成功路线密切相关：量子规范场理论。在这条道路上，人们不得不牺牲洛伦兹不变性作为自然的基本原理，将其简化为一种新兴的低能量对称性。但这是因祸得福：它允许人们通过寻找粒子物理学和引力中洛伦兹不变性的微小偏差来测试这种情况。在我的工作中，我经常与年轻人合作，并在俄罗斯和瑞士的各所大学培养了一批学生和博士后。现在定居在加拿大，我打算在麦克马斯特大学建立一个多样化和富有成效的学生和博士后研究小组。我在麦克马斯特的研究项目的实施将提高其粒子物理小组的知名度，并将使加拿大和世界各地的优秀年轻人稳步吸引到科学领域。

My research goal is to unveil the fundamental laws of Nature. Our current theories - the Standard Model of particle physics and General Relativity - have been extremely successful in describing multitude of phenomena from laboratory experiments to the whole universe. There is, however, experimental and theoretical evidence that these theories are incomplete, with several key pieces of the puzzle missing. Identifying the theory that would complete and supersede them constitutes the central task of modern subatomic physics. Most of experimental evidence for new physics comes from cosmos. Our current cosmological paradigm implies that ordinary matter constitutes only a small fraction of the total mass in the universe, the rest being made of mysterious dark matter and dark energy. Further, the initial conditions for formation of all structures in the universe, such as galaxies and galaxy clusters, are believed to be set by a period of rapid exponential expansion called inflation which is driven by physics beyond the Standard Model. With this in mind, I have established a research program linking particle physics to cosmology and astrophysics. I study theoretically motivated models of dark matter and inflation with the aim to identify their signatures and ways to test them. A wealth of information about dynamics of dark matter, dark energy and inflation is encoded in the distribution of matter on super-galactic scales - the Large-Scale Structure of the universe. Extraction of this information requires efficient theoretical methods to relate the Large-Scale Structure observables to the underlying theory. I develop such methods providing tools for new physics searches. A significant part of my research concerns the problem of quantum gravity. Reconciling gravity with the principles of quantum mechanics has been a challenge in theoretical physics for almost a century. I explore an approach aiming to build quantum gravity closely following the route that proved successful for the description of other fundamental forces: that of quantum gauge field theory. On this path one has to sacrifice Lorentz invariance as a fundamental principle of Nature, reducing it to an emergent low energy symmetry. But this is a blessing in disguise: it allows one to test this scenario by looking for tiny deviations from Lorentz invariance in particle physics and gravity. In my work, I have constantly collaborated with young people and have trained a number of students and postdocs in various universities in Russia and Switzerland. Settled now in Canada, I intend to create a diverse and productive research group of students and postdocs at McMaster University. Implementation of my research program at McMaster will boost the visibility of its particle physics group and will enable to steadily attract into science brilliant young minds from across Canada and throughout the world.