Research in High Energy Physics: Theory and Phenomenology of Supersymmetry

Northern Illinois University, Dekalb IL

Investigators

Abstract

Research in theoretical elementary particle physics will include studies of supersymmetry and other new theories of fundamental particle interactions. Supersymmetry is a promising idea which predicts the existence of many new heavy subatomic particles. The properties of these particles, including their masses and the rates at which they decay into other particles, will be studied under a variety of different theoretical assumptions. The resulting predictions are important because they will affect both the planning and the analysis of many present and future experiments that search for new particles. These studies are of central importance for understanding the behavior of particle physics involving interactions at very high energies. They will also impact on our understanding of the physics of the very early universe, when the particles under consideration would have been plentiful.