RUI: Theoretical Investigations in Physics Beyond the Standard Model

Williams College, Williamstown MA

Investigators

Abstract

This RUI proposal requests support for a program of research in elementary particle theory and phenomenology. Three specific aspects will be studied: (1)flavor symmetry and models with Higgs flavor multiplets; (2) supersymmetric models in warped spacetime; and (3) models for dark matter based upon singlets with respect to gauge and flavor symmetries. The goal of (1) is to derive the observed masses and mixings of quarks and leptons from a more fundamental theory. In the case of (2), the PI hopes to develop the collider phenomenology of certain unified models which predict light exotic states. Item (3) is a real challenge because, apart from gravitation, the singlets hardly interact with normal matter and one needs to know the scattering rates from normal matter in order to detect them directly. The broader impacts of this proposal include the involvement of undergraduates in particle physics research, and the exposure of larger numbers of undergraduates at a predominantly liberal arts college to modern particle physics and its intimate connection with cosmology.