Anticipating New Physics and its Signatures at the LHC

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The discovery of new physics at hadron colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider that will soon begin operation at CERN is not simple, and often requires some knowledge about the exact nature of the new physics. Two questions stand out as being of critical importance. What are the best candidate theories for physics beyond the Standard Model that address the hierarchy problem? Secondly , how well can the LHC experiment test each of these theories? The research to be performed by the PI is aimed at addressing precisely these two questions. He has proposed two new classes of theories, twin Higgs theories and folded supersymmetric theories, that address the hierarchy problem up to the highest energy scales accessible to the LHC. He plans to study these theories in greater detail, with particular emphasis on their collider signatures. He also proposes to work on ultra-violet completions of these theories that extend their validity to higher energies, with particular attention to their predictions for weak scale physics. He further plans to investigate new models of electroweak symmetry breaking based on these ideas. The broader implications of the research project relate to the PI acting as a bridge between experimentalists and Theorists at the University of Maryland and at Johns Hopkins University. The PI will also participate in the training of undergraduate and graduate students as well as Postdoctoral Fellows. He will help coordinate joint seminars between the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University.