Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual

The Standard Model of High Energy Physics (SM) has been thoroughly tested, and confirmed by experiments. But the model suffers from theoretical inconsistencies and most physicists regard it as a low-energy manifestation of a higher energy symmetry. For the past decades, theorists have diligently produced many possibilities for what the new symmetry might look like. But for the first time, with the imminent start of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, and with plans to build the International Linear Collider (ILC), now we would be able to test those predictions. The important question to be answered is model discrimination: if a clear signal of new physics (something that runs counter to SM predictions) is detected at the colliders, how can we distinguish the model responsible for it. Our group at Concordia University is responsible, in part, for developing a model which adds supersymmetry (a fermion-boson symmetry) and left-right (mirror, or parity) symmetry to the Standard Model. Supersymmetry is widely believed to be the most promising symmetry at higher energies, while left-right symmetry provides the most elegant mechanism for (necessary) neutrino masses. Using available software designed for model building and collider event simulations, I plan to construct a complete and self-consistent picture of the model, in which all the parameters would be interrelated and reduced to a small number of fundamental ones. Then, I want to use it to predict what are the most likely signals of this model at colliders, and indicate how to discriminate these from what other models predict. It is important to compare the signals coming from both the LHC (larger collision energy, and better for producing strongly interacting particles) and the ILC (smaller background signals, good for generating electro-weakly interacting particles), as the model differs from the SM in both particle content and relative interactions. I have already predicted some of these signals, but a lot more work remains to be done. This project involves significant student training, as some parts will constitute PhD theses; as well as collaborations with groups in Canada and abroad.