Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual

The building blocks of our universe are elementary particles, like electrons, photons, and quarks inside the proton and neutron. The properties and interactions of these particles are described by a theory called the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. The SM works very well in explaining many phenomena in our universe. However there are many observations the SM cannot explain. My research program will address the following shortcomings of the SM. 1- Most of the elementary particles acquire their masses by interacting with the Higgs particle. Neutrinos do not interact with the Higgs particle in the SM. However neutrinos also have mass as was shown at Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. (Canadian physicist Arthur McDonald shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in physics for this discovery.) This is a clear sign of the need for physics beyond the SM. I will address this mystery by exploring the interactions of new particles in supersymmetric theories, which are extensions of the SM. I will also study ways of discovering these new theories at high energy physics experiments like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). 2- The SM predicts that for every "particle" there is an "antiparticle" with equal mass and opposite quantum charges. Researchers produce and study these antiparticles at particle physics experiments. However there is almost no antimatter in our universe. This glaring puzzle is called the matter-antimatter asymmetry. I will study new particle physics models to explain the origins of this asymmetry. One of the new physics models I will study will connect the generation of the matter-antimatter asymmetry to the physics that gives mass to neutrinos. I will also explore ways to discover these new theories using particle colliders as well as cosmological observations. 3- The SM cannot account for dark matter, which makes up 80% of the matter in our universe. We know dark matter exists due to the gravity it exerts on stars in galaxies. However it does not interact much, if at all, with SM particles. Hence our knowledge about it is very little. My research involves exploring new physics models that can explain the existence and abundance of dark matter. I am especially interested in possible dark matter interactions with neutrinos, which can affect how galaxies formed in the early universe. My research will explore how we can detect these interactions via astrophysical observations. Canada is an integral part of the high energy physics community, with leading discoveries that further our understanding about our universe. My group will contribute to this cutting edge research agenda.