Particle Physics

Models with right-handed currents have recently attracted attention because of their potential ability to solve the discrepancy in various determinations of |V_{ub}|. We consider a minimal setup with an SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x U(1)_{B-L} gauge symmetry, for which we perform a simultaneous analysis of the most important constraints from electroweak precision observables, particle anti-particle mixing and the B -> X_{s,d} gamma decays. The main goals of our analysis are the determination of allowed parameter space for the new right-handed mixing matrix and the possible solution of various anomalies in the current flavor data.

The axion provides a solution to the strong CP problem and is a cold dark matter candidate.  I'll briefly review the limits on the axion from particle physics, stellar evolution and cosmology.  The various constraints suggest that the axion mass is in the micro-eV to milli-eV range.  In this window, axions contribute significantly to the energy density of the universe in the form of cold dark matter.  It was recently found that dark matter axions thermalize and form a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC).  As a result, it may be possible to distinguish axions from other forms of dark matter, such as weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), on observational grounds.  Axions accreting onto a galactic halo fall in with net overall rotation because almost all go to the lowest energy available state for given angular momentum.  In contrast, WIMPs accrete onto galactic halos with an irrotational velocity field.  The inner caustics are different in the two cases.  I'll argue that the dark matter is axions because there is observational evidence for the type of inner caustic produced by, and only by, an axion BEC.

Neutrino physics entered a new era in the last decade. With the discovery of a non-vanishing neutrino rest mass in oscillation experiments a variety of new questions showed up in the context of nuclear and particle physics. One of the crucial questions is the determination of the absolute neutrino mass, which cannot be measured in oscillation experiments. One option is neutrino-less double beta decay, the simultaneous conversion of two neutrons into two protons emitting two electrons. This total lepton number violating process requires that neutrinos are their own antiparticles and is considered to be gold plated. Furthermore, the measured half-life is directly linked with the neutrino mass. Currently, half-life measurements beyond 1025 years are discussed. This requires a large amount of the isotope of interest and a reduction of disturbing background to the smallest possible level. Indeed it is a search for the needle in a haystack. After a general introduction into double beta decay and the related physics, the talk will focus on the status of the experiments GERDA, COBRA and SNO+.

The Large Hadron Collider has been operating for more than a year and delivering exciting results. It has already excluded large parts of the parameter space for supersymmetry. If the hints of a Higgs boson at 125 GeV hold up, the implications for supersymmetry are even more profound. I will explain some of the consequences, including the failure of large classes of models like general gauge mediation to account for such a heavy Higgs. I will also discuss some ideas about how to look for scalar top quarks, which must be present in the low-energy spectrum for supersymmetry to be natural.

The LHC is offering our first glimpses of physics at energies above a TeV, allowing us an unprecedented chance to search for very heavy new particles from electroweak compositeness, new gauge forces, extra dimensions, and supersymmetry.  Some of the most interesting signals involve decays into Standard Model particles that we are used to thinking of as "heavy":  W/Z bosons, top quarks, and perhaps Higgs bosons.  However, at genuinely TeV-scale energies, these SM particles with O(100 GeV) mass are produced with relativistic velocities.  Consequently, their own decay products are Lorentz-boosted into very collimated configurations, and can look uncomfortably similar to the jets of particles that are copiously produced by QCD at hadron colliders.  The past several years have witnessed a surge of ideas for how to uncover these challenging signals by carefully organizing the patterns of radiation observed in the LHC detectors, an approach called Jet Substructure.  I will discuss some of these recent ideas, and show a handful of important applications to searches for new physics.