Particle Physics

The simplest technicolor model contains would-be Goldstone bosons to provide masses for the observed W and Z particles, replacing the standard Higgs mechanism. Perhaps surprisingly, it also contains an additional Goldstone boson that is a natural dark matter candidate. A recent lattice simulation has confirmed the symmetry-breaking pattern, explored the mass spectrum of the lightest technihadrons, and established an effective field theory.

The 7 TeV LHC run has the potential to shed light on extensions beyond the Standard Model. I will discuss the prospects for finding new colored particles in an optimistic signature for discovery, heavy flavor jets and missing energy. I will illustrate the use of Simplified Models in guiding the organization of searches and presentation of results. Finally, I will discuss finer jet observables, and their possible applications in understanding Standard Model backgrounds and distinguishing new physics in a jet-rich environment.

Can neutrinos really travel faster than light? Recently released experimental data from CERN suggests that they can. Join host Dr. Richard Epp and a panel of Perimeter Institute scientists in a live webinar to discuss this unexpected and puzzling experimental result, and some theoretical questions it might raise.

We suggest the existence of a fundamental connection between baryonic and dark matter. This is motivated by both the stability of these two types of matter as well as the observed similarity of their present-day densities. A unified genesis of baryonic and dark matter arises naturally in models in which proton stability is ensured by promoting the baryon number to a local symmetry. This is illustrated in a specific class of SUSY models using the Affleck-Dine mechanism. The dark matter candidate in these scenarios is charged under the baryon gauge symmetry and is required to have a mass at the weak scale. We discuss the collider constraints from B-factories, LEP, Tevatron, and LHC, as well as direct detection bounds. A baryonic dark force is shown to be consistent with all data for mediators as light as the GeV scale.

DEAP-3600 is a dark matter experiment using 3600 kg of liquid argon for direct WIMP search, with a target sensitivity to the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section of 10^{-46} cm^2. The detector is currently under construction at SNOLAB, located 2 km underground in Sudbury. In this single-phase liquid argon experiment, discrimination of beta/gamma backgrounds from the WIMP-induced nuclear recoil signal will be achieved by analyzing the pulse shape of scintillation light. A prototype 7-kg liquid argon detector has been taking data at SNOLAB since 2007 and has allowed extensive background studies, including significant radon and surface contamination reduction. The status of the experiment and of background reduction studies will be presented.