Talks

We demonstrate a number of effective field theory constructions developed to capture the effects of new physics on the Higgs sector of the standard model. We demonstrate that as the self couplings of the Higgs could be significantly effected by new physics, novel phenomenology such as a two Higgs bound state (Higgsium) may be possible. We also demonstrate that the effects of new physics on the Higgs fermion couplings, and thus the Higgs width, could be significant. We show that it is possible this could happen while the new physics cannot be directly detected at LHC. This could lead to an early Higgs discovery or a missing Higgs in the first 100 fb^(-1) of data at LHC.

Cosmic strings are non-trivial configurations of scalar (and vector) fields that are stable on account of a topological conservation law. They can be formed in the early universe as it cools after the Big Bang. The scalar fields required to form cosmic strings arise naturally if Nature is supersymmetric at high energies. A common feature of supersymmetric theories are directions in the scalar potential that are extremely flat. Combining these two ingredients, the cosmic strings associated with supersymmetric flat directions are qualitatively different from ordinary cosmic strings. In particular, flat-direction strings have very stable higher-winding modes, and are very wide relative to the scale of their energy density. These novel features have important implications for the formation and evolution of a network of flat-direction cosmic strings in the early universe. They also affect the observational signatures of the strings, which include gravity waves, dark matter, and modifications to the nuclear abundances and the blackbody spectrum of the microwave background radiation

Strong gauge dynamics can be given a holographic description in terms of a warped extra dimension. In particular, Randall-Sundrum models with bulk fields are dual to Standard Model partial compositeness. We identify a holographic basis of 4D fields that allows for a quantitative description of the elementary/composite mixing in these theories.

We highlight the unexpected impact of nucleosynthesis on the detectability of tracking quintessence dynamics at late times, showing that dynamics may be invisible until Stage-IV dark energy experiments (DUNE, JDEM, LSST, SKA). Nucleosynthesis forces |wŒ(0)| <0.2 for the models we consider and strongly limits potential deviations from _LCDM . Surprisingly, the standard CPL parametrisation, w(z) = w0 +waz/(1+z), cannot match the nucleosynthesis bound for minimally coupled tracking scalar fields. Given that such models are arguably the best-motivated alternatives to a cosmological constant these results may significantly impact future cosmological survey design and imply that dark energy may be dynamical even if we do not detect any dynamics in the next decade.

First, a brief description of Bell\'s theorem will be given. It states states that there is no classical-like (local realistic) description of all quantum predictions. Next, a plausible class of non-local realistic models will be presented which is incompatible with quantum mechanics, as first shown by Leggett. Experiments confirming the incompatibility will be described. Finally, it will be argued that quantum mechanics can be seen as a theory of systems with limited information resources.

Some thirty years ago surface-enhanced Raman (SERS) was discovered. In a nutshell, molecules positioned near roughened silver and gold surfaces were found to produce Raman spectra some 6 orders more intense than what an equivalent number of solution-phase molecules did. A large number of mechanisms were proposed to account for this spectacular effect, among which the one that seems to account for most of the observations essentially ascribes SERS to the concentration of the optical field in appropriately structured, interacting nanoscale features which operate both on the incident and Raman-scattered light. This concentration is to be appreciable only for features in which strong and narrow localized surface plasmons were excited. This “plasmonic” model not only accounted for many of SERS seminal features but also gave birth to the research fields of plasmonics and so-called metamaterials most of which achieve the necessary conditions governing the electrical permittivity and magnetic susceptibility of metamaterials in wavelength regions where plasmons are excited. SERS was again in the news approximately 10 years ago when a number of groups pointed out that SERS from individual molecules could be observed leading some to speculate that this observation challenged the plasmonic origin of SERS. The discovery of single-molecule SERS, coincident with the intense interest of the research community in nanoscience and technology, produced a renaissance of interest in SERS that is still with us. The work of the past half dozen years reaffirmed SERS as ultimately a plasmonic effect wherein most SERS-active systems are actually rather heterogeneous with most of the enhancement originating from “hot spots” where the enhancement could top 10 orders of magnitude averaged over territory where the enhancement is rather low. The major current challenge in the field is to devise nanostructures where the hot spots dominate, leading to systems with an inordinate ability to focus electromagnetic fields so as to produce not only extraordinarily intense SERS (presumably as a super-sensitive chemical analysis tool) but also as loci where other unusual photo-induced physical and chemical processes occur when the system is illuminated with rather banal light sources. The talk will illustrate some of the most recent advances in this field.