High Energy Physics

The very fundamental particles found in nature are leptons (electrons and their charged cousins, and neutrinos) and quarks. The Standard Model (SM) describes how these interact via the strong and electroweak forces. Our group studies neutrinos which have puzzling behavior unexplained by the Standard Model; we also study the nature of the SM forces, with emphasis on searches for new phenomena that may lie beyond.

In particular, we focus on

  • Detailed studies of particles that contain the charm quark, the fourth quark whose decays may hide violation of the CP symmetry. This research uses data collected by the BaBar experiment at SLAC.
  • The energy frontier at the LHC (CERN) where we are looking for evidence of supersymmetry on the ATLAS experiment which also explores a host of new ideas which include gravitons, dark matter, extra dimensions and, of course, the Higgs boson.
  • Further studies of neutrino physics.

Faculty