Dr. Matthias Schott
Bread and Butter Physics - W Boson Mass and Beyond
Abstract:
No new elementary particles have been discovered at the LHC since more than ten years. Does this imply, that collider physics becomes boring in the next decades? My clear answer is no! There are many open questions within the Standard Modell which can only be addressed at the LHC in the coming years, potentially opening the door to new physics. However, there will be a clear shift from direct searches towards precision measurements. Prominent examples are the recent measurements of the W boson mass but the long standing discrepancy of the anomalous magnetic dipole moment of the muon. In this talk, I will give a brief overview of selected and highly exciting results which are expected to be finalized in the coming years, focussing on the properties of the W boson, but also touch on the search for weakly interacting particles at the LHC at smaller experiments.
Eluned Anne Smith, MIT
Rare B decays at LHCb: probing New Physics beyond the TeV scale
Abstract:
Despite the success of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, it fails to explain certain cosmological observations, such as the evidence for Dark Matter. This points to the existence of “New Physics” (NP), beyond the SM, generally expected to manifest in the form of new fundamental particles. Precision measurements of beauty-hadron (B) decays can probe NP energy scales significantly larger than the available collision energy at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This is particularly true of rare B decays, as their suppression in the SM makes them more sensitive to NP effects. Many world-leading measurements in this sector are achieved with data collected using the LHCb detector, one of the four main experiments at the LHC. Of particular interest are b → sμ+μ− transitions, which have demonstrated significant tensions with the SM over the last decade. This talk will summarise the current status of rare B decays at LHCb, the implications of these measurements on the NP landscape and prospects for understanding the cause of these anomalies over the next decade. I will also discuss the technological challenges and opportunities associated with operating LHCb Upgrade II, an ultimate precision flavour detector at the HL-LHC due to start data-taking in 10 years.
Nora Brambilla
Nonrelativistic bound states with Effective Field Theories
Abstract:
Nonrelativistic bound states lie at the core of quantum physics, permeating the fabric of nature across diverse realms, spanning particle to nuclear physics, and from condensed matter to astrophysics. These systems are pivotal in addressing contemporary challenges at the
forefront of particle physics. Characterized by distinct energy scales, they serve as unique probes of complex environments. Historically, their incorporation into quantum field theory was fraught with difficulty until the emergence of nonrelativistic effective field theories (NREFTs).
In this talk, we delve into the construction of a potential NREFT (pNREFT), a framework that directly tackles bound state dynamics reimagining quantum mechanics from field theory. Focusing on heavy quarkonia, pNRQCD facilitates systematic definitions and precise calculations for high-energy collider observables. At the cutting edge, we investigate nonrelativistic bound states in intricate environments, like the newly discovered exotics X, Y, Z above the strong decay threshold and the behavior in out-of-equilibrium scenarios, such as quarkonium suppression in a Quark Gluon Plasma or dark matter interactions in the early universe.
Our ability to achieve precision calculations and control strongly interacting systems is closely linked to bridging perturbative methods with nonperturbative tools, notably numerical lattice gauge theories.
Radoslav Marchevski
Kaon Physics with NA62 at CERN, present and future
Abstract:
Kaon physics has been a source of many discoveries and was essential for the establishment of the Standard Model of particle physics as a viable theory of nature. In recent years the kaon physics community has concentrated on measuring the very rare decays of a charged kaon to a charged pion and a neutrino-antineutrino pair (PNN), which are considered golden modes in flavour physics due to its sensitivity to a broad range of Beyond the Standard Model extentions. The charged PNN decay mode is currently under investigation by the NA62 experiment at CERN. The NA62 experiment at CERN collected the world's largest dataset of charged kaon decays in 2016-2018 and restarted operation in 2021. NA62 will continue taking data until CERN Long Shutdown 3. The main goal is to measure the PNN branching ratio with a precision of the order of 10%, but the large data set also allows for a wide variety of precision measurements of rare kaon decays as well as exotic searches for new particles.
The future availability of high-intensity kaon beams at the CERN SPS North Area gives rise to unique possibilities for sensitive tests of the Standard Model in the kaon sector. Rare kaon decay measurements at CERN are listed as an essential scientific activity in the 2020 Update of the European strategy for particle physics and are strongly supported in the national roadmaps across Europe. The High-Intensity Kaon Experiment (HIKE) is a rich high-intensity kaon physics programme and CERN SPS fixed-target experiment, exploring the precision frontier of the Standard Model in a complementary way to the LHC experiments. HIKE represents a broad, long-term physics programme at the CERN SPS after Long Shutdown 3 (>2028), covering all the main aspects of rare kaon decays and searches accessible via kaon physics, from ultra-rare kaon decays to precision measurements and searches for new phenomena, with unprecedented world-leading sensitivity.
This seminar will cover the most recent results from the NA62 experiment and will present an overview of the physics goals, detector requirements, and project status for HIKE, the next generation of kaon physics experiments at CERN.
