High Energy Physics

We utilize the tools of the gauge/gravity correspondence in order to investigate electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB). For quite some time now, a walking technicolor sector has been viewed by phenomenologists as a very promising alternative to the Higgs boson. Unfortunately however, no precise computations have been possible since in the technicolor gauge theory EWSB is due to strong-coupling dynamics. Using recent developments in the gauge/gravity duality, we construct a gravity dual of a walking technicolor model and aim to compute the Peskin-Takeuchi S-parameter, which is an observable that can distinguish between a Higgs and a technicolor sector.

Recently there has been great interest in calculating transport coefficients for field theories at large coupling, using AdS/CFT. In this talk I will discuss recent work showing how to use the membrane paradigm to easily compute the shear viscosity and conductivity in arbitrary gravity theories. In a certain sense these can be thought of as effective couplings at the black hole horizon dual to the field theory plasma. An explicit Wald-like formula for these couplings is given for a large class of generalized gravity theories.

In generalized models of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, a standard model-like Higgs boson can decay to pairs of neutralino superpartners. If the energy scale of supersymmetry breaking is very low, each of these neutralinos will subsequently decay promptly to a photon and a gravitino. This process gives rise to a collider signal consisting of a pair of photons and missing energy. In this talk I will describe scenarios of supersymmetry breaking that can give rise this signature and other non-standard Higgs decay modes, and discuss how it might be discovered with upcoming data from the Tevatron and the LHC.

The calculation of soft supersymmery breaking terms type IIB string theoretic models is discussed. Both classical and quantum contributions are evaluated. The suppression of FCNC gives a lower bound on the size of the compactification volume. Essentially what is obtained is a sequestered theory with the dominant pattern of soft masses and gaugino masses being that expected from AMSB and gaugino mediation with a gravitino mass around 100TeV.

We study the sub-structure of heterotic Kahler moduli space due to the presence of non-Abelian internal gauge fields from the perspective of the four-dimensional effective theory. Internal gauge fields can be supersymmetric in some regions of Kahler moduli space but break supersymmetry in others. In the context of the four-dimensional theory, we investigate what happens when the Kahler moduli are changed from the supersymmetric to the non-supersymmetric region. Our results provide a low-energy description of supersymmetry breaking by internal gauge fields as well as a physical picture for the mathematical notion of bundle stability. Specifically, we find that at the transition between the two regions an additional anomalous U(1) symmetry appears under which some of the states in the low-energy theory acquire charges. We compute the associated D-term contribution to the four-dimensional potential which contains a Kahler modulus dependent Fayet-Iliopoulos term and contributions from the charged states. We show that this Dterm correctly reproduces the expected physics. Several mathematical conclusions concerning vector bundle stability are drawn from our arguments. We also discuss possible physical applications of our results to heterotic model building and moduli stabilisation.

What, exactly, happened around the time of the Big Bang? Exploring new models inspired by superstring theory and supergravity, e.g. ones in which we live on “branes” that collide with a “big bang”. Satellite experiments to test such models.

Physics beyond the standard model: theories of elementary particles with extra space dimensions (large, small, warped and flat); supersymmetry; grand unification; dark matter; inflation and dark energy; as well as relationships between the different subjects.

Many aspects of string theory, ranging from its mathematical structure and various formulations, to possible implications for black holes and cosmology. Using string phenomenology to connect theory with reality, i.e. string mathematics with elementary particle physics.