GRK 1940:  Particle Physics beyond the Standard Model

• Subject Area: Particles, Nuclei and Fields
• Term: from 2014 to 2023
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 229556894

We are facing an exciting period in particle physics, driven by many measurements. The discovery of the Higgs was a huge success of the Standard Model. Its properties were the last firm predictions to be tested and their tests are promising paths to finding yet unknown new physics. The LHC excluded many prominent new physics scenarios such as supersymmetry over a wide parameter range and will continue to challenge the new physics landscape. Recent tensions in the flavor sector indicate violation of lepton non-universality. Many non-collider experiments in the dark matter and the flavor sectors started taking data or will do so very soon. Furthermore, astrophysical and cosmological observations at vastly different energy scales keep providing crucial input. In this data-driven era it is crucial that experimentalists and theorists develop a coherent program to uncover the fundamental structures of nature. The Higgs discovery has confirmed our great hope that the weakly interacting gauge theory describing the electroweak scale can be extrapolated to more fundamental energy scales. This defines the theoretical framework to connect dedicated experimental efforts at vastly different energy scales targeting the big open questions in contemporary particle physics. Central questions in this framework are the structure of the Higgs sector and the nature of dark matter. In addition, we still have to understand the origin of lepton and quark masses with their three generations, approximate gauge coupling unification, or the matter asymmetry in the universe. All of these questions require an experimental program working hand in hand with an improved theoretical understanding of the Standard Model, including the fact that physics close to the Planck scale might require a quantum theory of gravity. In this RTG, doctoral students are and will be trained in a way which connects experimental and theoretical particle physics in many individual specializations. Heidelberg University with its large number of students and research groups is particularly well-suited for such a broad approach to research and training. The students will draw inspiration from other, related fields of physics and profit from a wide variety of experiments and theoretical models, currently available in our quest to understand fundamental structures. Creative and productive collaboration requires such a broad understanding already at the doctoral level. We rely on five definite measures spread over the three years of graduate education, accompanied by a general educational environment, aiming for the broad perspective which our successful students will need to lead particles physics through the coming decades.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Tilman Plehn
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Luca Amendola; Professorin Dr. Monica Dunford, Ph.D.; Dr. Florian Goertz; Professorin Dr. Stephanie Hansmann-Menzemer; Professor Dr. Arthur Hebecker; Professor Dr. Joerg Jaeckel; Privatdozentin Dr. Teresa Marrodán Undagoitia; Professor Dr. Hans-Christian Schultz-Coulon; Professor Dr. André Schöning; Professor Dr. Ulrich Uwer; Professorin Dr. Susanne Westhoff