Is there a new symmetry in nature, such as supersymmetry (SUSY), that explains the stability of the electroweak scale? The origin of the electroweak scale along with a better understanding of the flavour and properties of neutrinos are among the most important questions in basic science today.
Building on Europe's long tradition in particle physics, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experimental programme is designed to elucidate the origin of the electroweak scale and the properties of matter at teraelectronvolt energies. Could the LHC also help us understand neutrinos and flavour? Neutrinos are elementary constituents of nature and fundamental building blocks of the so-called Standard Model that describes matter and its interactions. The discovery of the neutrino mass has been a revolution in particle physics, providing strong evidence of new physics that implies that the Standard Model, which explains the other experimental results, needs to be revised. Of all the elementary particles, neutrinos play a special role. What is the origin of their mass, why is it so small, is the lepton number conserved, and can we understand from first principles the observed mixing pattern of neutrinos, which is so different from that of quarks?
Our research group has proposed theoretical models where the origin of the neutrino mass is intrinsically supersymmetric, relating the decay properties of the lightest supersymmetric particle to neutrino oscillation angles measured in underground experiments and confirmed by detecting neutrinos from accelerators and nuclear reactors. This line opens up the tantalising possibility that the LHC programme could help us shed light on the flavour problem and requires dedicated scrutiny, both theoretically and at the level of numerical simulations, which will be one of the priorities of our group in the coming years. In the last two decades it has become clear that particle and astroparticle physics offer complementary ways of understanding the Universe and provide answers to the big questions of basic science. Europe is strongly involved in this issue, recognised by the Aspera roadmap to which Spain contributes decisively. We will also investigate how LHC data can help solve astrophysical mysteries such as the nature of dark matter and its properties. The synergies between high-energy physics and astrophysics or cosmology lie at the heart of a new discipline forged in recent decades and now known as astroparticle physics.
Our lines of research for the period 2014-2017 are structured as follows:
- Neutrino properties: in the laboratory, astrophysics and cosmology.
- Origin of the neutrino mass and the flavour problem.
- New physics in the LHC era.
- Dark matter in astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology.
The proposed research is therefore interdisciplinary, covering all aspects of the search for new physics, from theory to experiments, on all sides. More theoretical ideas on unification, extra dimensions, inflationary cosmology and dark energy are also included.
- Phenomenology of elementary particle physics. Theories beyond the Standard Model and implications for accelerators, astrophysics and cosmology.
- Dark matter in astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology
Search for candidates for the bulk of the non-luminous matter in the Universe. Theoretical study of different models providing dark matter candidates and their signals in direct or indirect detection experiments, as well as in cosmological observables.
- Neutrino properties: astrophysical, cosmological and laboratory implications
Global analysis of data from solar, atmospheric, reactor and accelerator neutrino experiments. Experimental consequences of the existence of non-standard interactions. Neutrinos as probes in astrophysics (Sun, supernovae) and cosmology (CMB, LSS), neutrino astronomy.
- Neutrino mass origin and the flavour problem
In this line we investigate particle physics models beyond the Standard Model that generate the mass and mixing structure of neutrinos, in particular those inspired by large- or small-scale see-saw models, with or without unification, radiative or supersymmetric models.
- New physics in the era of the Large Hadron Collider
Phenomenology of extended models, in particular supersymmetric ones, in particle accelerators and in particular the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Model-driven data prediction and analysis, looking for specific signals of new particles.
Contributors
- César Manuel Bonilla Díaz - Spanish National Research Council (Madrid)
- Mohamed Boucenna - Spanish National Research Council (Madrid)
Burjassot/Paterna Campus
Science ParkC/ Catedrático José Beltrán, 2
46980 Paterna (Valencia)
