GRK 2497:  The physics of the heaviest particles at the Large Hadron Collider

• Subject Area: Particles, Nuclei and Fields
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 400140256

Elementary particle physics is in a fascinating phase. Copious data is being accumulated in low- and high-energy experiments, and cosmological observations exercise a strong influence on the field. The unique role of the Large Hadron Collider is due to the energy range and high statistics that it provides. The LHC has already proven that it can strongly restrict the parameter space of various extensions of the Standard Model. It has thus contributed substantially to the falsification of well motivated theoretical ideas. At the same time, it has made several discoveries, the most important of which was the discovery of the Higgs boson. The Research Training Group (RTG) is centred around LHC research. It builds on the particular strengths of the scientific groups at the RWTH Aachen University and the tradition of close collaboration between theory and experiment. The experimental groups are part of the CMS collaboration and have contributed substantially to the detector construction, its upgrades, computing and data analyses. The theoretical group covers a broad range of topics from precision calculations in quantum chromodynamics to the phenomenology of dark matter. The RTG is designed to study the heaviest particles both known and theorised. The focus will be on: 1) the Higgs boson, as a potential window to New Physics; 2) the top quark, as the heaviest of the quarks with likely relation to spontaneous symmetry breaking; 3) most plausible heavy, yet undiscovered, New Physics particles. In particular, the purpose of the RTG is to enhance the fundamental understanding of the structure of the Higgs mechanism by studying the Higgs boson properties such as the couplings of the scalar to fermions, gauge bosons, and to itself. Furthermore, the special role of the top quark both as a source of dominant background processes and a link to New Physics is exploited. At the same time, top-quark cross sections are used to perform Standard Model tests and to extract fundamental parameters. Finally, the potential of the LHC is fully explored as far as discovery of heavy Dark Matter particles is concerned. Doctoral researchers are offered tandem supervision and are integrated into international collaborations. They attend lectures, block courses, seminars, external schools and conferences. Finally, they profit from the Center for Young Academics of the RWTH.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Michal Czakon
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Kerstin Borras; Professor Dr. Martin Erdmann; Professor Dr. Johannes Erdmann; Professor Dr. Lutz Feld; Professor Dr. Robert Harlander; Professor Dr. Michael Krämer; Professor Dr. Alexander Schmidt; Professorin Dr. Malgorzata Worek