The quest for new physics

Professor Raymond Volkas, School of Physics, The University of Melbourne

The standard model of particle physics is an extremely successful theory, but we know that it is an incomplete description of nature. I will review the evidence for “new physics”: interactions and particles that extend the standard model. The evidence ranges from the experimental detection of neutrino masses through the existence of dark matter to puzzles such as the lack of antimatter in the universe and various technical problems with big bang cosmology that may be solved by a period of cosmological inflation. I will also survey some other hints for new physics in the form of anomalous experimental results, and touch on some past disappointments in the quest for new physics. The conclusion will be that new physics certainly exists, and that a wide-ranging experimental and observational program is needed to discover its underlaying nature.

Further details: Krzysztof Bolejko (E krzysztof.bolejko@utas.edu.au)