"Theory of Particle Physics and Cosmology" Seminar
2017/2018 | 2018/2019 | 2019/2020 | 2020/2021 | 2021/2022 | 2022/2023 | 2023/2024 | 2024/2025
2020-06-04 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15 
Ville Vaskonen (King's College, London)[ON-LINE] Gravitational wave observations and primordial black holes
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
The direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs) from binary black hole (BH) merger by LIGO marked the dawn of a new era in cosmology. In this talk I will first discuss the LIGO observations and future GW experiments. Then, I will focus on the possibility that (a fraction of) dark matter is in primordial black holes (PBHs) and show how their abundance can be probed by GW observatories.
2020-05-28 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15
Dorota Grabowska (CERN)[ON-LINE] Dark Blobs: Exponentially Large Composite Dark Matter
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
The Dark Matter (DM) mass regime spans over ninety orders of magnitude, and while experiments have been constraining many regions of the viable parameter space, there exist about thirty-five decades that have been under-explored. In particular, for DM masses starting at around a microgram, terrestrial detectors lack sufficient exposure, assuming the typical DM density, while gravity-based detection methods lack sufficient sensitivity, due to the low mass scale. In this talk, I will present a viable DM candidate for this mass regime, as well as detailing how current and near future precision experiments can be used to place constraints on its interactions with the Standard Model. I will also show the sensitivity of traditional DM direct detection experiments for slightly lower mass composite dark matter, where the compositeness scale plays a key role in determining the feasibility of detection for a given detector.
2020-05-21 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15
Paolo Gambino (University of Turin)[ON-LINE] The endless chase for Vcb
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
The CKM element Vcb is an important input for indirect new physics searches and is determined by semileptonic B decays to charm. I will briefly review the inclusive and exclusive methods, addressing the main problems and describing the prospects for the future.
2020-05-14 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15
Igor Ivanov (CFTP Lisbon)[ON-LINE] Doing spin physics with unpolarized particles
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
Spin physics is an intricate and fascinating chapter in HEP phenomenology. It seems inevitable that, in order to probe spin-parity properties of hadrons and their interactions, one needs either to collide polarized initial particles or to study non-trivial angular distributions in exclusive processes. I will argue that it is possible to probe spin- and parity-dependent observables in inclusive processes with unpolarized particles — provided, they are prepared in a "twisted" state, that is, a non-plane-wave state equipped with a non-zero orbital angular momentum with respect to its propagation direction. Although this proposal cannot be checked at existing accelerators, these novel opportunities represent a compelling scientific case to justify a dedicated work on instrumentation development.
2020-05-07 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15
Leonardo Vernazza (Nikhef, Amsterdam)[ON-LINE] Aspects of non-leptonic B decays in and beyond the Standard Model
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
I will discuss the challenges one faces to obtain precise predictions for non-leptonic B decays, within the Standard Model. Subsequently, I will present a general discussion and classification of new physics contributions to these decays. I will conclude by considering a few case studies, with the aim of investigating whether and how they can be useful in new physics searches.
2020-04-30 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15
Wojciech Kotlarski (TU Dresden)[ON-LINE] Low-energy lepton physics in the R-symmetric SUSY
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
I will discuss the correlation between muon g-2, mu -> e gamma decay and muon to electron conversion in the Minimal R-symmetric Supersymmetric Standard Model. In the MSSM these observables are strongly correlated, as they are usually dominated by a common, tan(beta)-enhanced contribution. I will discuss regions of parameter space of the MRSSM where such correlation is weak. In this case the Phase I of COMET, the next mu to e conversion experiment, shows a promising sensitivity to the MRSSM.
2020-04-23 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15
Maciej Andrzej Nowak (UJ)[ON-LINE] New Face of Random Matrix Theory
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
Nowadays, “dataism”, i.e. the philosophy created by the emergence of the significance of the Big Data, starts to dominate contemporary research and high-technology applications. The crucial question arises, how, in such gargantuan sets of data, to unravel signals from noise and to find the hidden, usually non-linear, correlations. Random matrix theory, initially used for description of excited heavy nuclei, and later, successfully applied in all domains of physics, ranging from disorder in quantum systems to quantumchromodynamics and quantum gravity, seems to be the right tool. In this lecture I argue, that in the limit of large dimension of the matrix (analogue of ‘t Hooft limit in QFT), such theory can be viewed as a XXI century counterpart of the XIX century classical probability theory. I demonstrate sample interdisciplinary applications of such a viewpoint in various real complex systems.
2020-04-16 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15
Anna Kulesza (WWU Münster)[ON-LINE] Precision cross sections for the associated top-pair production with a heavy boson at the LHC
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
The studies of the associated production processes of a top-quark pair with a heavy colour-singlet boson, e.g. Higgs, W or Z, are among the highest priorities of the LHC programme. Correspondingly, precision of theoretical predictions for 2 to 3 processes is of central importance, yet possibilities to reduce theoretical uncertainties using fixed-order perturbation theory are currently technically limited. In this talk, latest results on resummation of soft gluon corrections for this class of processes are reviewed. In particular, improvements due to resummation to fixed-order predictions, both total cross sections and differential distributions, are discussed and confronted with experimental data.
2020-04-02 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15
Tania Robens (RBI Zagreb, Croatia)[ON LINE] Constraining Extended Scalar Sectors at the LHC and beyond
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
After the discovery of a Higgs boson by the LHC experiments in 2012, one important quest for particle physics is to determine whether the scalar sector realized by nature corresponds to the one described by the Standard Model, or whether it is part of a more involved theory including additional matter content. In addition, astrophysical observations indicate the existence of dark matter, which cannot be explained by the SM alone. In this talk, I will talk about possible extensions of the SM scalar sector, which agree with current measurements and can be investigated at current and future colliders, rendering novel signatures. I will also discuss possible interplay of collider and astrophysical observations.
2020-03-26 (Thursday)
join us at 12:15
Emilian Dudas (CPT Paris)[ON-LINE] A fresh look into moduli stabilization
https://meet.google.com/fsr-oyfv-hpr (the seminar takes place on-line only)
We review recent works showing that a light field naturally appears in moduli stabilization models based on warped compactifications. Some potential phenomenological consequences will be discussed.