Related papers: Journey through Gauge Theories: From Foundations t…
Particle physics has evolved a coherent model that characterizes forces and particles at the most elementary level. This Standard Model, built from many theoretical and experimental studies, is in excellent accord with almost all current…
One of the biggest revelations of 20th century physics, is virtually unheard of outside the inner circles of particle physics. This is the gauge theory, the foundation for how all physical interactions are described and a guiding principle…
Two recent findings necessitate a closer look at the existing standard models of Particle Physics and Cosmology. These are the discovery of Neutrino oscillation, and hence a non zero mass on the one hand and, on the other, observations of…
The answer to the question in the title is: in search of new physics beyond the Standard Model, for which there are many motivations, including the likely instability of the electroweak vacuum, dark matter, the origin of matter, the masses…
The reader surely knows what particles physics is about: finding building blocks of nature that appear elementary at a given time and study their interactions - so why in the world this essay? The problem is how to arrive at a fundamental…
In the last decades, a very important breakthrough has been brought in the elementary particle physics by the discovery of the phenomenon of the neutrino oscillations, which has shown neutrino properties beyond the Standard Model. But a…
Within particle physics itself, Gauguin's questions may be interpreted as: P1 - What is the status of the Standard Model? P2 - What physics may lie beyond the Standard Model? P3 - What is the `Theory of Everything'? Gauguin's questions may…
Symmetries in the Physical Laws of Nature lead to observable effects. Beyond regularities and conserved magnitudes, the last decades in Particle Physics have seen the identification of symmetries, and their well defined breaking, as the…
Gravitational waves (GWs) were recently detected for the first time. This revolutionary discovery opens a new way of learning about particle physics through GWs from first-order phase transitions (FOPTs) in the early Universe. FOPTs could…
The most well tested and successful model of particle physics is the Standard Model (SM). It is shown here that the restoration of the full SM symmetry (as in the Early Universe) leads to the result that the electric charge loses all…
Symmetry, in particular gauge symmetry, is a fundamental principle in theoretical physics. It is intimately connected to the geometry of fibre bundles. A refinement to the gauge principle, known as ``spontaneous symmetry breaking'', leads…
I briefly review the conceptual developments that led to the Standard Model and discuss some of its remarkable qualitative features. On the way, I draw attention to several puzzling aspects that are beyond the reach of our present…
During the past two decades, cosmologists turned to particle physics in order to explore the physics of the very early Universe. The main link between the physics of the smallest and largest structures in the Universe is the idea of…
The possibility of fundamental theories with very many ground states, each with different physical parameters, changes the way that we approach the major questions of particle physics. Most importantly, it raises the possibility that these…
The physical models of a successful unified theory about the Universe must operate in different phase of matter evolution and different fields of physics. The attempts to build such wide range theory as a bunch of theories developed for…
This is the second in a series of papers intended to provide a basic overview of some of the major ideas in particle physics. Part I [arXiv:0810.3328] was primarily an algebraic exposition of gauge theories. We developed the group theoretic…
Searching for the fundamental symmetries that characterize the particle physics of the early universe lies at the forefront of particle physics, nuclear physics, and cosmology. In this talk, I review low energy probes of these symmetries…
Quantum Field Theory (QFT) forms the bedrock of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, a powerful framework that delineates the fundamental constituents and interactions of the universe. However, the SM's narrative is incomplete, as…
One hundred years ago this year attempts began to generalise general relativity with the ambition of incorporating electromagnetism alongside gravitation in a unified field theory. These developments led to gauge theories and models with…
Our present understanding of elementary particle interactions is the synergic result of developments of theoretical ideas and of experimental advances that lead to the theory known as the Standard Model of particle physics. Despite the…