Experimental or reading project under the direction of a staff member. The following are some projects I would be willing to supervise. Other ideas are welcomed.
My group is studying the possibility of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider being sensitive to higher-dimensional space beyond our common three dimensions. One consequence of this higher-dimensional space is the possibility of producing quantum black holes or stringy-type objects in the experiment. Evidence for these objects will test quantum gravity for the first time, as well as make connections to string theory, which has previously had little connection to experimental physics. The student will study the production rates for quantum black holes near the fundamental Planck scale in extra demensions by running computer simualtion programs.
String theory is one possible theory that requires higher-dimensional space. For many years, string theory has guided the direction of the "theory of everything". One drawback is that it is extremely difficult to find a unique prediction of the thoery that can be testable in current or future experiments. TeV-scale string models based on intersecting D-branes have recently allowed a connection to be made between the theory and experiment. The student will develop the phenomenology of this theory in the context of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.
My group is studying the possibility of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider being sensitive to higher-dimensional space beyond our common three dimensions. One consequence of the higher-dimensional space is the possibility to produce black holes in the experiment. These black holes would be expected to be produced at very high rates. Currently the predictions are based on the classical results of black holes in general relativity. At the Large Hadron Collider quantum effects will become important. Although we do not have a consistent theory of quantum gravity, we can gain some understanding by postulating the noncommunativity of space at the quantum level. The student will study black holes in noncommunative geometry.
My group is studying the possibility of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider being sensitive to higher-dimensional space beyond our common three dimensions. One consequence of the higher-dimensional space is the possibility to produce black holes in the experiment. These black holes would be expected to be produced at very high rates. Since black holes decay democratically to all particles, rare particles could be produced from black holes at the same rate as more common particles. The student will study the production rates for rare particles from black hole decays.