Tentative Schedule
September 8, 2008
Speaker: Veronica Sanz, Boston University
Title: "Holography: a tool for the LHC"
Abstract:
New strong interactions at the LHC are an exciting -and barely explored- possibility for New Physics. Spicing things up, electroweak
constraints require such strong interactions to exhibit a richer
structure than a rescaled version of QCD at the electroweak scale. In this talk we use a simple framework, based on a 5D model with a
modification of AdS geometry in the infrared, to navigate among these
scenarios and propose two points with particularly interesting
phenomenology. Within these benchmark points we explore the discovery
of vector and axial resonances in the Drell-Yan, associated production
and vector boson fusion channels.
September 22, 2008
Speaker: Massimo Porrati, New York University
Title: "Intrinsic limits in the description of interacting, massive high-spin particles"
Abstract:
While a consistent theory of massless interacting particles of spin
larger than two may not exists, at least in flat space, plenty of
massive high-spin particles are known. Among the know examples are
hadronic resonances and massive string states. Both are best thought as
resonances endowed with a finite fundamental size, or lifetime, never
parametrically smaller than their Compton wavelength. In this talk I
shall present a model-independent argument that justifies this property.
September 29, 2008
Speaker: Tommy Levi, New York University
Title: "When Worlds Collide"
Abstract:
I will discuss some cosmological implications of the string theory landscape, focusing on Coleman-de Luccia bubbles and scenarios in which two such bubbles collide. I will analyze the dynamics of these collisions in the thin wall limit and discuss potentially observable signals in the CMB such as hemispherical power asymmetry and cold spots.
October 6, 2008
Speaker: Andrea De Simone, MIT
Title: "Low-scale Gaugino Mediation"
Abstract:
I will describe the class of supersymmetric models featuring gaugino mediation at low (TeV) scale.
These models predict an interesting and rather unusual spectrum, where gauginos are significantly heavier than scalar superpartners, while the lightest superpartners are the gravitino, right-handed sleptons and left-handed sleptons (no light neutralino!). Consequently, squark decay chains pass through one or more sleptons and typical final states from squark and gluino production at the LHC include multiple leptons and no significant missing energy. As an illustration, I will present an explicit (four-dimensional) realization of low-scale gaugino mediation and discuss some of its distinctive phenomenology.
October 20, 2008
Speaker: Matthias Wapler, Perimeter Institute
Title: "Transport properties of holographic defects"
Abstract:
We study the charge transport properties of fields confined to a (2+1)-dimensional defect coupled to a (3+1) dimensional super-Yang-Mills theory at large-$N_c$ and strong coupling, using AdS/CFT techniques applied to linear response theory.
Considering a wide range of parameters describing the defect and the field theory, we compare our results to general expectations from condensed matter physics.We also comment about the quasiparticle spectrum in relation to the structure of the defect and about taking $N_c$ finite."
October 27, 2008
Speaker: Radovan Dermisek, Indiana University
Title: "Many light Higgs bosons in MSSM-like models"
Abstract:
We discuss a simple scenario in which all the Higgs bosons resulting
from two Higgs doublets (MSSM-like): the light and heavy CP even
Higgses, the CP odd Higgs and the charged Higgs could have been
produced already at LEP or the Tevatron but would have escaped
detection because they decay in modes that have not been searched for
or the experiments are not sensitive to. This scenario can be realized
in many models. We discuss specific predictions of this scenario in the
next-to-minimal supersymmetric model.
November 24, 2008
Speaker: Jonathan Roberts, New York University
Title: "Non-standard SUSY dark matter"
Abstract:
The observed relic density of dark matter is a clear signal of physics
beyond the standard model. Supersymmetry is often cited as providing a
natural explanation for the dark matter through the existence of a
lightest stable particle. However providing a can candidate didate is
not the same as providing a solution. I consider the familiar minimal
SUSY scenarios before going on to explore dark matter scenarios in the
wider MSSM and its extensions.
December 1, 2008
Speaker: Andre Walker-Loud, College of William and Mary
Title: "Background Electric Fields and Charged Hadron Correlators on
the Lattice"
Abstract:
The response of hadrons to electromagnetic probes is highly
constrained by chiral dynamics. In some cases, theoretical
predictions have not compared well with experimental data. Lattice
calculations can be used to test the predicted chiral-electromagnetic
deformation of hadrons and ultimately confront experiment. I will
discuss the use of background field techniques to study the
electromagnetic polarizabilities of hadrons. I will focus on lattice
calculations of hadrons correlation functions in background electric
fields and present preliminary results for both the charged and
neutral hadron polarizabilities. The former are extracted using a
novel method.
