Experimental Particle Physics at the University of Edinburgh

Physicists at the University of Edinburgh are smashing together electrons and their antimatter counterparts, positrons, to study why the universe contains far more matter than antimatter. They are also analysing data from the Large Hadron Collider, where protons collide at near light-speed, to search for rare decays of particles called b quarks. These decays could reveal cracks in the Standard Model, the current best description of fundamental particles and forces. The team is simultaneously preparing for a future International Linear Collider, a machine designed to produce and measure Higgs bosons with unprecedented precision. This is fundamental science. It addresses a deep gap in knowledge: the Standard Model cannot explain why matter dominates over antimatter, nor does it account for dark matter or other unexplained phenomena. If the researchers find deviations from predicted decay rates or new particles, it would force a rewrite of the Standard Model. There is no immediate practical application. But past fundamental particle physics research gave us the World Wide Web, medical imaging technologies like PET scans, and the accelerator technology now used in cancer therapy. A deeper understanding of matter’s fundamental structure could, over decades, seed similarly transformative tools.