Physicists at Imperial College will smash particles together at the Large Hadron Collider, hunt for dark matter a mile underground in a former South Dakota gold mine, and fire neutrinos across Japan, all to test whether the Standard Model of particle physics is the final word on reality. The Standard Model describes every known particle and force except gravity, but it cannot explain dark matter, why matter triumphed over antimatter, or why neutrinos have mass. These experiments probe those gaps directly. The group will measure rare particle decays that could reveal new forces, search for weakly interacting massive particles that might make up dark matter, and look for signs that muons can transform into electrons—a process that would shatter the Standard Model. This is fundamental science. It will not produce a new smartphone or a medical device next year. But every time physicists have cracked open the subatomic world—from quantum mechanics to the Higgs boson—unexpected technologies followed: MRI machines, semiconductor chips, and the World Wide Web itself. A deeper understanding of matter’s deepest rules will reshape what is possible, even if no one can yet say how.
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This grant is to continue the group's programme of investigation into the properties of elementary particles and the fundamental forces of nature, encoded in the so-called “Standard Model” (SM). One of the main objectives of this grant will be to support our experimental programme at the LHC. The CMS experiment will continue to characterize the Higgs boson, which provides a unique window onto new physics. It will also be possible to extend our searches for SUSY, dark matter, long-lived particles and other new phenomena. The LHCb experiment will offer complementary tests of the SM and beyond with the ability to look for extremely rare decays in flavour physics that are sensitive to contributions from new physics. Measurements led by the group have revealed deviations from the SM. The group is also very active in preparing the next generation of CMS and LHCb detectors for the high luminosity upgrade of the LHC. The CMS upgrades will be completed, installed and commissioning over the coming grant period. The T2K long baseline neutrino experiment will allow us to expand our understanding of the masses and mixings in the neutrino sector, and leptonic CP violation. Future running, and combination with other experiments, will shed further light. To fully characterize this CP violation and its role in the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry will require the next generation detectors, DUNE and Hyper-K, in which we are also involved, with development underway. Hyper-K will start taking data during this grant. We are also involved in the SBN programme at Fermilab. Heavy neutrino-like particles are predicted in several new physics models and the SHiP experiment is designed to search for these new particles and other feebly interacting new particles. Around a quarter of the Universe is composed of dark matter and its nature is unknown. This has so far remained undetected in the laboratory and the group will continue its activity in searching for direct evidence of a dark matter candidate through the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment, along with preparations for the next generation detector, XLZD. The AION experiment will use novel quantum technologies to probe for ultra-light dark matter, and, in time, gravitational waves. Direct conversion of muons to electrons is heavily suppressed in the SM so any observation of this process would be a major discovery. The COMET experiment is searching for this process and will take data during the grant. Similarly, a measurable electric dipole moment for the electron could only arise through new physics and the eEDM experiment will continue to push down the limits for such an effect. Whilst the output is primarily furthering our understanding of fundamental physics, the techniques and technologies developed have wider societal benefit and we have an associated impact programme.
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