Particle theory is concerned with the fundamental nature of matter and forces in the universe, seeking to explain why the world is the way it is. Its triumph is the Standard Model – a relativistic quantum field theory of all the known interactions except gravity – which successfully explains all microphysical processes observed in the laboratory. However it does not account for the gross features of the Universe – the asymmetry between matter and antimatter, the dominance of dark over luminous matter, the inhomogeneities that have grown to create the observed large-scale structure – all of which require new physics.
In our group Fabrizio Caola, Lucian Harlnad-Lang, Gavin Salam and Lorenzo Tancredi use quantum chromodynamics to compute processes that occur in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, while Prateek Agrawal, Joe Conlon, John March-Russell and Subir Sarkar all work on physics beyond the Standard Model and its implications for colliders as well as astrophysics & cosmology. Andre Lukas seeks string theories that are consistent with the Standard Model, John Wheater investigates discretised models of quantum gravity and Andrei Starinets explores the AdS/CFT correspondence between general relativity and quantum field theory. We enjoy close links with our experimental colleagues in Particle Physics, as well as with mathematical physicists in the Maths Institute.