ATLAS experiment: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:52, 22 October 2013

Revision as of 20:49, 26 October 2013

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Perhaps the most exciting lines of investigation are those searching directly for new models of physics. One theory that is the subject of much current research is [[supersymmetry|broken supersymmetry]]. The theory is popular because it could potentially solve a number of problems in [[theoretical physics]] and is present in almost all models of [[string theory]]. Models of supersymmetry involve new, highly massive particles. In many cases these decay into high-energy quarks and stable heavy particles that are very unlikely to interact with ordinary matter. The stable particles would escape the detector, leaving as a signal one or more high-energy [[jet (particle physics)|quark jets]] and a large amount of [[missing energy|"missing"]] [[momentum]]. Other hypothetical massive particles, like those in the [[Kaluza-Klein theory]], might leave a similar signature, but their discovery would certainly indicate that there was some kind of physics beyond the Standard Model.

One remote possibility (if the universe contains [[large extra dimension]]s) is that microscopic [[black holes]] might be produced by the LHC.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Exploring higher dimensional black holes at the Large Hadron Collider|author=C.M. Harris, M.J. Palmer, M.A. Parker, P. Richardson, A. Sabetfakhri and B.R. Webber|journal=Journal of High Energy Physics|volume=5|year=2005|pages=053|doi= 10.1088/1126-6708/2005/05/053|arxiv = hep-ph/0411022 |bibcode = 2005JHEP...05..053H|issue= 5 }}</ref> These would decay immediately by means of [[Hawking radiation]], producing all particles in the Standard Model in equal numbers and leaving an unequivocal signature in the ATLAS detector.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Study of Black Holes with the ATLAS detector at the LHC|author=J. Tanaka, T. Yamamura, S. Asai, J. Kanzaki|url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/x067g845688470r4/|journal=The European Physical Journal C|volume=41|issue=s2|year=2005|pages=19–33|doi=10.1140/epjcd/s2005-02-008-x|arxiv = hep-ph/0411095 |bibcode = 2005EPJC...41...19T }}</ref> If this occurs, the primary studies of Higgs bosons and top quarks would in fact be looking at those produced by the black holes.

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