- From June 3rd to the 14th, the Institute for Theoretical Physics IFT (UAM/CSIC) will host pre-SUSY School and SUSY 2024.
- Supersymmetry, a theory that tries to solve some of the Standard Model of particles problems, will be the main focus.
- Among other topics, an important topic will be dark matter, invisible and only detectable through its notable gravitational effect despite it being 85% of the matter in the universe.
- 50 post-degree students and postdocs from international backgrounds will attend the event to learn physics both theoretical and experimental
- On the second week of June, 200 international researchers will deepen the relationship between both fields of study in the most important theories beyond the Standard Model.
Madrid, May 31st, 2024.- The Institute of Theoretical Physics IFT/UAM/CSIC will host 50 students from all over the world for the pre-SUSY School 2024 event, from June 3rd to June 7th. In these classes, expert physicists will touch on subjects of particle theory, dark matter and cosmology, all with a focus on the supersymmetry which gives it its name and is the basis of these researchers’ work.
Supersymmetry, or SUSY, is a particle physics theory that goes beyond the Standard Model, which itself describes the most fundamental forces and particles of the universe. These classes will be oriented towards an international audience of post-degree students and postdoc researchers, including theoretical and experimental disciplines. All of this in preparation for the SUSY 2024 conferences, also in the IFT, from June 10th to June 14th with 200 researches from all over the world attending.
This year is the 31st edition of the SUSY conferences, to discuss the most recent research on supersymmetry theories, that give it its name, and others beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The IFT will be host to this event, and its precursor, pre-SUSY School 2024, which will consist of a series of classes oriented to an international audience of post-degree student and postdoc researchers intent on learning from this branch of physics and acquire a good base for their future work on the field of particle physics.
Lessons on supersymmetry
The name SUSY that is reflected on both events comes from supersymmetry, a particle physics theory. The Standard Model, on which it is based on, describes 3 of the 4 fundamental forces of the universe: electromagnetic, strong and weak, but not gravitational. It also defines the most fundamental particles, such as quarks, electrons and neutrinos, among others.
However, supersymmetry, among other theories that will be discussed in these events, takes this model further, to try and solve many of the problems that the Standard Model on its own cannot answer. The particles in this model can be characterized by how they spin. Some particles have a spin of 0 or 1, which is known as an integer spin. Others have spin 1/2 or 3/2, which is called half-integer spin. The theoretical framework of SUSY suggests that for every particle with half-integer spin, there is another partner, “symmetrical”, particle with integer spin and vice versa.
One of the consequences of this theory has to do with the famous Higgs boson. The Higgs mechanism describes the existence of this particle, responsible of others having the mass they have, but its own was a mystery. The theory before SUSY predicted a mass for this particle that should be much higher than what was found. But these issues could be solved introducing supersymmetry. This well-known particle Peter Higgs proposed will also be the subject of some of the classes taught.
The three fundamental interactions of the universe could be manifestations of a single force
Beyond just particles, this theoretical framework says that the fundamental forces of the universe, central to the Standard Model, are actually the same type of force. That is, electromagnetism, the strong interaction, which keeps quarks confined in protons and neutrons, and the weak interaction, responsible for some forms of radioactivity, are actually the same thing. But this one force can behave differently to result in the 3 observed differentiations. This relates to the first moments of the universe, when it is believed that these forces were unified and indistinguishable.
This discipline is very transversal to everything in particle physics, and pre-SUSY School will try to show supersymmetry from the most theoretical to the most experimental. These classes will bring the attendees closer to the experiments done in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which pretends to find with its particle clashes, new ones, and discern their most fundamental characteristics. Not only that, experiments of future colliders beyond the LHC will be covered.
Dark matter, theory and experiment
Given that supersymmetry can clarify the first instants of the universe, its importance in fields beyond particle physics, such as cosmology, becomes apparent. And these fields will also be taught at pre-SUSY School.
One of the most striking topics in these classes is dark matter, that mysterious, invisible presence that seems to make up most of the matter in the universe. We do not know what it is made of, but supersymmetry offers its own candidate: neutralinos. They are hypothetical particles that could be part of this abundant matter, its effects observable in the gravity that moves all of the universe.
And even though there are other popular candidates, like axions, which would also solve other quantum mechanics problems, supersymmetry is not incompatible with these other theories. Dark matter could be partially formed by various types of particles such as these ones. This is a vanguard field, both in theory and experiment, and pre-SUSY School will try to show both aspects of this work, for cosmology also.
Beyond the Standard Model
However, even though SUSY is the titular theory for these events, it will not be the only one discussed. It will be important throughout these classes, but these events will try to talk on every theoretical framework beyond the Standard Model, and their associated experiments.
One of the most highlighted topics besides supersymmetry is phenomenology. It consists of applying theoretical physics and mathematical models to high energy experiments, so we can make more exact predictions. Given that the event tries to deepen the relation between theory and experiment, this connection will play an important role.
On summary, supersymmetry, the Higgs boson, the LHC, dark matter, cosmology, and everything that takes physics beyond the Standard Model: these are just a few of the topics that will be discussed in the 8 classes at pre-SUSY School 2024. This vanguard training from the most fundamental to the most practical will be taught from June 3rd to June 7th at the IFT.
And from June 10th to June 14th, the SUSY 2024 conferences, which will take these fields to their most current limits, will showcase the most recent theoretical and experimental developments.
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