Nuclear Physics Seminar - New Particles at the Cosmic Frontier
- Event Type
- Seminar/Symposium
- Sponsor
- Physics Department
- Location
- Rhondale Tso Seminar Room, Loomis 236
- Date
- Feb 17, 2025 1:00 pm
- Speaker
- Leah Jenks (Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, U. of Chicago)
- Contact
- Brandy Koebbe
- bkoebbe@illinois.edu
- Views
- 105
- Originating Calendar
- Physics - Nuclear Physics Seminar
Despite the successes of the Standard Model of particle physics, there are still key outstanding questions that render our understanding of the universe incomplete. In particular, a full picture of the universe requires physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in the dark sector, the gravitational sector, and early universe. In this talk, I will summarize these gaps in the current paradigm of particle physics and discuss how cosmology can be used as a powerful probe of new physics alongside terrestrial experiments. I will highlight several well-motivated particle candidates, including dark photons, Kalb-Ramond-like particles, higher spin particles, and axions as examples of BSM physics which aim to fill in these gaps. Finally, I will conclude with a discussion of future directions and prospects for addressing these open questions.