Thesis

Phenomenological and theoretical aspects of gauge symmetries beyond the Standard Model

• Call:

  IDPASC Portugal - PHD Programme 2014

• Academic Year:

  2014 /2015

• Domain:

  Theoretical Particle Physics

• Supervisor:

  Ricardo Gonzalez Felipe

• Co-Supervisor:

  David Emmanuel-Costa

• Institution:

  Instituto Superior Técnico

• Host Institution:

  CFTP/IST

• Abstract:

  Gauge symmetries play a fundamental role in the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. Despite the enormous success of the SM in explaining many experimental results, including the recent discovery at LHC of a scalar particle with Higgs-like properties, there are several reasons to believe that the model should be extended by adding new particle content and, consequently, by enlarging its symmetries. Indeed, in the SM, one cannot find an explanation for neutrino masses or the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the Universe; there is no rationale for the fermion mass hierarchies, and it does not provide a dark matter candidate, among other theoretical drawbacks. This project aims at studying and developing several phenomenological and theoretical aspects of gauge theories beyond the SM. In particular, we shall focus on SM extensions with new gauge and/or flavour symmetries and their phenomenological implications (e.g. Higgs and neutrino physics, baryon asymmetry, dark matter). In the context of Grand Unification, such extensions are well motivated. Some theoretical issues to be considered are gauge anomaly cancellation, unification of the gauge couplings, and fermion mass and mixing generation.