Low-Energy Tests of the Standard Model

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Spring '09

4/3 - Introduction and Overview
  • Jon Walsh
  • Abstract - I'll be giving an overview of the Standard Model in preparation for the talks later this quarter. I will build up our understanding of the structure and interactions of the model phenomenologically, touching on some of the key aspects of the SM that we'll be discussing in other talks. Because the SM is a deep subject, I will be giving short shrift to some concepts that we won't be discussing very much; for more on these topics, see my references.
  • Refs -
4/10 - Electron and Muon g-2
  • Brian Mattern
  • Abstract - I will be giving a talk today at 2:30 in the usual place on the anomalous magnetic moments of the electron and muon, which are two of the most precisely measured and calculated physical quantities and thus provide stringent tests on the consistency of the standard model. The Dirac equation predicts that the Lande g-factor for a spin-1/2 particle should be 2. Radiative corrections provide an "anomalous" contribution giving a g that differs by 2 (g = 2(1+a)). After a historical introduction and overview of the experimental techniques, I will give an overview of the contributions from various sectors of the standard model and then proceed to calculate the leading order 1-loop QED correction. The current best values for the muon's anomolous moment, a_mu show a discrepency between theory and experiment of 3.2 sigma. This constrains the parameter space of any extensions to the standard model.
  • Refs -
4/17 - Electric Dipole Moments
  • Kamil Michnicki
  • Abstract - I will discuss measurement of the neutron electric dipole moment(EDM) as a lower energy test of the standard model. The table top experiments that have been done to measure the EDM are incredibly precise yet we still don't see any EDM. A permanent EDM would require CP violating terms for either the weak or strong forces. I'll discuss CP violation for each of the interactions and some of the diagrams that contribute.
  • Refs -
4/24 - K \bar{K} Mixing and the GIM Mechanism
  • Andrew Lytle
  • Abstract - I will give an overview of the K \bar{K} system, focusing on its historical and ongoing importance in elucidating the structure of the weak interactions. First I will discuss how the GIM mechanism operates to give one the correct order of magnitude for the K_L, K_S mass splitting. Then I will discuss why this system forms a sensitive probe of CP violation, and explain the significance of the indirect and direct CP violation parameters, epsilon and epsilon prime.
  • Refs -
    • "Weak Interactions with Lepton-Hadron Symmetry"; Glashow, Iliopoulos, and Maiani; Phys Rev D Vol 2 Num 7 (1970)
    • "Dynamics of the Standard Model" ch.IX; Cambridge University Press, 1992
5/1 - CKM Unitarity
  • Ethan Thompson
  • Abstract -
  • Refs -
    • PDG
    • Neubert's online lectures
    • Various standard model textbooks
5/15 - B-Physics and the Unitarity Triangle
  • Chris Vermilion
  • Abstract - I will be continuing our discussion of the CKM matrix, with a particular emphasis on CP violation. I will discuss this physics in the context of $B^0 -- \bar{B^0}$ mixing and decay. A brief discussion of B factories and survey of experimental considerations and results will follow.
  • Refs -
    • The PDG knows all. It has some nice reviews of CKM and CP violation theory, as well as data on the relevant experiments and assembled results and constraints.
    • Nir and Quinn (Ann.Rev.Nucl.Part.Sci.42:211-250,1992. or on Spires -- sorry, no arXiv) is a nice review of CP violation in B physics.
    • Bigi (hep-ph/0703132) is an interesting and more recent review of SM CP violation in general. Be forewarned: there are several Yogi Berra jokes.
5/22 - Flavor-Changing Neutral Currents
  • Kristan Jensen
  • Abstract - I will be speaking about Flavour Changing Neutral Currents (FCNCs) in Standard Model and beyond-the-Standard Model physics. Our central questions will be (1.) why are FCNCs so small in the Standard Model and (2.) what constraints do their observed smallness impose on model building? To answer the first, we will show that FCNCs are loop effects in the Standard Model and are further suppressed via the GIM mechanism. We will exhibit both of these features from the neutral kaon system. Finally, we will briefly show how the observed smallness of FCNCs can be easily broken by extensions of the Standard Model, namely the MSSM.
  • Refs -
    • Georgi, "The Flavor Problem", Phys.Lett.B169:231,1986
    • whatever you'd like to read about spurions in the chiral lagrangian, e.g. kaplan's EFT lectures (nucl-th/0510023).
5/29 - Constraints on the Minimally Supersymmetric Standard Model and the Randall-Sundrum Model.
  • Alan Jamison
  • Abstract - I'll be giving my talk on using low-energy tests of the standard model to constrain beyond the standard model physics. There'll be short introduction to why we would dream of going beyond something as awesome as the standard model, and how we might do that. Then we'll take a look at the general notion of effective field theories, how to treat the standard model as one, and how to parametrize the effects of BSM physics on the muon's g-2.
  • Refs -
    • For general EFTs:
      • Five Lectures on EFT by Kaplan nucl-th/0510023
    • For BSM EFT:
      • Arzt et al., Patterns of Deviation from the Standard Model, Nuc Phys B433, 41-66 (1995)
    • And the muon calculation in particular:
      • Einhorn and Wudka, Model Independent Analysis of g_\mu-2, hep-ph/0103034
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