Research Activities
Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
The study of the connection between various extensions of the Standard Model of particle interactions and the current cosmological model.
Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
The study of the connection between various extensions of the Standard Model of particle interactions and the current cosmological model.
We are using modern bootstrap techniques to move away from the highly symmetric de Sitter arena to other cosmologies, and to go beyond tree-level (GP, TW). Another direction is the incorporation of strong coupling effects within this framework (GP, CY). We also plan to further explore stochastic inflation, solving its equations to study the shapes of non-Gaussianity beyond the single-particle PDF (GP). There are potential prospects of mutual interactions among the applicants along these lines, in the context of string-inspired pre-inflationary scenarios (GP, AS). We are also investigating a new analytic approach to structure formation, leveraging the simplicity of gravity in the limit of infinite dimensions (CC,GP).
Supergravity, String Theory, Field theory
The study of perturbative string theory, with special attention to orientifold vacua, including string mechanisms of supersymmetry breaking. Other aspects of quantum gravity, selected non-perturbative aspects of field theory and Higher-spin Gauge Theory, with special attention to the flat limit.
We are now investigating how the tadpole potentials of non-supersymmetric strings affect, in general, the profiles of D branes and orientifolds (SR, AS), and how the stability of bosonic modes can be attained in flux vacua where the string coupling is bounded from above (AS). We are providing a precise characterization of the effective extended objects that emerge in these vacua (AS).
Model Building and Phenomenology of Particle Physics
The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics gives a successful description of high-energy processes but leaves many questions unanswered, like the origin of the electroweak symmetry breaking or the nature of the Dark Matter in the Universe. Finding an extension of the SM and a solution to these puzzles is the ultimate goal guiding our work. We are interested both in the construction of new models and in the investigation of their phenomenological consequences. An important role in this sense is played by physics at current and future colliders. Searches for new particles and a precise determination of the properties of the Higgs boson give powerful probes of new physics and are among the topics studied by our group.