Physics of the Large and the Small

The following sections are included:

• PREFACE

• CONTENTS

The first part of these lectures provides a brief introduction to the concepts and techniques of effective field theory. The second part reviews precision electroweak constraints using effective theory methods. Several simple extensions of the Standard Model are considered as illustrations. The appendix contains some new results on the one-loop contributions of electroweak triplet scalars to the T parameter and contains a discussion of decoupling in that case.

These TASI lecture notes give an introduction to supersymmetry (SUSY) and the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). After introducing superfield and superspace formalism I will describe soft supersymmetry breaking operators, the superpartner mass spectrum, electroweak symmetry breaking, renormalisation group evolution and dark matter all within the context of the MSSM.

We give a brief introduction to theories with extra dimensions. We first introduce the basic formalism for studying extra-dimensional theories, including the Kaluza-Klein decomposition and the effective theory for 3-branes. We then focus on two types of scenarios: large extra dimensions as a solution to the hierarchy problem and TeV^-1-size extra dimensions with Standard Model fields propagating in them. We discuss the experimental tests and constraints on these scenarios, and also the questions in particle physics which may be addressed with the help of extra dimensions. This is the write-up of the lectures given at the 2009 TASI summer school. Other interesting topics such as warped extra dimensions are covered by other lecturers.

We provide an introduction to the physics of a warped extra dimension and the AdS/CFT correspondence. An AdS/CFT dictionary is given which leads to a 4D holographic view of the 5th dimension. With a particular emphasis on beyond the standard model physics, this provides a window into the strong dynamics associated with electroweak symmetry breaking and/or supersymmetry breaking. In this way hierarchies associated with the electroweak and/or supersymmetry breaking scale, together with the fermion mass spectrum, can be addressed in a consistent framework.

This is an introduction to theories where the Higgs is a composite Nambu-Goldstone boson of a new strongly-interacting dynamics not much above the weak scale. A general discussion is presented based on the pattern of global symmetries at low energy, and the analogy with the QCD pion is analyzed. The last part of the lectures shows how a composite Higgs can emerge as the hologram of a 5-dimensional gauge field.

The standard model picture of flavor and CP violation is now experimentally verified, hence strong bounds on the flavor structure of new physics follow. We begin by discussing in detail the unique way that flavor conversion and CP violation arise in the standard model. The description provided is based on a spurion, symmetry oriented, analysis, and a covariant basis for describing flavor transition processes is introduced, in order to make the discussion transparent for non-experts. We show how to derive model independent bounds on generic new physics models. Furthermore, we demonstrate, using the covariant basis, how recent data and LHC projections can be applied to constrain models with an arbitrary mechanism of alignment. Next, we discuss the various limits of the minimal flavor violation framework and their phenomenological aspects, as well as the implications to the underlying microscopic origin of the framework. We also briefly discuss aspects of supersymmetry and warped extra dimension flavor violation. Finally we speculate on the possible role of flavor physics in the LHC era.

These TASI lectures consider low mass hidden sectors from Hidden Valleys, Quirks and Unparticles. We show how each corresponds to a different limit of the same class of models: hidden sectors with non-abelian gauge groups with mass gaps well below a TeV that communicate to the Standard Model through weak scale suppressed higher dimension operators. We provide concrete examples of such models and discuss LHC signatures. Lastly we turn to discussing the application of Hidden Valleys to dark matter sectors.

This is a set of four lectures presented at the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (TASI-09) in June 2009. The goal of the lectures is to introduce students to some of the basic ideas and tools required for theoretical analysis of collider data. Several examples of Standard Model processes at electron-positron and hadron colliders are considered to illustrate these ideas. In addition, a general strategy for formulating searches for physics beyond the Standard Model is outlined. The lectures conclude with a brief survey of recent, ongoing and future searches for the Higgs boson and supersymmetric particles.

These proceedings are a summary of four lectures given at the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute in Elementary Particle Physics (TASI) in 2009. These lectures provide a basic introduction to experimental particle physics and the Large Hadron Collider experiments at CERN, with many general examples from the (still running) Fermilab Tevatron.

In a series of five lectures I review inflationary cosmology. I begin with a description of the initial conditions problems of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology and then explain how inflation, an early period of accelerated expansion, solves these problems. Next, I describe how inflation transforms microscopic quantum fluctuations into macroscopic seeds for cosmological structure formation. I present in full detail the famous calculation for the primordial spectra of scalar and tensor fluctuations. I then define the inverse problem of extracting information on the inflationary era from observations of cosmic microwave background fluctuations. The current observational evidence for inflation and opportunities for future tests of inflation are discussed. Finally, I review the challenge of relating inflation to fundamental physics by giving an account of inflation in string theory.

In this series of lectures we review observational evidence for, and theoretical investigations into, cosmic acceleration and dark energy. The notes are in four sections. First I review the basic cosmological formalism to describe the expansion history of the universe and how distance measures are defined. The second section covers the evidence for cosmic acceleration from cosmic distance measurements. Section 3 discusses the theoretical avenues being considered to explain the cosmological observations. Section 4 discusses how the growth of inhomogeneities and large scale structure observations might help us pin down the theoretical origin of cosmic acceleration.

In these lectures I present the physical aspects of the Cosmic Microwave Background primary and secondary anisotropies; the characteristics of the CMB power spectra and their dependence on cosmological parameters. I also discuss the observational status and future perspectives.

These notes are based on 4 lectures given at Theoretical Advanced Study Institute in 2009 on the large scale structure of the universe. They provide a pedagogical introduction to the temporal evolution of linear density perturbations in the universe and a discussion of how density perturbations on small scales depend on the particle properties of dark matter. The notes assume the reader is familiar with the concepts and mathematics required to describe isotropic and homogeneous cosmology.

I provide an introduction to experiments designed to detect WIMP dark matter directly, focussing on building intuitive understanding of the characteristics of potential WIMP signals and the experimental techniques. After deriving the characteristics of potential signals in direct-detection experiments for standard WIMP models, I summarize the general experimental methods shared by most direct-detection experiments and review the advantages, challenges, and status of such searches. Experiments are already probing SUSY models, with best limits on the spin-independent coupling below 10^-7 pb. Combined information from direct and indirect detection, along with detection at colliders, promises to teach us much about fundamental particle physics, cosmology, and astrophysics.

The following sections are included:

• STUDENT TALKS AT TASI 2009

• INSTITUTE DIRECTORS

• LECTURERS