Physics Lecture Theatre 1, Sandy Bay Campus
Summary:Professor Raymond Volkas will suggest that new physics certainly exists, and that a wide-ranging experimental and observational program is needed to discover its underlaying nature.
Presenter(s):
- Professor Raymond Volkas
The standard model of particle physics is an extremely successful theory, but we know that it is an incomplete description of nature. Professor Raymond Volkas will review the evidence for “new physics”: interactions and particles that extend the standard model. The evidence ranges from the experimental detection of neutrino masses through the existence of dark matter to puzzles such as the lack of antimatter in the universe and various technical problems with big bang cosmology that may be solved by a period of cosmological inflation. Professor Volkas will also survey some other hints for new physics in the form of anomalous experimental results, and touch on some past disappointments in the quest for new physics. The conclusion will be that new physics certainly exists, and that a wide-ranging experimental and observational program is needed to discover its underlaying nature.
Speaker
Professor Raymond Volkas is a theoretical particle physicist at the University of Melbourne where he is a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor. His research concerns extensions of the standard model of particle physics and their implications for terrestrial experiments, cosmology and high-energy astrophysics. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a recipient of the Pawsey Medal and the Harrie Massey Medal. He has University of Melbourne awards for both undergraduate lecturing and graduate research supervision. He was Head of the School of Physics at Melbourne during 2014-2016, and was the director of the Melbourne node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Terascale. He served six years as a Divisional Associate Editor for Physical Review Letters, is the current President of the Asia-Pacific Organization for Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics, and serves on Commission 11 (particles and fields) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.
