Arts & Sciences Events
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Arts & Sciences
[PAST EVENT] Physics Colloquium - Shanahan
February 4, 2016
4pm - 5pm
Abstract:
Protons and neutrons are the fundamental building blocks of atomic nuclei and constitute more than 99% of the visible mass in the universe. While understanding proton properties is clearly of fundamental importance, there are still many open questions. For example, the size of the proton has become a topic for debate as different experimental approaches give inconsistent values for its charge radius by 5 standard deviations.
On the theory front, the modern picture of the proton is of a complex particle with a substructure of more basic constituents named quarks and gluons. Many proton properties are well-described within a model where only two flavors of quark appear: the up and down quarks. However, the theory of the strong interaction, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), describes a much more complicated dynamical structure in which quark-antiquark pairs of any flavor, such as strange quarks, can contribute.
In this colloquium I will show why a quantitative understanding of the role of strange quarks in the proton is important in the context of physics issues as diverse as the experimental detection of dark matter particles, precision tests of the Standard Model, and the proton radius puzzle. I will describe how recent advances in numerical simulations of QCD have led to new benchmarks for experiments and new levels of precision in dark matter searches.
Protons and neutrons are the fundamental building blocks of atomic nuclei and constitute more than 99% of the visible mass in the universe. While understanding proton properties is clearly of fundamental importance, there are still many open questions. For example, the size of the proton has become a topic for debate as different experimental approaches give inconsistent values for its charge radius by 5 standard deviations.
On the theory front, the modern picture of the proton is of a complex particle with a substructure of more basic constituents named quarks and gluons. Many proton properties are well-described within a model where only two flavors of quark appear: the up and down quarks. However, the theory of the strong interaction, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), describes a much more complicated dynamical structure in which quark-antiquark pairs of any flavor, such as strange quarks, can contribute.
In this colloquium I will show why a quantitative understanding of the role of strange quarks in the proton is important in the context of physics issues as diverse as the experimental detection of dark matter particles, precision tests of the Standard Model, and the proton radius puzzle. I will describe how recent advances in numerical simulations of QCD have led to new benchmarks for experiments and new levels of precision in dark matter searches.