The research activities of the group are focused on theoretical elementary particle physics beyond the Standard Model, in particular on neutrino physics and its connections to cosmology and to unified theories of fundamental interactions.
The experimental evidence for massive neutrinos in neutrino oscillations is the first clear signal of physics beyond the Standard Model of elementary particles, and has
significant impact on fundamental issues in particle physics and cosmology.
Theoretical approaches towards explaining the smallness of neutrino masses are typically linked either to energy scales close to the scale of grand unification or to new physics at the TeV scale. In the latter case, the origin of neutrino masses is potentially testable with future colliders. On the other hand, if neutrino masses are generated close to the unification scale, neutrinos provide a unique window to physics at these very high energies.
One main goal of the group is to investigate how to extend the Standard Model in order to include neutrino masses and how to test these theories by combining future results from neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrino mass searches, rare decays, cosmological observations as well as from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The group also explores the potential of future precision neutrino oscillation experiments for discovering new physics and for solving the flavour problem.
Additionally, issues in astroparticle cosmology such as the
the origin of the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe,
the possible role of singlet sneutrinos (which are the supersymmetry partners of the right-handed neutrinos of the seesaw mechanism) in cosmic inflation and issues related to the observed accelerated expansion of the present universe are analysed.
|
