Physics beyond the Standard Model deals with the theoretical problems and observational facts that are left unexplained by the current theory of the elementary particles and their interactions, the so-called Standard Model. These include the nature of dark matter, the origin of neutrino masses, the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe, the origin of the electroweak scale and of the Higgs boson, the possible unification of fundamental interactions and quantum gravity. Physics beyond the Standard Model strives to give answers to these puzzles either in the framework of more fundamental theories involving new particles and interactions, or by employing effective field theory techniques to constrain the underlying new physics. Using both approaches and exploiting experimental data (high-energy collisions, cosmic rays, cosmological observations, neutrino oscillations, rare decays…), our research activities cover a wide range of topics. These include Higgs and collider physics, dark matter phenomenology, neutrino physics and baryogenesis, Grand Unification, as well as more theoretical work on effective field theories and their applications to particle physics and quantum gravity.

Research themes

Constraints on effective theories

Powerful non-perturbative constraints on effective field theories (known as “positivity bounds”) can be obtained from the requirement of unitarity, analyticity and crossing symmetry of the scattering amplitudes.  We have derived bounds on the Wilson coefficients of the operators that modify  Einstein gravity, under the assumption that the ultraviolet completion  is causal, unitary and Lorentz invariant (like e.g. string theory). We also study infrared modifications of gravity such as  ghost-free massive gravity and the galileon theory. The combination of  our theoretical bounds with experimental constraints on the graviton mass implies that ghost-free massive gravity is ruled out as a theory  capable of describing the observed gravitational phenomena.

BSM modelling

We study the effective theory  of a generic class of hidden sectors where supersymmetry is broken  together with an approximate R-symmetry at low energy. The light  spectrum contains the gravitino and the pseudo-Goldstone boson of the  R-symmetry, the R-axion. We have derived new model-independent constraints  on the R-axion decay constant for R-axion masses ranging from GeV to  TeV, which are of relevance for hadron and lepton colliders and for  B-factories.

Dark Matter

Although dark matter constitutes  26% of the total matter-energy budget  of the Universe, its nature is still unkown. There are strong hints  that it might be a new fundamental particle, not yet discovered. Our  research activities in the domain of particle dark matter are directly  related to the experimental search strategies: direct detection  (nuclear recoils in ultrapure experiments), indirect detection  (excesses in cosmic rays resulting from the annihilations of dark  matter particles) and production at colliders.  

Matter-antimatter asymmetry

One of the big unsolved  problems of particle physics and cosmology is the origin of the  matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. An attractive possibility  is to generate it through the decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos - a  mechanism known as leptogenesis.  We also study variants  involving a scalar electroweak triplet instead of Majorana  neutrinos. 

Researchers involved

Permanent and emeritus researchers

PhD students

Postdoctoral researchers

Former staff members

Former Postdoctoral researchers

Former graduate students

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Networking, collaborations & fundings

We are members of the European Innovative Training Network HIDDeN (Hunting Invisibles: Dark sectors, Dark matter and Neutrinos)

We are involved in several French or European networks: IRN Terascale, IRN Neutrino, GDR Intensity Frontier

We are involved in the Flagship project BSM-Nu (Neutrinos: a door to physics beyond the Standard Model) of the LabEx P2IO (Excellence Laboratory "Physique des 2 Infinis et des Origines")

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Seminars

Our weekly seminars take place on Tuesdays at 16:00 and are announced here. They alternate with common seminars organized with nearby institutes in the Paris area (CPhT Ecole Polytechnique, IJCLab Orsay, LPTHE Jussieu). These P^3 (Particle Physics in Paris) seminars are also announced here.

Since March 2020, all these seminars are online.

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Events

We are co-organizing the series of international workshops Higgs Hunting, as well as the national Rencontres de Physique des Particules (2020 edition).

We are also co-organizing the GGI lectures on the Theory of Fundamental Interactions (2020 edition).

Last organized internation conferences: Higgs Hunting 2019, 24th Rencontres Itzykson (Effective Field Theory in Cosmology, Gravitation and Particle Physics, 2019), History of the Neutrino (2018), Higgs Hunting 2018, Higgs Hunting 2017, IPA 2016 (Interplay between Particle and Astroparticle physics), Higgs Hunting 2016

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Jobs

Postdoctoral positions are available each year in the Fall. Check this page or contact any staff member of the group.

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Contact

Each member of the group can be contacted via email at name.surname@ipht.fr . 

The full postal adress of IPhT is: Institut de Physique Théorique,  CEA/Saclay, Bat 774 Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France.  

Here are directions to the IPhT.