Beyond The Standard Model with The Anomalous Magnetic Moment of The Muon?
Abstract
Like all elementary particles of matter, the muon spins, and has a magnetic moment aligned with the spin axis whose value is predicted by the Dirac equation. Its value is subject to corrections in quantum field theory and, following a pioneering calculation by Schwinger in 1947, increasingly accurate theoretical calculations of this so-called anomalous magnetic moment have progressed along with increasingly precise experimental measurements. Experiments at Brookhaven and now the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory disagree with calculations in the Standard Model of particle physics by over 4 standard deviations. Should the theoretical calculations be revised, or is the disagreement evidence for some new physics beyond the Standard Model such as supersymmetry? And how will these questions be answered?
About the speaker
Prof. John Ellis is a British theoretical physicist who currently holds the Clerk Maxwell Professorship of Theoretical Physics at King's College in London. After obtaining a PhD from Cambridge University and holding post-doctoral positions at SLAC and Caltech, from 1973 to 2011 he worked at CERN (Geneva), where he was Theory Division Leader for six years.
Prof. Ellis' research interests focus on the phenomenological aspects of elementary particle physics and its connections with astrophysics, cosmology and gravity. Much of his work relates directly to experiment: interpreting results of searches for new particles and exploring the physics that could be done with future accelerators. A proposal he made in 1976 led to the discovery of the gluon in 1979, and he was one of the first to study how the Higgs boson could be produced and discovered. He has authored over a thousand scientific papers, with over eighty thousand citations in total. He has been active recently in efforts to understand the Higgs particle discovered at CERN, comparing the properties of this particle with the predictions of the Standard Model, and using effective field theory to understand the implications of the discovery for extensions of the Standard Model such as supersymmetry and other possible new physics such as dark matter. He is also now studying possible future particle accelerators and experiments to measure gravitational waves.
Prof. Ellis was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1985. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2012 for his services to science and technology. In 2015, he was elected a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and a Foreign Member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, and he has been awarded several honorary doctorates.
Prof. Ellis is an eloquent speaker, frequently invited to give public and educational lectures on particle physics and related topics. He is also well known for his relentless efforts to involve non-European nations and institutions in CERN scientific and technological activities.
For Attendees' Attention:
This lecture will be held online via Zoom. To join the lecture online, please join the Zoom webinar at https://hkust.zoom.us/j/93501061856 (meeting ID: 935 0106 1856 / Passcode: iasdl0317).
