Theoretical High Energy Physics

The section of Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics is mainly oriented towards theoretical research in Elementary Particle High Energy Physics and Cosmology. Presently its members are Drs: G. Athanasiou, E. Kiritsis, V. Niarchos, N. Papanicolaou, A. Porfyriadis, and N. Tsamis, plus a number of postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and short-term visitors.

The issues addressed by the section cover a wide range of topics, from phenomenological studies of supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model (SM) to String Theory motivated studies aiming at deriving acceptable low-energy models and consistent formulations of quantum gravity from more fundamental unified theories, as well as studies aiming at resolving some challenges of theoretical cosmology and some problems of condensed matter physics.

In particular, recent and current research of members of the section is focused on the following issues:

  • Calculation of infrared quantum gravity effects and study of their relevance for elucidating the cosmological constant problem and for studying cosmological inflation and the implied cosmological density perturbations.

  • String theory and related phenomenology. Investigation of scenarios establishing a bottom-top connection between the SM or its realistic generalizations and string theory, and identification of low-energy signatures of such scenarios. One direction in these investigations involves an analysis of non-supersymmetric vacua of orbifold/orientifold compactifications of string theories. Another direction invokes the non-perturbative extended solitons of the multidimensional superstring dynamics and the possibility of confining the low-energy physics to a 4-dimensional world volume. Other topics, such as gauge-theory/gravity correspondence and formulations of the holographic principle, are also studied.

  • Simplicial quantum gravity in 2 and 4 dimensions, both euclidean and lorenzian, and string-motivated Matrix models are studied non-perturbatively through Monte Carlo simulations.

  • Physics of solitons and other lumps. In particular, metastable quasi-topological solitons related to the electroweak scale of realistic particle physics models are studied and their observability in future high energy experiments and astrophysical observations is examined. The dynamics of topological solitons (magnetic bubbles etc.) in ferromagnets, antiferromagnets and superconductors is also studied by members of the group.

  • Research in 2-d conformal field theories on closed manifolds and manifolds with boundary, with a view on applications in condensed matter physics and D-brane physics.

  • Supersymmetric phenomenology, focusing on the signals of the Higgs and SuSy sectors in four-fermion production in e+ e- colliders

  • Search for new, more complex and realistic, brane-world solutions of the higher-dimensional cosmological field equations. Investigation of alternative explanations of the observed small cosmological acceleration.

  • Investigation of the classical dynamics and the canonical quantization of field theories defined over non-commutative spaces (spaces not admitting the notion of point).

Theoretical High Energy Physics Homepage

University of Crete - Department of Physics  - Voutes University Campus - GR-70013 Heraklion, Greece
phone: +30 2810 394300 - email: chair@physics.uoc.gr