In the footsteps of giants – tackling fundamental questions of the universe
Theoretical physicists at the University of Sheffield are working to solve some of the most long-standing and important questions of the universe, as well as underpinning experimental work at CERN's Large Hadron Collider beneath the French/Swiss border.
Professor Leszek Roszkowski, of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is working with colleagues to develop a 'Unified Theory', uniting the sub-atomic micro world and the macro world of the universe. The theory will go beyond the current Standard Model of physics to a more complex one, unifying our understanding of the first moments after the Big Bang with the seemingly very different physics of the quantum world. Professor Roszkowski explains: "Particle physicists have developed a theory which is working well in experiments, but which is unsatisfactory for theoretical physicists. For the past 25 years theoretical physicists have been looking for a more fundamental theory, a 'Unified Theory' of all fundamental forces to better explain everything".
In order to make sense of the project, theoretical physicists found that they needed to introduce the concept of 'supersymmetry'. Experimenters have so far failed to confirm the presence of new 'supersymmetric' particles, but believe that, with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN at their disposal, they are now closer than ever to achieving that goal. Professor Roszkowski believes that the lightest of these (as yet undiscovered) supersymmetric particles is a strong candidate for 'dark matter', which makes up approximately 90% of the mass of the universe.
The question 'what is dark matter?' is one of the oldest conundrums facing cosmologists. Dark matter dominates the universe, but so far it has escaped experimental searches, making it an ongoing source of mystery and fascination. Dedicated underground experiments, including some involving researchers from Sheffield, are only now reaching the sensitivity required to discover dark matter.
"The grand goal of cosmology is to explain exactly what dark matter is – we need to detect and clarify its nature" explains Professor Roszkowski. "Myself and fellow theoretical physicists are trying to guide our experimental colleagues at CERN, giving them an idea of the sorts of indicators they can expect to detect when searching for new particles."
To this end, Professor Roszkowski and colleagues from Imperial College London and the University of Valencia are developing a sophisticated theoretical software tool called Superbayes, after the 18th century scientist responsible for Bayesian statistics, Rev. Thomas Bayes. The software will be capable of extracting from huge volumes of data produced by experimental physicists around the world, including a Shefffield team working at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, the 'gold nuggets' of information essential to work out the underlying code of the Unified Theory.
Professor Roszkowski's research is broad and ambitious, but promises to unlock two of the oldest and most intractable problems faced by physicists: the nature of dark matter and a Unified Theory of the universe. This gives Professor Roszkowski a good reason to be optimistic: "We are approaching a time which may well prove to be a turning point in the history of science. It will be marked by finally revealing the nature of the dark matter in the universe and of the 'Unified Theory'. This will open the gates to a new golden era, similar to the one that took place at the beginning of the 20th century, which was marked by the discoveries of the quantum world, Einsteinian theory of relativity of space and time, and of the expansion of the universe".
The research is also likely to lead to practical spinoffs: "Fundamental science research has always provided a huge investment to society, though this is not necessarily realised at the time. There are countless examples: the discovery of x-rays had a huge impact on the world of medicine, quantum mechanics opened the door to the computing age, and the origins of the World Wide Web lay in a data sharing system set up for scientists at CERN. Perhaps most importantly, curiosity is the main driver of our research, and I very much hope that our quest for a 'Unified Theory' will inspire the next generation of physics researchers". He adds: "At a time marked by a financial squeeze, when our research is expected to bring an almost immediate financial return in order to remain viable, I very much hope that this aspect of our academic activity will not be forgotten".
For further information, please contact Professor Leszek Roszkowski at:
tel: 0114 222 3580
email : L.Roszkowski@sheffield.ac.uk
Suggested links: