PhD position: The origin of matter

Monash University, Australia

Updated: about 2 months ago

Various extensions of the Standard Model (SM) of fundamental particles have the potential to explain the origin of all matter in the Universe, baryonic (visible) and non-luminous (dark) matter alike. Unfortunately, we are missing key pieces of information: the global feasibility of these theories and their precise matter abundance predictions. The main reason for the latter is that, while several automated tools exist for the calculation of dark matter abundance, the generic techniques to calculate the baryon abundance are lagging behind.

The Monash Particle Phenomenology Group, together with the Global And Modular Beyond-the-SM Inference Tool (GAMBIT) international collaboration, are working on remedying this problem. For simplicity, we are focusing on electroweak baryogenesis, a promising and relatively easily falsifiable mechanism proposed to generate baryons in the early Universe. While GAMBIT is gearing up to calculate the feasibility of many SM extensions, the Monash group is creating robust and precise calculational techniques for electroweak baryogenesis.

In this project, we examine the calculation of cosmic baryon abundance in the context of electroweak baryogenesis in a particle model independent context. Where necessary, we develop new analytical methods to solve parts of the problem. These methods will then be used to create numerical algorithms (partly) by auto-generation of computer code. This project requires a solid background in particle physics, cosmology and excellent analytical and/or numerical proficiency. Insight into other areas of physics, such as thermal field theory, is useful.

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