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What are the fundamental constituents of the universe and the laws that govern them?
These are the big questions that the theoretical particle physics group are trying to answer. We have diverse research interests that range from astroparticle and cosmological physics that describe the physics of the early universe, to the physics of the Standard Model and beyond that describes the fundamental interactions and matter of the subnuclear world. Group members have played a major role in exploring neutrino physics and the identity of dark matter. Research areas of the Standard Model include the physics of the famed Higgs boson and elucidating why there is more matter than anti-matter in the universe. We also explore frontiers Beyond the Standard Model such as supersymmetry and extra dimensions, and how they may be discovered experimentally.
These are exciting times for particle physics as we are in the middle of the era of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment at CERN. The LHC has already discovered the Higgs boson; what it finds next could provide the answers to some of the most fundamental questions regarding the quantum Universe.
Faculty
Professor Nicole Bell
Nicole works at the interface of particle physics with astrophysics and cosmology. Her current interests include dark matter, the cosmological matter-antimatter asymmetry and neutrino physics. She is the Melbourne Node Manager of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics, and leads the Centre’s Theory Program. More →
Dr Matthew Dolan
Matthew’s research is on the phenomenology of Beyond-the-Standard Model physics. He is interested in the phenomenology of all aspects of dark matter, and in the development of new analysis methods which can be applied to collider physics. More →
Dr Andrea Thamm
Andrea’s work focuses on physics beyond the Standard Model. She is interested in models which address open questions in the Standard Model, such as the hierarchy problem, the strong CP problem and the quest for dark matter, and their phenomenology at current and future experiments. Andrea is also passionate about improving equity and diversity in the theoretical particle physics community. More →
Professor Raymond Volkas
Ray has worked on many aspects of physics beyond the standard model in his career. His current interests centre on the construction of theories for neutrino mass generation and their associated flavour physics effects, the particle nature of dark matter, and baryogenesis. More →
Research fellows
Dr Michael Baker
Michael works on physics beyond the Standard Model, with a focus on dark matter. He is particularly interested in novel production mechanisms of dark matter, the properties of dark matter in the early universe and the experimental signatures of promising candidates.
Dr Peter Cox
Peter’s research is focused on dark matter model-building and direct detection. He is particularly interested in the connection between dark matter and other long-standing problems of the Standard Model. He also works on other aspects of beyond the Standard Model physics.
Dr Jayden Newstead
Jay works on particle dark matter phenomenology, mainly focusing on the direct detection of dark matter. He is also interested in looking for beyond standard model physics with coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering.
Dr Sandra Robles
PhD students
| Innes Bigaran | Publications | i.bigaran@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Joshua Ellis | Publications | jellis@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Leon Friedrich | Publications | leonsfriedrich@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Fred Hiskens | Publications | fhiskens@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Ayodele Ore | Publications | ayodeleo@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Iulia Popa-Mateiu | Publications | ipopa@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Alex Ritter | Publications | rittera@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Michael Virgato | Publications | mvirgato@student.unimelb.edu.au |
MSc students
| Tim Martonhelyi | tmartonhelyi@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Will McDonald | mcdonaldw@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Iman Shaukat Ali | ishaukatali@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Aidan Symons | symonsa1@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Alexei Sopov | sopova@student.unimelb.edu.au |
| Joshua Wood | jwood5@student.unimelb.edu.au |
Alumni
Students
| Isaac Sanderson | PhD 2021 | |
| John Gargalionis | PhD 2021 | |
| Tomasz Dutka | PhD 2021 | |
| Stephen Lonsdale | PhD 2018 | Postdoc at IBS Korea |
| Rebecca Leane | PhD 2017 | Postdocs at MIT, SLAC |
| Amelia Brennan | PhD 2017 | Data analyst |
| Jackson Clarke | PhD 2016 | Industry |
| Peter Cox | PhD 2016 | Postdocs at IPMU Tokyo, U. Melbourne |
| Iason Baldes | PhD 2015 | Postdocs at DESY, U. Brussels |
| Ben Callen | PhD 2014 | Data scientist |
| Nadine Pesor | PhD 2014 | Quantitative analyst |
| Ahmad Galea | PhD 2013 | Postdoc at U. Oslo |
| Jayne Thompson | PhD 2012 | Postdoc at Nat. U. Singapore |
| Thomas Jacques | PhD 2011 | Postdocs at Arizona State, U. Geneva, SISSA |
| Damien George | PhD 2009 | Postdocs at NIKHEF, U. Cambridge |
| Sandy Law | PhD 2009 | Postdocs at Chung Yuan Christian U., Nat. Cheng Kung U. |
| Alison Demaria | PhD 2007 | Industry |
Postdocs
| Giorgio Busoni | 2015 — 2018 | Postdoc at MPI Heidelberg |
| Tyler Corbett | 2015 — 2018 | Postdoc at Niels Bohr Institute |
| Zhao-Huan Yu | 2015 — 2018 | Faculty at Sun Yat-sen U. |
| Yi Cai | 2012 — 2017 | Faculty at Sun Yat-sen U. |
| James Barnard | 2012 — 2016 | Data scientist |
| Andrew Spray | 2012 — 2015 | Postdoc at IBS Korea |
| Anibal Medina | 2012 — 2015 | Postdoc at IPhT Saclay; Faculty at La Plata U. |
| Tirtha Sankar Ray | 2012 — 2014 | Faculty at IIT Kharagpur |
| Michael Schmidt | 2010 — 2014 | Lecturer at U. Sydney; Faculty at UNSW |
| Donatello Dolce | 2010 — 2012 | Lecturer at U. Camerino |
| Kalliopi Petraki | 2009 — 2012 | Postdoc at NIKHEF; Faculty at LPTHE |
| Benedict von Harling | 2008 — 2012 | Postdocs at SISSA, DESY, IFAE Barcelona |
| Archil Kobakhidze | 2007 — 2012 | Faculty at U. Sydney |
| Nicholas Setzer | 2008 — 2011 | Postdoc at U. Granada |
| Shrihari Gopalakrishna | 2010 | Faculty at IMSc Chennai |
Upcoming
- Kai Schmitz (CERN)4:00pm May 12, 2021: NANOGrav and Cosmic Strings from Cosmological B-L Breaking
Past
- Konstantin Springmann (TUM)4:00pm April 21, 2021: Axions in dense objects
- Joshua Eby (Kavli IPMU)3:30pm March 17, 2021: Axion Stars: Towards the Planck Scale
- Tongyan Lin (UCSD)11am March 3, 2021: Dark matter scattering in dielectrics
- Ariel Rock (Wisconsin–Madison)1.15pm December 9, 2020: Unconventional Taste: Flavor via Unexpected Origins
- Clara Hormigos-Feliu (TU Dortmund)5pm November 25, 2020: Asymptotically safe models with Higgs and flavor portals
Organisers:
Peter Cox (peter.cox@unimelb.edu.au)
Jayden Newstead (jayden.newstead@unimelb.edu.au)