About the High Energy Physics Group

High energy physics addresses basic questions about matter and energy, such as the origin of mass and the observed asymmetry between matter and anti-matter. Much of the Imperial HEP programme is directed at discovering where the Standard Model — which has proved amazingly successful in the description of electro-weak interactions — will break down, since theoretical expectations imply that it cannot be the final story. This will be accomplished by testing predictions to high accuracy and looking for phenomena outside the model such as supersymmetry or extra dimensions. Already outside the Standard Model, the recently discovered neutrino oscillations are being probed with new superbeam experiments.

Imperial HEP Group members lead many of the current and future international experiments at CERN (Europe), Fermilab (USA), and KEK (Japan).  The Group conducts a programme of state of the art detector development and accelerator R&D aimed at the eventual construction of a muon collider. In the astro-particle field the group works on providing instrumentation and data analysis for a future space-based gravitational wave observatory.  The Group is actively involved in the development of Grid computing technologies required to support large scale distributed data processing by the LHC experiments.  We have also set up an ambitious development programme by which to deliver the novel technologies required to drive forward the discovery programme and to serve society through the advancement of bio-medical technique.

The Imperial HEP Group consists of around 130 people comprising over 20 academics, about 40 research staff, over 30 PhD students plus additional support staff and academic visitors.