In September 2016, Pedro Schwaller was appointed Professor of Theoretical Particle Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. His research field is theoretical particle physics beyond the Standard Model. Of particular interest to him are the search for evidence of a New Physics using the LHC, the nature of dark matter and the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the early universe.
Although the Standard Model of particle physics does provide adequate explanations of all experimental data obtained to date, it is inevitably incomplete as it does not account for the existence of dark matter or for the origin of visible material in the early universe. In addition, it is theoretically incomplete as the posited electroweak scale is not immune to major quantum corrections.
Pedro Schwaller’s team will work on the development of new theoretical concepts that address the weak points of the Standard Model and propose innovative methods that can be employed to experimentally verify possible additions to the Standard Model. An important aspect of this is a consideration of the dynamics of the early universe, which can provide information on the forms in which aspects of the New Physics are currently manifested. For example, a phase transition in a dark matter sector in the early universe could have resulted in the generation of a gravitational wave signal that can still be observed today.
Pedro Schwaller studied physics at the University of Würzburg and wrote his dissertation entitled ‘Phenomenology of Little Higgs Models and Quantum Leptogenesis’ at the ETH Zurich, being awarded his doctorate (cum laude) as a result. Before coming to Mainz, Pedro Schwaller was a postdoctoral researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory and at the University of Illinois in Chicago, a Fellow at CERN in Geneva and a Junior Staff Member at DESY, Hamburg.
Scientific Background
since September 2016
Professor of Theoretical Particle Physics
Faculty 08: Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
2015-2016
Junior Staff Member of the Theory Group at DESY, Hamburg
2013-2015
Fellow of the Theory Division at CERN, Genf
2010-2013
Postdoc at Argonne National Laboratory and University of Illinois, Chicago
2007-2010
Doctorate in Theoretical Physics, University of Zurich
Main Research
- Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology
- Physics beyond the Standard Model
- Dark Matter
- Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry
- Gravitational Waves of Phase Transitions
- Quantum Field Theory
Publications
Gravitational Waves from a Dark Phase Transition
Pedro Schwaller
arXiv:1504.07263 [hep-ph] published in Phys.Rev.Lett. 115 (2015) no.18, 181101.
Emerging Jets
Pedro Schwaller, Daniel Stolarski, Andreas Weiler
arXiv:1502.05409 [hep-ph] published in JHEP 1505 (2015) 059.
Spectator Effects during Leptogenesis in the Strong Washout Regime
Björn Garbrecht, Pedro Schwaller
arXiv:1404.2915 [hep-ph] published in JCAP 1410 (2014) no.10, 012.
Compressed electroweakino spectra at the LHC
Pedro Schwaller, Jose Zurita
arXiv:1312.7350 [hep-ph] published in JHEP 1403 (2014) 060.
Dark matter and vectorlike leptons from gauged lepton number
Pedro Schwaller, Tim M. P. Tait, Roberto Vega-Morales
arXiv:1305.1108 [hep-ph] published in Phys.Rev. D88 (2013) no.3, 035001.
Dark Matter and Enhanced Higgs to Di-photon Rate from Vector-like Leptons
Aniket Joglekar, Pedro Schwaller, Carlos E.M. Wagner
arXiv:1207.4235 [hep-ph] published in JHEP 1212 (2012) 064.
The dark side of the Higgs boson
Ian Low, Pedro Schwaller, Gabe Shaughnessy, Carlos E.M. Wagner
arXiv:1110.4405 [hep-ph] published in Phys.Rev. D85 (2012) 015009.
Flavoured Leptogenesis in the CTP Formalism
Martin Beneke, Bjorn Garbrecht, Christian Fidler, Matti Herranen, Pedro Schwaller
arXiv:1007.4783 [hep-ph] published in Nucl.Phys. B843 (2011) 177-212.