Thursday, November 27, 2014, 16:00
WHGA/Auditorium
Martin Beneke, TU Munich
Abstract:
The top quark, discovered nearly 20 years ago, is now copiously
produced at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, which allows detailed
studies and interpretations of its properties. It remains the heaviest elementary
particle ever found. Its strong interaction properties are those of any
other quark, but its large coupling to the Higgs boson suggests a special
role in electroweak symmetry breaking. I review recent efforts to compute
top quark properties precisely, and discuss the more speculative
questions: Does the top quark, elusive as it is, determine the fate of the
Universe? Does naturalness require top partners, and what and where are
they?