![CERN image](https://physics.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/hep-CMS-CERN.webp)
![Photo of a germanium detector](https://physics.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Germanium-Detector.webp)
Beyond the Standard Model
UT’s particle physics faculty design new tools and refine scientific approaches to look for physics beyond what we already know.
With studies like those at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s “Neutrino Alley,” contributions to the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at CERN, and the search for neutron transformations and mirror matter, our faculty develop and deploy instruments to find signatures for what the Standard Model of Physics can’t explain: dark matter and new, exotic particles and physics. They also apply their expertise to developing machine learning and quantum algorithms to help solve complex problems.
With key roles in collaborations across the world, particle physicists at UT are part of a dynamic community working to uncover the most fundamental mysteries of the Universe.
High Energy / Particle Physics Faculty
Research
CMS Group Page
The CMS Detector studies high energy proton-proton collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The detector is designed to search for new fundamental particles, and measure the properties of the particles in the Standard Model. In 2012, we discovered the Higgs boson, and since then, have been looking for the next hints of new physics.
Neutron Oscillation Physics Working Group
Our experimental group is committed to the search for beyond Standard Model processes of fundamental importance to understanding the nature of universe and some of its most beautiful broken symmetries.
Quantum Entanglement Science and Technology (QUEST) Group
The QUEST Group is exploring the bizarre world of quantum mechanics. Its properties, such as superposition, coherence, entanglement, teleportation, etc., have given rise to various paradoxes (Schrodinger’s cat, the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, etc.).
High Energy / Particle Physics Highlights
- Alumni Association Honors Lee and Siopsis for Teaching and Distinguished Service
- The Art of Muon Collisions
- In My Own Words: Undergraduate Taylor Sussmane
- Challenging the Standard Model: Lawrence Lee Wins NSF CAREER Award
- The Art of Science
- Explaining Physics Beyond the Textbooks
- New Quantum Networks Research and Training Program Receives $3M NSF Award
- Finding Hidden Physics