Fundamental physics in distant galaxies. The fundamental constants of Nature are assumed to characterise physics in our entire Universe, but are they really the same everywhere and throughout its entire 14 billion year history? This project will answer this question with the first large-scale, purpose-built observational programme on one of the world's biggest and best telescopes.
From dark matter to atomic physics. Very little is known about dark matter except that it is present in our Universe in abundance. The project aims to guide the search for dark matter particles (and study related phenomena, for example, baryogenesis). The guiding idea is that these particles interact, albeit weakly, with atoms and hence are able to ionise them, which is a detectable process.
Rare decays of B mesons: Probing new physics with Belle II. This project aims to observe the decay of a B meson to a muon and a neutrino, a rare subatomic process. This will test understanding of the basic building blocks and forces of nature. If the measured and expected decay rates are different, this would be significant. The project also seeks to enhance Australia's role in a major physics experiment based in Japan. This project will contribute to a deeper understanding of our place in the U ....Rare decays of B mesons: Probing new physics with Belle II. This project aims to observe the decay of a B meson to a muon and a neutrino, a rare subatomic process. This will test understanding of the basic building blocks and forces of nature. If the measured and expected decay rates are different, this would be significant. The project also seeks to enhance Australia's role in a major physics experiment based in Japan. This project will contribute to a deeper understanding of our place in the Universe.Read moreRead less
Strong electron correlations in quantum materials. The project will fundamentally advance the knowledge base towards the development of novel quantum materials. The project will reveal mechanisms of strong electron correlations and develop methods to use these correlations to enhance desirable properties of materials.
Antimatter and exotic mesons at the intensity frontier. This project aims to measure anti-proton and anti-neutron interactions in the calorimeter, a piece of equipment central to the Belle experiment in Japan. Antimatter is used every day in particle physics, but is not fully understood. The Belle dataset is large and directly applicable to the renewed Belle II experiment, due to commence in late 2018. The anticipated outcome is an improved ability to recognise different particles and measure th ....Antimatter and exotic mesons at the intensity frontier. This project aims to measure anti-proton and anti-neutron interactions in the calorimeter, a piece of equipment central to the Belle experiment in Japan. Antimatter is used every day in particle physics, but is not fully understood. The Belle dataset is large and directly applicable to the renewed Belle II experiment, due to commence in late 2018. The anticipated outcome is an improved ability to recognise different particles and measure their energies. This project is intended to contribute to Belle II, enhancing the experiment’s research outcomes, including understanding the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe and the nature of exotic mesons.Read moreRead less
Many-body phenomena in atomic and subatomic physics. The project proposes research in the following areas: search for Dark Matter and Dark Energy using atomic experiments; an enhancement mechanism of baryogenesis based on the new class of gauge theory solutions; new quantum effects in strong gravitational fields and phenomena in non-black hole metric, which reproduce some properties of black holes; new phenomena in strong laser fields, which can help constructing high-frequency lasers; exchange- ....Many-body phenomena in atomic and subatomic physics. The project proposes research in the following areas: search for Dark Matter and Dark Energy using atomic experiments; an enhancement mechanism of baryogenesis based on the new class of gauge theory solutions; new quantum effects in strong gravitational fields and phenomena in non-black hole metric, which reproduce some properties of black holes; new phenomena in strong laser fields, which can help constructing high-frequency lasers; exchange-assisted tunneling; and, chaos-induced boost of electron recombination, charge transfer and weak interactions. The results based on proposed ideas will guide laboratory and astrophysical studies, help verify cosmological models and Unification theories.Read moreRead less
Atomic theory and search for new elementary particles. This project aims to propose new enhanced effects of hypothetical dark matter particles in atomic and astrophysical phenomena, perform calculations, and motivate new experiments with a higher sensitivity to these particles. The mass of dark matter in the Universe is five times that of ordinary matter, yet its nature is still unknown. This project also aims to improve calculations of the effects of dark matter searched for in underground labo ....Atomic theory and search for new elementary particles. This project aims to propose new enhanced effects of hypothetical dark matter particles in atomic and astrophysical phenomena, perform calculations, and motivate new experiments with a higher sensitivity to these particles. The mass of dark matter in the Universe is five times that of ordinary matter, yet its nature is still unknown. This project also aims to improve calculations of the effects of dark matter searched for in underground laboratories including the Australian Stawell laboratory. Relativistic and many-body effects may change the results by orders of magnitude, and proper account of them is important. This may be achieved using our computer codes for high-precision relativistic atomic many-body calculations.Read moreRead less
Manifestations of unification theories in atomic phenomena. The project aims to contribute to both fundamental science and its applications. The project proposes new ideas, methods and calculations to test unification theories using effects of violation of the fundamental symmetries P, T, Lorentz symmetry and the equivalence principle in atomic and molecular phenomena, and to search for space-time variation of the fundamental constants across the Universe using both astrophysical observations an ....Manifestations of unification theories in atomic phenomena. The project aims to contribute to both fundamental science and its applications. The project proposes new ideas, methods and calculations to test unification theories using effects of violation of the fundamental symmetries P, T, Lorentz symmetry and the equivalence principle in atomic and molecular phenomena, and to search for space-time variation of the fundamental constants across the Universe using both astrophysical observations and laboratory experiments. The outcomes of this project may lead to the proposal of new atomic, nuclear and molecular clocks and the calculations needed to estimate and improve the accuracy of these clocks.Read moreRead less
Weighing neutrinos in the sky. This project aims to discover how the mass of the neutrino affects the evolution of the universe and to use observations of the universe to measure neutrino masses. The project will build a theoretical framework to describe the nonlinear dynamics of cosmological neutrinos. The intended outcome is a set of computational tools that could predict the signatures of neutrino masses in the sky as precisely as upcoming surveys, to discover neutrino masses in the next 10 y ....Weighing neutrinos in the sky. This project aims to discover how the mass of the neutrino affects the evolution of the universe and to use observations of the universe to measure neutrino masses. The project will build a theoretical framework to describe the nonlinear dynamics of cosmological neutrinos. The intended outcome is a set of computational tools that could predict the signatures of neutrino masses in the sky as precisely as upcoming surveys, to discover neutrino masses in the next 10 years. The project should raise Australia's international profile in basic physical science research and answer fundamental questions about the origin of matter, energy and the universe.Read moreRead less