Particle physics is in an era of mysteries, from the origin of mass to the nature of dark matter. While the discovery of the Higgs boson has provided the first hint of how the known fundamental particles obtain their masses, the Higgs is but the herald of the untested mechanism of mass generation itself. At the same time, 85% of the matter in the universe — the so-called dark matter — has resisted decades of experimental efforts at uncovering its identity. To confront these and other mysteries, particle physicists are proposing to construct an audacious new machine for discovery: a muon collider. By colliding muons (the heavier, unstable sibling of the electron) for the very first time, we aim to probe the fundamental theory of nature more efficiently and effectively than ever before. In this talk, I’ll survey the central questions of modern particle physics and the prospects for answering them with a muon collider, describing the rich physics of muons and the challenges of muon accelerators along the way.

About the speaker:
Nathaniel Craig is an associate professor in the Department of Physics at UC Santa Barbara, where he studies theoretical particle physics on scales ranging from quarks to the cosmos. Born in Hawaii and raised in California, he received his Ph.D at Stanford in 2010 and pursued joint postdoctoral studies at the Institute for Advanced Study and Rutgers University before coming to UCSB in 2014. He is a recipient of an Early Career Award from the US Department of Energy and a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, and currently leads the Particle Theory Initiative at the KITP.

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Recorded as part of a Friends of KITP Chalk Talk.

Friends of KITP have the opportunity to spend an evening four to five times a year with some of the world’s most exciting theoretical physicists, sharing refreshments and conversation about big questions such as how the universe began, how stars and planets form, how the brain works, and where dark matter lurks!

Frequent Chalk Talks allow Friends of KITP to stay current on the latest breakthroughs in science through engaging and informal presentations by KITP’s leading visiting scientists. In keeping with the custom of the academic physics community, these presentations are informal and questions are encouraged during and after the talk.

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