Matan Kaufman, MSc Physics at ETH Zürich
Jan Obermeier, MSc Quantum Engineering at ETH Zürich
The Standard Model, Symmetries and Flavor (Matan Kaufman):
The Standard Model is one of the most successful theories in physics: a remarkably constrained theory that accurately describes elementary particles and their interactions. Yet its very structure also points to open questions. Why do symmetries take the form they do? Why are masses and mixings so hierarchi cal? And how can we systematically search for physics beyond the Standard Model without losing the guidan ce of symmetry principles?
In this talk, I will give a pedagogical overview of the Standard Model and discuss symmetries and their breaking, the structure of the Lagrangian, and flavor. I will then introduce effective field theory as the lan guage of heavy new physics, and briefly discuss flavor deconstruction as a possible origin of flavor hierarchies. The aim is to connect formal structure with phenomenological questions and to show how symmetry continues to guide us both within and beyond the Standard Model.
Modelling Non-Adiabatic Molecular Dynamics (Jan Obermeier):
You‘ll have heard of the Born-Oppenheimer approxi mation at some point, also known as the adiabatic ap proximation. This is where we assume that the elec trons in a molecule respond instantaneously to changes in the nuclear configuration, simplifying mole cular simulations considerably. This approximation ho wever cannot capture processes where the non-adia batic coupling between the electronic states and the nuclear motion becomes significant such as in photo chemistry, charge transfer, and many other phenome na. In my presentation, I will introduce you to so-called trajectory-based methods for simulating these non-adiabatic molecular dyna mics, more concretely the Partially Linearised Density Matrix (PLDM) forma lism. This and the fully linearsed MASH (Mapping Approach to Surface Hop ping) method by Mannouch and Richardson were the basis for our mash-up thereof, the MASH-PLDM method.
Recording
The talk won’t be streamed and there won’t be a recording.