The Standard Model of particle physics has been a crowning achievement of fundamental physics, culminating in the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. As a quantum theory of the building blocks of matter and forces, it has been one of the most successful theories in science. The recent measurement of the mass of the W boson disagrees with the theory prediction. This upset to the Standard Model may point towards exciting new discoveries in particle physics in the coming years. We will discuss the Standard Model, the crucial role of the W boson, and how it has become the harbinger of new laws of nature.
Biography:
Professor Ashutosh V. Kotwal's research focuses on precision measurements of fundamental particles and searches for new laws of nature at high energies, using data from the E665, D0, CDF and ATLAS experiments. Professor Kotwal initiated and led the analyses to measure the W boson mass precisely in the CDF II experiment at Fermilab. Over the last 27 years, he has published five world-leading measurements of the W boson mass.
Prof. Kotwal is the Fritz London Distinguished Professor of Physics at Duke University. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Outstanding Junior Investigator Award from the US Department of Energy, and the Dean's Leadership Award from Duke University. He has served as the Associate Chair of the Physics Department.