New Symmetries for New Particle Physics

Symmetries and their breaking provide a powerful way of describing phenomena across all of physics. In this talk, I will show how symmetries — including the recently developed concept of generalized symmetries in quantum field theory — elucidate particle theory and phenomenology. I do this by primarily focusing on recent work on the QCD axion, one of the most promising candidates for a particle beyond the Standard Model. For the axion, new notions of symmetry have led to insights regarding their protection against dangerous mass corrections, their relation to topological defects, and even their cosmology. Finally, if time allows, I will comment on other ongoing directions leveraging related notions of symmetry and symmetry breaking.

Recording