Research Areas
Theoretical Physics
Theoretical physics provides the vision and mathematical framework for interpreting, understanding and extending the knowledge of particles, forces, space-time and the universe. Progress in theoretical physics transforms detailed observations and measurements into predictive models that lead to fundamental insights into questions about the universe and new ideas for further scientific exploration and discovery.
Activities range from detailed calculations of the predictions of the Standard Model to a new plane of physical phenomena and the means to experimentally search for them. Incorporating Einstein’s theory of gravity and space-time geometry into a unified description of all the forces of nature and cosmology is a major area of study. This research provides new insights into the basic constituents of matter, the forces between them, and the origin of the universe.
In the laboratory, theoretical physicists work very closely with experimentalists. Working on many aspects of the mathematical framework of particle physics, theorists often guide the choice and direction of experimental topics at accelerators like the Tevatron and the Large Hadron Collider. Experimental results, in turn, provide new information about how the world works and stimulate the development of new and improved theoretical ideas.
Supporting Information
Exploring the energy frontier
What are the building blocks of matter, and where do they come from? Are there more dimensions of space than the three known to our everyday senses? What happened right after the Big Bang? Fundamental questions like these drew Rakhi Mahbubani, a postdoctoral researcher in Fermilab’s Theory Department, into the field of particle physics.
Now Mahbubani develops models of high energy physics and looks for ways to explore them on the energy frontier at Fermilab’s Tevatron and CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. She searches for clues of the Higgs boson and extra dimensions both at the Tevatron and the LHC. “Could we see signals of these new models at the Tevatron? If not, might we see them at the LHC? These are the questions that I try to answer, ” she says. Mahbubani also collaborates with experimentalists on the CDF and DZero experiments at Fermilab
Mahbubani earned her PhD in physics at Harvard University. She has a MSci in physics from the University of Bristol in England.
