I am a theoretical physicist, contributing to a broad range of topics in particle physics, gravity and cosmology, and focusing on some of the most pressing problems in fundamental physics found at the interfaces between these fields.
Cosmology is in most meaningful ways a science whose history is less than a hundred years old. Only with the advent of Einstein’s theory of General Relativity (GR) was it possible to explore the interplay between the objects viewed through telescopes and the evolution of the space and time through which they move. Edwin Hubble’s observations showed that the motions of distant galaxies traced out the curved geometry of GR (the expanding universe) and this served as the starting point for a set of detailed realizations and observations that rank among the greatest ever scientific accomplishments.
Particle physics is an area of physics described to unparalleled precision by the standard model of particle physics, which describes all known experimental data obtained at high-energy physics experiments. This theory, describing the unified interactions due to the electromagnetic force (responsible for electricity, magnetism, and light), the weak nuclear force (responsible for radioactive decay), and the strong nuclear force (responsible for the physics of nuclei and their constituents) is a triumph of modern science. At the same time, the standard model raises new fundamental questions, the answers to which may point the way to an even more complete understanding of nature.
High energy physics experiments are performed at colliders by pumping a large amount of kinetic energy into small numbers of particles, and then engineering collisions between these particles in order to convert that kinetic energy, and the rest masses of the original particles, into a multitude of other, potentially heavier particles. Much of the progress in modern cosmology is a direct result of understanding that the expanding universe implies an early phase for the universe in which all particles move with highly relativistic speeds. Thus, the temperatures of the early universe should lead to processes like those observed in our colliders happening throughout the universe. At extremely early times, the early universe should provide a window into the behavior of particle physics at temperatures, and hence energies, that we may never be able to engineer.
I have worked broadly in both cosmology and particle physics, with the majority of my work lying firmly on the particle physics-cosmology border. Examples include the development of the modified gravity approach to cosmic acceleration, approaches to dark energy and dark matter; extra dimensional models of particle physics and cosmology; the microphysics of topological defects; the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe; and cosmological tests of fundamental physics.
Here are my publications.
Mark Trodden 