The Collaborative Research Center “Particle Physics Phenomenology after the Higgs Discovery'' is a joint venture of theoretical particle physicists from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, RWTH Aachen University, University of Siegen and Heidelberg University. It is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Particle physics has long established itself as an important research discipline focused on understanding Nature at a fundamental level. The current knowledge is summarized in a theory called the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics that describes strong and electroweak interactions. The recent discovery of the Higgs boson formally completes the SM and provides us with a consistent mathematical framework that can be used to describe Nature in fine detail. However, several aspects of the SM force us to raise questions about the foundations of this theory. Many proposed answers to these questions suggest that the SM is a low-energy approximation to a much more fundamental theory that we strive to discover.

Scientists of the CRC will conduct research in phenomenology of elementary particles focusing, in particular, on the physics of Higgs boson, physics of top quarks, electroweak gauge bosons and jets and flavour physics. Our goal is to develop the necessary methodologies to search for physics beyond the Standard Model through precise measurements at the LHC, flavour factories and elsewhere.