The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics is the most successful theory of high-energy physics (HEP). It encompasses three of the four fundamental forces of nature, the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces, under the same mathematical framework of a gauge quantum field theory. With the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN in 2012, which is responsible for giving to the masses of the elementary particle, the SM is now complete.
However, the SM does not explain all known phenomena in HEP. Among other things, it does not account for neutrino masses and oscillations, and it does not include dark matter, dark energy, and a quantum theory of gravitation.
To be able to understand if any experimental signature is a further indication of physics beyond the SM, one needs to be able to make precise predictions within the SM. My research focuses specifically on Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the sector of the SM responsible for the strong force that binds quarks into nucleons and nucleons into atomic nuclei. Because of their very nature of being strong interactions, the best methods to make predictions in the regime in which nucleons and nuclei form require expensive numerical simulations of the theory discretized on a four-dimensional lattice.
The ultimate goal of my research is to improve the understanding of these nuclear forces. Specifically, I am targeting the so-called time-like quantities that have so far eluded precise estimations due to the specific time-like kinematic regime, which renders them intrinsically hard and particularly expensive for standard numerical simulations of QCD on the lattice.
