The SLAC Theory Group is the hub of theoretical particle physics research at the

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Menlo Park, California, Menlo Park, Ca ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. It is a subdivision of the

Elementary Particle Physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and neutrons, while the stud ...

(EPP) Division at SLAC.

Research

The group has a diverse research program, specializing in areas of

quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines Field theory (physics), field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct phy ...

, beyond the standard model physics,

dark matter In astronomy, dark matter is an invisible and hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter is implied by gravity, gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relat ...

neutrino A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is an elementary particle that interacts via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass is so small ('' -ino'') that i ...

s, and

collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...

phenomenology.

Members

The group is currently led by 9 faculty members, and has a dozen postdoctoral researchers and students at any given time. Notable physicists who were students or postdoctoral researchers in the SLAC Theory Group include

Nima Arkani-Hamed Nima Arkani-Hamed (; born April 5, 1972) is an Iranian-American-Canadian

Thomas Appelquist Thomas William Appelquist is a theoretical particle physicist who is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at Yale University. He received his bachelor's degree from Illinois Benedictine College and his Ph.D. in 1968 from Cornell University ...

, Mirjam Cvetic, Michael Dine, John Ellis, Rouven Essig, Edward Farhi, Steven Frautschi, Joshua Frieman, Roscoe Giles, Yuval Grossman, Jack F. Gunion, Alan Guth, Howard Haber, Claude Itzykson, Robert Jaffe, David E. Kaplan, Igor Klebanov, Peter Lepage,

Christopher Llewellyn Smith Sir Christopher Hubert Llewellyn Smith (born 19 November 1942) is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford. Education Llewellyn Smith was educated at the University of Oxford (BA) and completed his Doctor of Philosophy degr ...

, Kirill Melnikov, Stephen Parke,

Maxim Perelstein Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition * Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Si ...

, Joel Primack,

Joseph Polchinski Joseph Gerard Polchinski Jr. (; May 16, 1954 – February 2, 2018) was an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. Biography Polchinski was born in White Plains, New York, the elder of two children to Joseph Gerard Polchinski Sr. (19 ...

, Davison Soper, Henry Tye, Mark Wise, and Tung-Mow Yan. Past and present members of the SLAC Theory Group have received a total of at least 3 Breakthrough in Fundamental Physics Prizes ($3 million USD prize), 10 Sakurai Prizes ($10,000 USD), 5 Dirac Medals ($5,000 USD), 4 New Horizons in Physics Prizes ($100,000 USD), and 2 Gribov Medals ($5,000 USD).

Faculty

Current and former faculty members in the SLAC Theory Group include: *

James Bjorken James Daniel "BJ" Bjorken (June 22, 1934 – August 6, 2024) was an American theoretical physicist. He was a Putnam Fellow in 1954, received a BS in physics from MIT in 1956, and obtained his PhD from Stanford University in 1959. Bjorken was a ...

, discoverer of Bjorken Scaling (

light-cone In special and general relativity, a light cone (or "null cone") is the path that a flash of light, emanating from a single event (localized to a single point in space and a single moment in time) and traveling in all directions, would take t ...

scaling) and Bjorken Sum Rule, 2004

Dirac Medal The Dirac Medal or Dirac prize can refer to different awards named in honour of the physics Nobel Laureate Paul Dirac. * Dirac Medal (ICTP), awarded by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste * Dirac Medal (IOP), awar ...

recipient and 2015

Wolf Prize The Wolf Prize is an international award granted in Israel, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for "achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of natio ...

recipient * Richard Blankenbecler, professor emeritus * Stanley Brodsky, 2007

Sakurai Prize The J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, also commonly referred to as just the Sakurai Prize, is a prize awarded by the American Physical Society. It is presented annually at the Society's April meeting and honors "outstanding a ...

recipient for applications of perturbative quantum field theory to the analysis of hard exclusive strong interaction processes * Lance Dixon, pioneer of new methods to calculate

Feynman diagram In theoretical physics, a Feynman diagram is a pictorial representation of the mathematical expressions describing the behavior and interaction of subatomic particles. The scheme is named after American physicist Richard Feynman, who introduced ...

s in

quantum chromodynamics In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the study of the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons. Quarks are fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a type of ...

and other Yang–Mills theories; 2014 recipient of the

and 2023 recipient of the Galileo Medal *

Sidney Drell Sidney David Drell (September 13, 1926 – December 21, 2016) was an American theoretical physicist and arms control expert. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and senior fello ...

, known for his contributions to

quantum electrodynamics In particle physics, quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the Theory of relativity, relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics. In essence, it describes how light and matter interact and is the first theory where full agreement between quant ...

, including the Drell-Yan process, 2011

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...

recipient * Alexander Friedland, neutrino physicist * JoAnne Hewett, associate lab director of the Fundamental Physics Directorate and the chief research officer at SLAC * Stefan Hoeche, known for SHERPA parton shower event-generator framework *

Shamit Kachru Shamit Kachru (born 1970) is an American theoretical physicist, a professor emeritus of physics at Stanford University, and a former Wells Family Director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. He served as the Stanford Physics Depar ...

, pioneer of string theory * Rebecca Leane, astroparticle physicist * Bernhard Mistlberger, pioneer of multi-loop

Higgs Higgs may refer to: Physics *Higgs boson, an elementary particle * Higgs factory, a proposed particle accelerator *Higgs field, a quantum field *Higgs field (classical) *Higgs mechanism, an explanation for electroweak symmetry breaking * Higgs pha ...

calculations at hadron colliders and 2021 Gribov Medal recipient * Pierre Noyes, known for theoretical work on the quantum mechanical three-body problem for strongly interacting particles * Jogesh Pati, known for the Pati-Salam model, 2000

recipient *

Michael Peskin Michael Edward Peskin (born October 27, 1951, Philadelphia) is an American theoretical physicist. He is currently a professor in the SLAC Theory Group, theory group at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Peskin has been recognized for his ...

, known for the Peskin–Takeuchi parameter, and his popular

Quantum Field Theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines Field theory (physics), field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct phy ...

textbook with Daniel Schroeder * Helen Quinn, known for Peccei–Quinn theory which earned her the 2010

and the 2014

* Thomas Rizzo, Theory Group leader * Philip Schuster, 2015 New Horizons in Physics Prize recipient, known for new experimental searches for dark sectors using high-intensity electron beams *

Eva Silverstein Eva Silverstein (born October 24, 1970) is an American theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and string theorist. She is a professor of physics at Stanford University and director of the Modern Inflationary Cosmology collaboration within the Si ...

, known for work on early universe cosmology and string theory, recipient of 1999 MacArthur "Genius grant" award * Natalia Toro, 2015 New Horizons in Physics Prize recipient, known for new experimental searches for dark sectors using high-intensity electron beams * Jay Wacker, particle phenomenologist

References

{{Reflist Theoretical physics institutes