Speaker: Ryan Plestid (CERN)

Host: Srimoyee Sen

Title: The weak force, nuclei, and fundamental physics

Abstract: Parity was discovered by Chien-Shiung Wu in 1956 using the nuclear beta decay of cobalt-60. Since then, we have probed the microscopic origin of the weak force at energy scales up to 1000 times the rest mass of the proton. Nevertheless, weak interactions on nuclei continue to play an important role in fundamental physics with increasingly stringent precision demands. In this talk I will give a tour of the modern frontier of experiments involving nuclei that probe fundamental constants, or search for signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model. This includes precision measurements of superallowed beta decays and long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. A common theme will be the need to control theory errors in the presence of complicated bound states, and by extension the application of modern ideas in effective field theory.