Charlotte Knight

Discovery through effective field theory interpretations at the LHC

Abstract: The absence of direct signs of new physics at the LHC suggests that any new particles may lie beyond the collider’s energy reach. If so, our best chance of uncovering new physics lies in indirect (off-shell) effects. Effective Field Theories (EFTs) offer a natural, model-independent framework to search for these effects, allowing the combination of a wide range of measurements. In this talk, I will introduce EFTs from an experimentalist’s point of view and present recent results from the CMS experiment, including a discussion of challenges encountered by EFT interpretations. Finally, I will outline ongoing efforts and prospects at the High-Luminosity LHC to fully exploit the vast upcoming dataset, with the ultimate goal of making a discovery.