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Natalia Toro

Natalia Toro's picture
Faculty

Area of Research:
Particle Physics

Research Interests

My research seeks to sharpen the contact between experimental data and our basic theoretical understanding of Nature. Below are summarized three of my primary interests: understanding the implications of TeV-scale data for physics beyond the Standard Model, probing new physics very weakly coupled to ordinary matter, and developing a framework in which to test the Lorentz-transformation properties of massless particles.

We are in the midst of an exciting era --- experimental data from the LHC and dark matter searches offer hints to the nature of dark matter, the completion of the Standard Model, and any new physics at the TeV-scale that may explain the electroweak-Planck hierarchy. One aim of my research is to understand, from these hints, the underlying structure of new physics and to propose new directions of experimental study.

A complementary approach is to search for new physics that couples rather weakly to ordinary matter (but could potentially interact significantly with dark matter or other, still-unknown physics). Such physics could be manifest through new forces mediated by light particles, which can be readily searched for with present technology. To this end, I am involved in the APEX and HPS experiments at Jefferson Lab which aim to explore a large parameter region for such physics in the next several years.

I have recently started exploring the possibility that massless "continuous-spin" particles could consistently mediate long-range forces. These particles would behave much like ordinary photons or gravitons, except that their polarizations transform under the Lorentz symmetry of special relativity. The ultimate goal of this work is to learn whether "continuous-spin" generalizations of electromagnetism and gravity are theoretically consistent, and if they are, how they can be tested experimentally.

Positions Held

  • Jan-July 2011 School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study Member
  • 2007-2010 Department of Physics/SITP, Stanford University Postdoctoral Scholar

Recent Publications

  • N. Toro, I. Yavin "Multiphotons and Photon-Jets", PhysRevD.86.055005, arxiv: 1202.6377
  • APEX Collaboration (S. Abrahamyan et al.), "Search for a New Gauge Boson in Electron-Nucleus Fixed-Target Scattering by the APEX Experiment", Phys.Rev.Lett. 107 (2011) 191804, arxiv: 1108.2750
  • M. Lisanti, P. Schuster, M. Strassler, N. Toro "Study of LHC Searches for a Lepton and Many Jets", JHEP 1211 (2012) 081, arxiv: 1107.5055
  • T. Slatyer, N. Toro, N. Weiner "Sommerfeld-Enhanced Annihilation in Dark Matter Substructure: Consequences for Constraints on Cosmic-Ray Excesses", Accepted by Physical Review D, arxiv: 1107.3546
  • LHC New Physics Working Group (D. Alves et al.), "Simplified Models for LHC New Physics Searches", J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 39 105005, arxiv: 1105.2838
  • R. Essig, R. Harnik, J. Kaplan, and N. Toro, "Discovering New Light States at Neutrino Experiments", Physical Review D82:113008,2010, arxiv: 1008.0636
  • R. Essig, P. Schuster, N. Toro, B. Wojtsekhowski "An Electron Fixed Target Experiment to Search for a New Vector Boson A' Decaying to e+e-", JHEP 1102:009,2011, arxiv: 1001.2557
  • P. Schuster, N. Toro, I. Yavin "Terrestrial and Solar Limits on Long-Lived Particles in a Dark Sector", Physical Review D 81:016002,2010, arxiv: 0910.1602
  • P. Schuster, N. Toro, I. Yavin, N. Weiner "High Energy Electron Signals from Dark Matter Annihilation in the Sun", Physical Review D82:115012,2010, arxiv: 0910.1839
  • J. Bjorken, R. Essig, P. Schuster, N. Toro "New Fixed-Target Experiments to Search for Dark Gauge Forces", Physical Review D 80:075018,2009, arxiv: 0906.0580
  • R. Essig, P. Schuster, N. Toro "Probing Dark Forces and Light Hidden Sectors at Low-Energy e+e- Colliders", Physical Review D 80:015003,2009, arxiv: 0903.3941
  • A Gauge Field Theory of Continuous-Spin Particles. Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro, arxiv: 1302.3225
  • On the Theory of Continuous-Spin Particles: Helicity Correspondence in Radiation and Forces. Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro, arxiv: 1302.1577
  • On the Theory of Continuous-Spin Particles: Wavefunctions and Soft-Factor Scattering Amplitudes. Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro, arxiv: 1302.1198
  • On the Origin of Light Dark Matter Species, Rouven Essig, Jared Kaplan, Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro arxiv: 1004.0691
  • MARMOSET: The Path from LHC Data to the New Standard Model via On-Shell Effective Theories Nima Arkani-Hamed, Bruce Knuteson, Stephen Mrenna, Philip Schuster, Jesse Thaler, Natalia Toro, Lian-Tao Wang, arxiv: hep-ph/0703088

Seminars

  • "On the hunt for new fundamental forces", Western, Nov 2012
  • "Introduction to Continuous-Spin Particles and Their Interactions"
  • Summary Talk, Dark Forces at Colliders, INFN Frascati, Oct 2012
  • "Continuous-Spin Particles and Their Interactions", Harvard, Oct 2012
  • "Dark Forces and the GeV Frontier", Conference on Intersections of Particle And Nuclear Physics (CIPANP) 2012, Plenary Talk
  • "WIMP Dark Matter and Accelerator-Based Particle Physics", SNOLAB Grand Opening Workshop, May 2012
  • "Theory and Status of New Sub-GeV Forces" (invited talk during mini-symposium on "Dark forces beneath the proton mass), American Physical Society April Meeting, 2012
  • "New Forces at a GeV? Motivation, Search Prospects, and Status", MIT Nuclear and Particle Physics Colloquium May 2012
  • "New Forces at a GeV: Search Prospects and a Window for Dark Matter", Wayne State University and University of Michigan, Feb 2012
  • "LHC searches with a lepton and many jets", TRIUMF, Jan 2012
  • "The A Prime Experiment (APEX): Search for a New Vector Boson A' Decaying to e+e-", Intensity Frontier Workshop, Nov 2011
  • "Update on Dark Matter and Dark Forces", HPS Collaboration Meeting, Oct 2011
  • "Simplified Models with MET at 1 fb-1", Workshop on Implications of LHC Results for TeV-Scale Physics, CERN, Aug 2011
  • "The A-Prime Experiment (APEX) and Searches for New Vector Bosons at JLab", Workshop on Machine Aspects and Physics of the MESA Accelerator (Mainz Microtron Center), May 2011
  • "Searching for Very Weakly-Coupled New Physics", CIFAR Cosmology and Gravity AGM 2011, April 2011
  • "SUSY with light stops at 35pb-1 and beyond ", Status of Higgs and BSM searches at the LHC (CERN), April 2011
  • "The A-Prime Experiment (APEX): Search for a New Vector Boson A' Decaying to e+e-", New Data from the Energy Frontier (Aspen), Feb 2011
  • "Characterizing Early LHC Data in Simple Terms: Recent Developments", Dawn on the LHC Era (TRIUMF), Jan 2011
  • "Simplified Models in Searches: An Illustration", Characterization of new physics at the LHC, II (CERN), Nov 2010
  • "Topologies for Early LHC Searches", University of Toronto Seminar, Oct 2010