Natalia Toro

Natalia Toro's picture
Faculty

Area of Research:
Particle Physics
Phone: x8725

AFFILIATIONS

University of Waterloo

PhD students who wish to be supervised by Perimeter Institute faculty normally apply through the PSI program. To apply directly to a PhD program, students should submit an application to the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Waterloo.

Students interested in pursuing an MSc degree should apply to Perimeter Institute's PSI program.

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

  • New Electron Beam-Dump Experiments to Search for MeV to few-GeV Dark Matter. Eder Izaguirre, Gordan Krnjaic, Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro,Phys.Rev. D88 (2013) 114015, arXiv: 1307.6554
  • On the Theory of Continuous-Spin Particles: Wavefunctions and Soft-Factor Scattering Amplitudes. Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro, JHEP 1309 (2013) 104, arXiv: 1302.1198
  • On the Theory of Continuous-Spin Particles: Helicity Correspondence in Radiation and Forces, Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro, JHEP 1309 (2013) 105, arXiv: 1302.1577
  • A Gauge Field Theory of Continuous-Spin Particles, Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro, JHEP 1310 (2013) 061, arXiv: 1302.3225
  • N. Toro, I. Yavin "Multiphotons and Photon-Jets", PhysRevD.86.055005, arXiv: 1202.6377 [hep-ph].
  • 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 [hep-ex]
  • 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 [hep-ph]
  • M. Lisanti, P. Schuster, M. Strassler, N. Toro "Study of LHC Searches for a Lepton and Many Jets", JHEP 1211 (2012) 081, arxiv:hep-ph/1107.5055
  • 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 [hep-ph].
  • R. Essig, R. Harnik, J. Kaplan, and N. Toro, "Discovering New Light States at Neutrino Experiments", Physical Review D82:113008,2010, arXiv: 1008.0636 [hep-ph]
  • 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 [hep-ph]
  • 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 [hep-ph]
  • 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 [hep-ph]
  • 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 [hep-ph]
  • 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 [hep-ph]
  • On the Origin of Light Dark Matter Species, Rouven Essig, Jared Kaplan, Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro arXiv: 1004.0691 [hep-ph]
  • 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

  • "Natural Supersymmetry", two lectures at Princeton Institute for Theoretical Physics summer school July 2013
  • "Closing the Door on Weak-Scale SUSY", Fermilab LHC Physics Center May 2013
  • "Status of the APEX Experiment", HPS Collaboration Meeting at Jefferson Lab, May 2013
  • "Dark Force Searches at Accelerators: the new GeV Frontier" Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) Congress, Montreal QC May 2013
  • "(Why) Is Helicity Lorentz-Invariant?" Columbia University, New York University, Stanford University, and Fermi National Laboratory (April-May 2013)
  • "GeV-Scale Dark Forces: Motivation and Status'', Snowmass Intensity Frontier Meeting, Argonne National Lab, IL April 2013
  • "Dark Matter and Accelerators", Queens University Colloquium, March 2013
  • "On the hunt for new fundamental forces", Western, Nov 2012
  • "Continuous-Spin Particles and Their Interactions", Harvard, Oct 2012
  • Summary Talk, Dark Forces at Colliders, INFN Frascati, Oct 2012
  • "Dark Forces and the GeV Frontier", Conference on Intersections of Particle And Nuclear Physics (CIPANP) 2012, Plenary Talk
  • "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
  • "WIMP Dark Matter and Accelerator-Based Particle Physics", SNOLAB Grand Opening Workshop, May 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
  • PIRSA:13110047, Spin and Long-Range Forces: The Unfinished Tale of the Last Massless Particle, 2013-11-13, Colloquium
  • PIRSA:13030037, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 14, 2013-03-08, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13030036, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 13, 2013-03-07, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13030035, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 12, 2013-03-06, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13030034, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 11, 2013-03-05, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13030033, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 10, 2013-03-04, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • String/Particle Group Meeting "(Why) Is the Photon's Helicity Lorentz-Invariant?"
  • PIRSA:13030030, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 9, 2013-03-01, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13020098, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 8, 2013-02-28, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13020097, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 7, 2013-02-27, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13020096, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 6, 2013-02-26, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13020095, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 5, 2013-02-25, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13020092, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 4, 2013-02-22, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13020091, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 3, 2013-02-21, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13020090, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 2, 2013-02-20, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:13020089, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model Lecture 1, 2013-02-19, 12/13 PSI - Beyond the Standard Model
  • PIRSA:12070007, From the Higgs to the Heavens: Physics of the Large Hadron Collider, 2012-07-26, ISSYP 2012
  • PIRSA:12070002, Smash, Bang, Boom: Fundamental Physics at the LHC, 2012-07-11, Particle Physics
  • PIRSA:12010018, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 15, 2012-01-20, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010017, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 14, 2012-01-19, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010016, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 13, 2012-01-18, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010015, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 12, 2012-01-17, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010014, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 11, 2012-01-16, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010011, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 10, 2012-01-13, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010010, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 9, 2012-01-12, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010009, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 8, 2012-01-11, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010008, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 7, 2012-01-10, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010007, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 6, 2012-01-09, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010004, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 5, 2012-01-06, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010003, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 4, 2012-01-05, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010002, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 3, 2012-01-04, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010001, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 2, 2012-01-03, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:12010000, Standard Model (Review) - Lecture 1, 2012-01-02, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:11120083, What the Higgs is going on at the LHC?, 2011-12-13, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:11120084, What the Higgs is going on at the LHC?, 2011-12-13, 11/12 PSI - Standard Model (Review)
  • PIRSA:11090135, P.I. Chats: Faster-than-light neutrinos?, 2011-09-28, Black Hole Science Cafes
  • PIRSA:11090139, Smash, Bang, Boom: Fundamental Physics at the LHC, 2011-09-18, Perimeter Institute Public Lecture Series
  • PIRSA:11040035, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 11, 2011-04-22, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040037, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 13, 2011-04-22, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040036, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 12, 2011-04-22, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040038, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 14, 2011-04-22, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040032, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 10, 2011-04-21, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040031, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 9, 2011-04-20, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040030, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 8, 2011-04-19, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040029, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 7, 2011-04-18, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040028, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 6, 2011-04-15, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040025, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 5, 2011-04-08, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040024, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 4, 2011-04-07, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040023, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 3, 2011-04-06, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040022, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 2, 2011-04-05, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:11040021, Explorations in Particle Theory - Lecture 1, 2011-04-04, 10/11 PSI - Explorations In Particle Theory
  • PIRSA:10020033, Dark Matter: New Data and New Dynamics?, 2010-02-02, Cosmology & Gravitation
  • PIRSA:09120098, Building Massless Tree Amplitudes without a Lagrangian, 2009-12-02, Particle Physics