Today's description of elementary particle interactions is based on the so-called Standard Model. The gauge sector of this model has been successfully tested at high energy colliders. Far less is known about its Higgs sector, responsible for the generation of the mass of all known elementary particles. The Standard Model predicts the existence of an elementary scalar particle, the Higgs boson, which remains unobserved. Moreover, there are strong reasons to believe that the Standard Model is only an effective theory whose validity should be restricted to energies below the TeV scale, to be explored by the LHC. In this talk, I will describe the status of the search for the Higgs boson and our expectations for searches of this particle within the Standard Model and beyond it. I will also discuss the possible incorporation of Dark Matter candidates in the ultraviolet completion of the Standard Model and the current status of the search for such particles. Finally, I will briefly describe a few experimental anomalies that, if they persist, may provide the first hints of physics beyond the Standard Model.

Argonne Physics Division Colloquium Schedule