“When the Higgs particle was discovered at CERN in July 2012, it was a scientific sensation. Since then, we have succeeded in further studying its properties – but it still poses many puzzles for us.

In my research, I use a new theoretical model to understand how Higgs particles are created from two gluons or decay back into them. The theoretical understanding of these and other processes in turn helps us to simulate and interpret corresponding experiments on large accelerators. The big question behind this: Does the Higgs particle behave as the standard model of particle physics predicts? Or does it show anomalies that indicate a previously unknown physics?

What sounds like a simple production or decay process is theoretically not easy to describe, as effects of the strong interaction play a role. In an intermediate step, “virtual quarks” are created, which only exist during the process but cannot be measured experimentally.

I use a novel approach based on an effective field theory: the so-called Soft Collinear Effective Theory. With the SCET I can decompose the process into individual components. These factors, in turn, can each be most easily calculated on a specific energy scale, with this scale varying from factor to factor. In the end, all factors are brought together again.

Although we know that there must be such a factorization theorem in our case, we do not know the individual components and it is precisely these that need to be found out. The SCET method is the first to allow sufficiently accurate analytical calculations. A highly topical research topic that has only really gained momentum in recent years due to its complexity. Being at the forefront here is incredibly exciting.”

Marvin Schnubel is a doctoral candidate in the work group of Prof. Dr. Matthias Neubert and holds a PhD-Fellowship of the Mainz Physics Academy. He is fascinated by the idea of theoretically understanding processes that are omnipresent around us.