Prize Recipient

Savas Dimopoulos
Stanford University

Citation:

"For his creative ideas on dynamical symmetry breaking, supersymmetry, and extra spatial dimensions, which have shaped theoretical research on TeV-scale physics, thereby inspiring a wide range of experiments."

Background:

Savas Dimopoulos received his B.S. at the University of Houston and his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1978. He joined the faculty at Stanford in 1979 and has been spending most of his time searching for the theory of physics beyond the standard model.

In 1981 he proposed the supersymmetric standard model with Howard Georgi. This theory made a precise quantitative prediction, the unification of couplings, that has been experimentally confirmed in 1991 by experiments at CERN and SLAC. This established it as the leading theory for physics beyond the standard model. Its main prediction, the existence of supersymmetric particles, will be tested at the large hadron collider beginning in 2007.

He also proposed the possible existence of large new dimensions with Nima Arkani-Hamed and Gia Dvali in 1998. This links the weakness of gravity to the presence of sub-millimeter size dimensions, that are presently searched for in experiments looking for deviations from Newton's law at short distances. In this framework quantum gravity, string theory, and black holes may be experimentally investigated at the large hadron collider.

Most recently he put forward the theory of split supersymmetry with Nima Arkani-Hamed. This theory is motivated by the possible existence of an enormous number of ground states in the fundamental theory, as suggested by the cosmological constant problem and recent developments in string theory and cosmology. It can be tested at the large hadron collider and, if confirmed, it will lend support to the idea that our universe and its laws are not unique and that there is an enormous variety of universes each with its own distinct physical laws.

Selection Committee:

Andreas Kronfeld (Chair), Steve Sharpe (12/05), Ikaros Bigi ('04 winner)(12/05), Howie Haber (V. Chair)(12/06), Tom Appelquist (12/06)