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CHRISTOPHER KOLDA
Glynn Family Collegiate Professor
Theoretical
High-Energy Physics
Office:
322
Nieuwland Hall
Phone:
(574)
631-6823
Fax:
(574)
631-5952
Email:
ckolda@nd.edu
Biographical
Info:
B.A. (Physics
& Astronomy) Johns Hopkins
University, 1990
M.S.
(Physics)
University of Michigan, 1992
Ph.D.
(Physics)
University of Michigan, 1995
Institute
for
Advanced Study, Member, 1995-1998
University
of
California, Berkeley, Research Fellow, 1998-2000
University
of
Notre Dame, Assistant Professor, 2000-2004
Associate
Professor, 2004 – 2011
Professor,
2011 - present
University
Positions, Committees & Awards
Director, Glynn Family Honors Program, 2014 - present
Member, Notre Dame Academic Council, 2019 - present
Member, Faculty Steering Committee, Westville College-in-Prison Initiative, 2012 - present
Chair, Department of Physics, 2013 - 2017
Member, Department Chairs Advisory Group, 2013 - 2016; Chair, 2014 - 2016
Chair, Notre Dame ePortfolio Engagement Project (nDEEP) Steering Committee, 2011 – 2013
Advisory Board, Glynn Family Honors Program, 2008 – present
College of Science, College Council, 2009 - 2017
Associate Chair of Physics, 2012 – 2013
Provost Fellow, 2009 - 2011
Associate Chair of Physics & Director of
Undergraduate Studies, 2006 – 2009
Kaneb Faculty
Teaching Award, 2005
Thomas
P.
Madden Award, 2007
Kaneb
Faculty
Fellow, 2008-09
Shilts/Leonard
Award, College of Science, 2011
A more
complete (but usually out-dated) web version of my CV can be found here.
Research
Overview:
My research
centers on
fundamental questions in physics: What is mass? Why is there any matter
at all
in the universe? What sets the scales and details of the forces
observed in
nature? In that vein, I study ideas that go beyond the “Standard Model”
of
high-energy physics. My particular interests are in the physics of the Higgs
boson, a
hypothetical (but now found?) particle whose existence is required by the Standard Model
so that
all other particles can have masses. Closely related, I study supersymmetry, a proposed
symmetry of
nature which connects the fermions (matter) to the bosons (force
carriers) in a mathematical framework which is present in superstring/M-theories.
Thus the discovery of supersymmetry, or SUSY as it is known, would
radically
challenge our standard view that objects and the forces that act on
objects are
somehow distinct, and it would be our strongest evidence yet for the
existence
of a more fundamental string theory that unifies gravity and quantum
mechanics
in an 11-dimensional spacetime. The job of finding SUSY now lies with
the upgrade of the Large
Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, to be completed in early 2015.
I also work on
related
topics in cosmology, including the source of the dark matter and dark
energy in
the universe, the origins of inflation in the early universe, and the
effects
of extra space dimensions on early universe cosmology.
Teaching:
Physics 10310 -
General Physics I & Lab
Physics
10342
- Modern Physics: Quarks to Quasars
Physics
10411
- General Physics A: Mechanics (for majors)
Physics
20451
- Mathematical Methods for Physics I (for majors)
Physics
20452
- Mathematical Methods for Physics II (for majors)
Physics
23411
- Sophomore Seminar
Physics
40453
- Quantum Mechanics I
Physics
40454
- Quantum Mechanics II
Physics
50445
- Astrophysics
Physics
50472
- General Relativity
Physics
70003
- Mathematical Methods in Physics (graduate)
Physics
80003
- Quantum Field Theory I
Physics
80601
- Elementary Particle Physics I
ALHN
13951 - Moral Problems Seminar (Honors)
ALHN 43950
- Senior Honors Research Colloquium
Science
10101 - Cosmos, Earth & Genome
Selected
Publications:
Study of
Constrained Supersymmetry, G. Kane, C.
Kolda, L.
Roszkowski and J. Wells, Phys. Rev. D49, 6173 (1994).
Experimental
Consequences
of a Minimal Messenger Model, K.S. Babu, C.
Kolda, F. Wilczek, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 77,
3070 (1996).
Cosmology
of
One Extra Dimension with Localized Gravity, C. Csaki, M.
Graesser, C. Kolda and J.
Terning, Phys. Lett. B462, 34 (1999).
Higgs-mediated B0 ->
mu+mu- in Minimal
Supersymmetry,
K.S. Babu and C. Kolda, Phys. Rev.Lett. 84, 228 (2000).
A New Perspective on Cosmic Coincidence Problems, N.
Arkani-Hamed, L. Hall,
C. Kolda and H. Murayama, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 4434 (2000).
Higgs-mediated tau ->
3 mu
in the
supersymmetric
seesaw model,
K.S. Babu and C. Kolda . Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 241802 (2002).
A
complete listing of my papers can be found on InSpire.