Cosmic Connections: From Particles to Planet

In this talk I'll discuss how making very precise measurements of the parameters of the Standard Model of particle physics can tell us something about the known unknowns that underpin the evolution and fate of the universe. I'll give some details from a recent measurement that I was involved in: that of the magnetic interaction of a muon which is the most precise measurement ever made at a particle accelerator.

Whenever you dunk a biscuit into a cup of tea, ripples appear due to the force of gravity. Similarly, a mountain or a thunderstorm acts like the biscuit in the Earth's atmosphere displacing the air around them resulting in a phenomenon called 'gravity waves'. This talk rediscovers an often forgotten driver of the global atmospheric circulation; gravity waves pose a unique challenge in weather forecasting, can affect our modelling of climate change, and recently played a role in one of the most unexpected consequences of global warming we have seen so far, high up in the tropical stratosphere.

Our global space economy is booming with record numbers of satellites launched, yet this growth also has an increasing impact on our orbital environment through a growth in space debris. Can we grasp the economic opportunities this boom creates whilst also working in new sustainable ways? We’ll explore University of Manchester’s research into technologies to enable satellites to fly lower, the benefits of doing so, and how Very Low Earth Orbits represents a sustainable alternative to the status quo.