The ATLAS and CMS collaborations at CERN recently discovered a new resonance, matching the features of the Higgs boson, the missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics. Yet, several fundamental issues remain unsolved: gravitational interactions are not unified with other forces, no valid candidates exist for dark matter, no explanation was found for the relative abundance of matter over anti-matter in the Universe. These open issues call for a more general theory, introducing new phenomena which might be visible during future measurements, which are among the main objectives of current and future particle colliders. Vector Boson Scattering at hadron colliders is the ideal testbench for such new processes, as the Standard Model predicts it to be highly suppressed through interference effects, and a variety of new physics scenarios may disturb this delicate balance. At the same time, these measurements are very challenging, because of the overwhelming backgrounds, the tiny effects investigated, and the required precision of theory predictions. Only a very coordinated and thorough effort involving all the stakeholders will allow to reach the best sensitivity from the data.
This COST Action will connect all main players studying Vector Boson Scattering at hadron colliders, gathering the solid and multidisciplinary community needed and aims to become the worldwide reference on Vector Boson Scattering, bringing together experimentalists, theorists, and statisticians. The capacity of the community will be maximised with a thorough inclusiveness campaign, targeting early career investigators, gender balance and maximal geographical openness.
particle physics - hadron colliders - electroweak symmetry breaking - beyond standard model - big data analysis
