Tao Han

  • Distinguished Professor of High Energy Physics
420B Allen Hall
(412) 624-2763

Research

My research field is in elementary particle physics theory, focusing on high-energy collider physics and in connection to astro-particle physics and cosmology. I formulate theoretical models of elementary particles and their interactions, and develop strategies to test the theory by experiments and observations. This research direction, bridging the abstract theory and experimental observation, is the field of Phenomenology.

The fundamental questions I have been contemplating on from theory, and seeking for an answer in experiments, include

  • The Higgs mechanism, electroweak symmetry breaking and mass generation
  • Fundamental forces and their unification
  • Symmetries and their breakdown: Gauge-, Super-symmetry, CP Violation etc.
  • Nature of particle Dark Matter
  • Neutrino mass generation
  • Property of Space-time

I have been involved in the studies of the Higgs boson and associated physics for many years. The final discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012 is a milestone and opens a window to physics beyond the Standard Model in the new frontiers. New facilities such as a "Higgs factory" and a 100-TeV hadron collider would be called for to understand Nature to a deeper level. The discovery of neutrino mass and oscillation has stimulated the theoretical development for further understanding of many fundamental aspects in particle physics. Experiments and observation in cosmology and astro-particle physics have deeply reached the regime to probe dark matter hypothesis associated with the weak scale new physics. Phenomenology is thus in a golden era and I am thrilled to play an active role in new discoveries associated with the above questions at the shortest distances of about 10-10 nm.

For further details of my research and some excititng results, please visit my personal web site here.

Selected Publications

Here is my publication List, with citation statistics (InSPIRE).

Teaching Experience 

At Pitt, I have taught Introductory Physics 1 (PHYS 0110) and Physics 2 (PHYS 0111) in the Fall and Spring. Samples of the previous syllabi can be found HERE.

I have also taught two graduate courses: (1). Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics 2 (PHYS 2566); (2). Special topics on "Collider Physics" (PHYS 3101, 3102). The syllabi for both of these offered classes can be found HERE.

Degree

PhD

Postdoctoral Affiliates

Joshua Berger

Graduate Advisor

Barmak Shams Es Haghi
Hongkai Liu
Yang Ma
Han Qin
Xing Wang
Sze Ching "Iris" Leung

Alumni Spotlight text

University of Wisconsin