The effective theory of gravity coupled to matter represents a fully consistent low energy theory of quantum gravity coupled to the known particles and forces of the standard model. In recent years this framework has been extensively used to make physical predictions of phenomena in high energy physics and cosmology. In this thesis we use theoretical tools and experimental data to place constraints on various popular models which utilise this framework. We speciffically derive unitarity bounds in grand unified theories, models of low scale quantum gravity, models with extra dimensions and models of Higgs inflation. We also derive a bound on the size of the Higgs boson's non-minimal coupling to gravity. This represents an important area of research because it helps us to better understand the theories and models that many physicists are currently working on and crucially it can inform us where we can reliably use the effective theory approach and where it breaks down.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:589080 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Atkins, Michael |
| Publisher | University of Sussex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/47195/ |
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