Alexey Petrov

Professor of Physics, Wayne State University
My current interests include phenomenology of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), mainly in applications to the heavy quark systems and studies of CP violation. Please check out my CV for more complete information including my publications.

The aim of theoretical high energy physics is to seek and understand the universal laws of Nature. The major thrust of research pursued by our particle theory group is to understand the issues pertaining to the understanding of the structure of the fundamental electroweak Lagrangian at the smallest scales and development of the theoretical tools needed for "clean" interpretation of the experiments designed to answer such fundamental questions as the origins of mass and CP-violation.

Given the complicated dynamics of strong interactions, the interpretation of experimental observables in terms of fundamental parameters is often complicated, which makes the study of the strong interaction effects absolutely crucial. In this regard, the promise of heavy quark states is that these effects can be studied systematically by exploiting symmetries arising in the limit of infinite mass of the heavy quark. The existence of the large scale associated with the mass of the heavy quark also allows for development of efficient and controllable approximations leading to significant reduction of theoretical uncertainties. The underlying theme behind all aspects of my work is the application of quantum field theory to the problems of particle phenomenology. In recent years I worked on a variety of problems in the theory and phenomenology of the strong, electromagnetic, and weak interactions. A partial list of research topics includes studies of the properties of heavy hadrons, applications of effective field theories to problems in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), meson spectroscopy, and physics of CP-violation. I am also interested in applications of advanced analytical and numerical computational methods to studies of QCD.

These activities are supported by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation (CAREER award) and US Department of Energy.