Fedor Bezrukov
Curriculum Vitæ
August 2015
Nationality: Russian
Birthday: September 1, 1975
Martial status: Married
Address: University of Connecticut
2152 Hillside Road, U-3046
Storrs, CT 06269-3046, USA
Tel: +1 (860) 486 3259
Email: Fedor.Bezrukov@uconn.edu
WWW: http://www.phys.uconn.edu/~bezrukov/
Education
2003
PhD in theoretical physics (thesis “Tunnelling and Multiparticle Processes in Electroweak Theory and Field Theory Models”) in the Institute for Nuclear Research of
the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow, Russia.
Supervisors: Prof. V. Rubakov (INR), Prof. C. Rebbi (Boston University).
1998–2001 PhD student at the Physical faculty of Moscow State University, Russia
(supervisor Prof. V. Rubakov).
1998
Master of Science (diploma work: “Use of Singular Classical Solutions for Calculation
of Multiparticle Cross Sections in Field Theory”) in the Physics department of Moscow
State University, Russia.
Supervisor: Prof. V. Rubakov.
1992–1998 Student of the Physical faculty, Moscow State University, Russia. Graduated Summa
Cum Laude.
Languages
Russian (native), English (fluent), French (very good), German (basic), Polish (reading).
Professional experience
2012–now
Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, USA (position in partnership with RIKEN BNL Research Center).
2014
Paid Scientific Associate, Theory Division, CERN, Switzerland.
2013–2016 Adjunct Professor at MIPT, Dolgoprudny, Russia.
2010–2011 Research assistant at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Fakultät für Physik (chair of
Prof. G. Dvali), München, Germany.
2008–2010 Senior post-doc at Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Particle and astroparticle physics
division (director Prof. M. Lindner), Heidelberg, Germany.
2005–2008 Post-doc at the Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology (Prof. M. Shaposhnikov), Institut de théorie des phénomènes physiques, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de
Lausanne, Switzerland.
2003–2005 Scientific Researcher at the Theoretical department of Institute for Nuclear Research of
RAS, Moscow, Russia.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
2001–2003 Junior Scientific Researcher at the Theoretical department of Institute for Nuclear Research of RAS, Moscow, Russia.
2003, 2002, 2001 Short term fellowships, Physical faculty, Boston University (Prof. C. Rebbi), Boston,
USA.
Awards
2014
Support for Paid Scientific Associate from CERN, Switzerland.
2012, 2013 UCRF and UCONN (AAUP) Travel Awards ($1200)
2012
Academic Visitor support from EPFL, Switzerland (CHF 10000)
2012
Visitor support from CERN, Switzerland (CHF 4000)
2004–2005 INTAS Young Scientist Fellowship
2004–2005 Grant from Foundation of support of National science grant, Moscow, Russia
2003
Gold medal and Award for young scientists of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
Russia
1999
Isidor I. Rabi Scholarship, Erice, Italy
1996
Lomonosov scholarship for advanced students, Moscow, Russia
1996
Summer student in CERN (NOMAD experiment). Supervisor: S. Gnineko
1995
G. Soros student scholarship, Russia
1994
G. Soros student scholarship, Russia
1992
Gold medal in the International Physics Olympiad
Other professional activities
• Member of the preliminary graduate exams committee at Physics Department, University of
Connecticut
• Regular reviewer for Phys.Rev.D, Phys.Rev.Lett., Phys.Lett.B, JCAP, JHEP
• Served as an external referee for ETIS (Estonian Research Information System) grant in 2013,
and for the FNS (Belgium) grant in 2014 and 2015.
• Conferences organized
– SNAC’06, Sterile neutrinos in astrophysics and cosmology, Crans Montana, Switzerland
– QUARKS’98, 10th International Seminar on High Energy Physics, Suzdal, Russia
Outreach activities
• Interviewed for New Scientist article “Did the Higgs boson puff up the universe?”, 19 January
2008.
• Lecture for US school science teachers on the modern state of particle physics and cosmology,
University of Connecticut, 2013.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
• Lectures on modern cosmology within the Russian Language Teacher programme organized in
CERN, 2014 and 2015.
• Article “http://www.riken.jp/en/research/rikenresearch/highlights/7831/” in RIKEN Research
Highlights, 2014 (followed up by many physics news sites).
• Leading “physics circles” organised by Moscow State University (physics lessons for gifted
school students interested in physical sciences)
• Participation in physics Olympiad movement in Russia by taking part in organisation of Moscow
physics Olympiads and in training Moscow team of high school students for the Russian
physics Olympiad.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
Teaching experience
Courses
2015
Lecture undergraduate course for Physics for Engineers I, University of Connecticut
(sections for 130 and 120 students)
2012, 2013 Lecture graduate course of Statistical Mechanics, University of Connecticut, USA (classes
of 15 students)
2013
Reading course* on gauge theory, University of Connecticut, USA
2007–2008 Reading course* on cosmology (for 4th grade students),
EPFL, Switzerland
2005–2006 Reading course* on gauge theory,
(for 4th year students), EPFL, Switzerland
2005–2006 Seminars for the course “Quantum field theory”,
(for 4th year students), EPFL, Switzerland
2003–2005 Lecture course on “Supersymmetric Models in Particle Physics”,
(for 4th year students), Moscow State University, Russia
2002–2003 Course on “Classical Gauge Theories”,
(for 3rd and 4th year students), Moscow State University, Russia
2003
Teacher of introductory general physics for high school students in the Moscow physicsmathematical school No. 2 (for children interested in natural sciences), Moscow, Russia
Student supervision
2010
Co-supervisor of the master thesis of F. Kahlhoefer, University of Heidelberg, Germany
2009
Co-supervisor of the master thesis of H. Hettmansperger on the topic of “New physics
models with keV scale right-handed neutrinos”, University of Heidelberg, Germany
2008
Co-supervisor of the master thesis of A. Magnin on the topic of “Bounds on the Higgs
boson mass from inflation”, EPFL, Switzerland
2006–2007 Supervisor of the master thesis of R. Chicheportiche on the topic of “Constraining the
Transverse Muon Polarization in K + → γ µ + ν in the Framework of a General Two
Higgs Doublet Model”, EPFL, Switzerland
* The
independent study in theoretical physics, which lasts one academic year, and refers to a subject which goes beyond
the regular lectures. The student is expected to understand specialized textbooks and research papers on a particular
topic, solve problems, and reproduce original calculations.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
Teaching strategy and philosophy statement
Courses taught. I have extensive teaching experience at all levels. At graduate level I led lecture
courses at Moscow State University (MSU) and University of Connecticut. One of them, the course
on Supersymmetric theories of particle physics at MSU, was a brand new lecture course. At École
politechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and at University of Connecticut I led reading courses
on gauge theory, cosmology, and quantum field theory. The reading course is a course for a small
group of three to four students, where the students were given a set of references (books and original
articles) and assigned specific topics, for which they had to prepare presentations. The presentations
were given by the student, and the role of the teacher was to lead the discussion in the class.
At undergraduate level I supervised example classes at EPFL. Currently, I am giving the lectures on
Physics for Engineers at the University of Connecticut.
I would also like to mention my experience with high school students in Moscow, where I was teaching the introductory physics class for one year, and also leading beyond-school-physics classes organised by MSU for gifted high school students for several years.
Teaching techniques. During the current fall I am teaching the undergraduate introductory
physics course for engineering students, using the modern advanced teaching techniques like inverted classroom, prelectures, motivation of class participation in discussion by clicker questions. In
addition I am using traditional techniques of delivering lecture and example classes at graduate level,
which works excellently for small groups of senior students.
According to recent feedback received from student evaluation of teaching, students find my courses
highly inspirational and insightful.
Teaching philosophy. My general attitude towards giving courses is that the aim of the university
education is to provide both basic knowledge and transferable skills for developing a logical and
structured approach to problem solving. For the course itself it means that it should be structured to
contain the description of the subject starting from the basic fundamental concepts, but at the same
time it should use the modern approaches in the field. Another important element of student training
is to encourage students in active learning and solve problems by themselves. In this process the
students gain a hands on knowledge of the subject, and get exposed to subtle points in calculations
that are hard (and not very effective) to learn during the lectures. The ideal approach would be to
have example classes where students solve problems at the blackboard, possibly with some degree
of preparation. I believe that this kind of training not only allows the students to effectively learn
the course material, but also allows them to apply the mathematical methods and structured approach
to general problem solving, thus preparing them for a successful career both within and outside of
academia.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
Research
My research covers a diverse area of theoretical physics topics. In particular, the main themes of my
research are
• inflationary cosmology
• dark matter
• neutrino physics
• semiclassical analysis of non perturbative processes in field theory
• phenomenology of rare meson decays
• scintillation description for the Dark Matter searches
Currently I have written 50 papers in journals, conference proceedings, electronic arxiv (out of them
1 with more than 600 citations and 5 with more than 100 citations). I am the author of the pioneering
article on “The Standard Model Higgs boson as the inflaton”, which is also the most cited theoretical
paper in Phys.Lett.B since 2007.
Researcher unique identifier(s):
Inspire BAI F.L.Bezrukov.1
ORCID
orcid.org/0000-0003-3601-1003
SCOPUS
Scopus ID 6602331611
Citation statistics (based on Inspire data)
Citeable (arXiv) papers
Number of papers:
50
Number of citations:
2688
Citations per paper (average):
53.8
h index:
22
Renowned papers (500+ citations)
1
Famous papers (250-499 citations)
1
Very well-known papers (100-249 citations) 5
Well-known papers (50-99 citations)
2
Other papers (< 50 citations)
36
Published only
36
2260
62.8
21
1
0
5
2
28
Talks and presentations
I was invited to give scientific seminars in many research institutions, including CERN, APS Paris,
DAMTP University of Cambridge, University of Delaware, University of Minnesota, University of
Pennsylvania, University of Southern Denmark.
Plenary talks
2015 EPS-HEP 2015 conference, invited presentation on joint ECFA/EPS session, July 22–29,
2015, Vienna, Austria
2015 IoP Particle, Astroparticle, and Nuclear physics group meeting, March 30–April 2, 2015,
Manchester, UK
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
2014 The 4th KIAS Workshop on Particle Physics and Cosmology, October 27–31, 2014 Seoul,
South Korea
2014 Cosmological Frontiers in Fundamental Physics, June 10–13, 2014, APC, Paris, France
2014 Cosmology Moriond meeting, March 22-29, 2014, La Thuile, Italy
2013 From Majorana to LHC 2013, October 2–5, 2013, Trieste, Italy
2013 PPC2013, July 8–13th, 2013, Deadwood SD, USA
2013 Theory Meeting Experiment 2013, June 10–12, 2103, Warsaw, Poland
2011 Scalars 2011, August 26–29, 2011, Warsaw, Poland
2011 PPC 2011, International Workshop in the Interconnection between Particle Physics and Cosmology, June 14–18, 2011, CERN, Switzerland
Invited lectures
2014 Lectures on inflation on the Graduate School “From Classical to Quantum GR: Applications
to cosmology”, April 23-25, 2014, University of Sussex, UK
2014 Lectures on particle physics and cosmology on the “Introduction to Accelerator and High
Energy Physics” CERN-CNIR-JINR course for Russian students, September 2014
2014 Lectures on inflation for Ukrainian graduate students at CERN, September 2014
Selected talks
2015 PLANCK 2015, 25–29 May 2015, Ioannina, Greece.
2015 Phenomenology 2015 Symposium, 2–6 May 2015, Pittsburgh, USA
2014 SUSY-2014, 21-26 July 2014, Manchester, England
2014 Progress on Old and New Themes in cosmology (PONT) 2014, April 14–18, Avignon, France.
2013 EPS-HEP 2013, July 18–24, 2013, Stockholm, Sweden
2013 Exploring the Physics of Inflation, June 24–27, 2103, Santander, Spain.
2013 BNL Forum 2013, May 1–3, 2013, BNL, USA.
2012 LCWS-2012, The Workshop of Future Linear Colliders, October 21–26, 2012, Arlington TX,
USA.
2012 QUARKS-2012, 17th International Seminar on High Energy Physics, June 4–10, 2012, Yaroslavl,
Russia.
2012 Ginzburg Conference on Physics, May 28–June 2, Moscow, Russia
2011 BLV 2011, Workshop on Baryon & Lepton Number Violation, September 22–24, 2011,
Gatlinburg TN, USA.
2011 COSMO 11, August 22–26, 2011, Porto, Portugal.
2011 Progress on Old and New Themes in cosmology (PONT) 2011, April 18–22, 2011, Avignon,
France.
2010 IDM 2010, July 26–30, 2010, Montpelier, France.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
2010 Planck 2010, May 31–June 04, 2010, CERN, Switzerland.
2010 74. Jahrestagung der DPG, March 15–19, 2010, Bonn, Germany.
2009 COSMO 09, September 7–11, 2009, CERN, Switzerland.
2009 Invisible Universe International Conference, UNESCO, June 29–July 3, 2009, Paris, France.
2008 New Instruments for Neutrino Relics and Mass, December, 2008, CERN, Switzerland.
2008 QUARKS-2008, 15th International Seminar on High Energy Physics, May, 2008, Sergiev
Posad, Russia.
2008 Progress on Old and New Themes in cosmology (PONT) 2008, May, 2008, Avignon, France.
2008 XLIIIrd Rencontres de MORIOND, Electroweak Session, March, 2008, La Thuile, Italy.
2007 HEP 2007, The 2007 Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, July 19–25, 2007,
Manchester, England.
2007 XIV-th International School “Particles and Cosmology”, April, 2007, Baksan Valley, Russia.
2007 NUMMI’07, Neutrino Mass Measurements and their Implications, ENTApP meeting, January, 2007, Durham, U.K.
2006 QUARKS-2006, 14th International Seminar on High Energy Physics, Maym 2006, St. Petersburg, Russia.
2006 SNAC-06, Workshop on Sterile Neutrinos in Astrophysics and Cosmology, March, 2006,
Crans Montana, Switzerland.
2006 XLI-th Rencontres de Moriond, Electroweak interactions and Unified theories, March, 2006,
La Thuile, Italy.
2005 NANP-05, Non-Accelerator New Physics, June, 2005, Dubna, Russia.
2005 XIII-th International School “Particles and Cosmology”, April, 2005, Baksan Valley, Russia
2004 Autumn School and Workshop “Modern Problems of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics”,
September, 2004, Tbilisi, Georgia.
2004 QUARKS-2004, 13th International Seminar on High Energy Physics, May, 2004, Pushkinskie
Gory, Russia.
2003 XII-th International School “Particles and Cosmology”, April, 2005, Baksan Valley, Russia.
2002 QUARKS-2002, 12th International Seminar on High Energy Physics, June, 2002, Novgorod,
Russia.
2002 37th Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, March, 2002,
Les Arcs, France.
2001 11th International School “Particles and Cosmology”, April, 2001, Karbardino-Balkaria, Russia.
1999 37th International School on Subnuclear Physics, September, 1999, Erice, Italy.
1996 QUARKS-96, 9th International Seminar On High-Energy Physics: Quarks 96, May 5–11,
1996, Yaroslavl, Russia.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
Publications
Submitted papers
1. S. Alekhin et al. A facility to Search for Hidden Particles at the CERN SPS: the SHiP physics case (2015).
arXiv:1504.04855 [hep-ph].
2. F. Bezrukov, D. Levkov, and S. Sibiryakov. Semiclassical S-matrix for black holes (2015). arXiv:1503.07181
[hep-th].
3. F. Bezrukov, J. Rubio, and M. Shaposhnikov. Living beyond the edge: Higgs inflation and vacuum
metastability (2014). arXiv:1412.3811 [hep-ph].
Reviews
1. F. Bezrukov. The Higgs field as an inflaton. Class. Quantum Grav. 30 (2013), 214001. arXiv:1307.0708
[hep-ph].
2. K. Abazajian, M. Acero, S. Agarwalla, A. Aguilar-Arevalo, C. Albright, et al. Light Sterile Neutrinos: A
White Paper (2012). arXiv:1204.5379 [hep-ph].
Papers in peer-reviewed journals
1. F. Bezrukov and M. Shaposhnikov. Why should we care about the top quark Yukawa coupling? JETP 147
(2015), 3. arXiv:1411.1923 [hep-ph].
2. F. Bezrukov and D. Gorbunov. Relic Gravity Waves and 7 keV Dark Matter from a GeV scale inflaton.
Phys.Lett. B736 (2014), 494–498. arXiv:1403.4638 [hep-ph].
3. F. Bezrukov and D. Gorbunov. Light inflaton after LHC8 and WMAP9 results. JHEP 1307 (2013), 140.
arXiv:1303.4395 [hep-ph].
4. F. Bezrukov, A. Kartavtsev, and M. Lindner. Leptogenesis in models with keV sterile neutrino dark matter.
J.Phys. G40 (2013), 095202. arXiv:1204.5477 [hep-ph].
5. F. Bezrukov, G. K. Karananas, J. Rubio, and M. Shaposhnikov. Higgs-Dilaton Cosmology: an effective
field theory approach. Phys.Rev. D87 (2013), 096001. arXiv:1212.4148 [hep-ph].
6. L. Alberte and F. Bezrukov. Semiclassical Calculation of Multiparticle Scattering Cross Sections in Classicalizing Theories. Phys.Rev. D86 (2012), 105008. arXiv:1206.5311 [hep-th].
7. F. Bezrukov, P. Channuie, J. J. Joergensen, and F. Sannino. Composite Inflation Setup and Glueball Inflation. Phys.Rev. D86 (2012), 063513. arXiv:1112.4054 [hep-ph].
8. F. Bezrukov and D. Gorbunov. Distinguishing between R2 -inflation and Higgs-inflation. Phys.Lett. B713
(2012), 365–368. arXiv:1111.4397 [hep-ph].
9. F. Bezrukov, M. Y. Kalmykov, B. A. Kniehl, and M. Shaposhnikov. Higgs Boson Mass and New Physics.
JHEP 1210 (2012), 140. arXiv:1205.2893 [hep-ph].
10. F. Bezrukov and H. M. Lee. Model dependence of the bremsstrahlung effects from the superluminal
neutrino at OPERA. Phys.Rev. D85 (2012), 031901. arXiv:1112.1299 [hep-ph].
11. F. Bezrukov, D. Gorbunov, and M. Shaposhnikov. Late and early time phenomenology of Higgs-dependent
cutoff. JCAP 1110 (2011), 001. arXiv:1106.5019 [hep-ph].
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
12. F. Bezrukov, A. Magnin, M. Shaposhnikov, and S. Sibiryakov. Higgs inflation: consistency and generalisations. JHEP 1101 (2011), 016. arXiv:1008.5157 [hep-ph].
13. F. Bezrukov, F. Kahlhoefer, and M. Lindner. Interplay between scintillation and ionization in liquid xenon
Dark Matter searches. Astropart.Phys. 35 (2011), 119–127. arXiv:1011.3990 [astro-ph.IM].
14. F. Bezrukov and D. Gorbunov. Light inflaton Hunter’s Guide. JHEP 05 (2010), 010. arXiv:0912.0390
[hep-ph].
15. F. Bezrukov, H. Hettmansperger, and M. Lindner. keV sterile neutrino dark matter in gauge extensions of
the standard model. Phys. Rev. D81 (2010), 085032. arXiv:0912.4415 [hep-ph].
16. A. Anisimov, Y. Bartocci, and F. Bezrukov. Inflaton mass in the νMSM inflation. Phys. Lett. B671 (2009),
211–215. arXiv:0809.1097 [hep-ph].
17. F. L. Bezrukov and Y. Burnier. Towards a solution of the strong CP problem by compact extra dimensions.
Phys. Rev. D80 (2009), 125004. arXiv:0811.1163 [hep-th].
18. F. Bezrukov, D. Gorbunov, and M. Shaposhnikov. On initial conditions for the Hot Big Bang. JCAP 0906
(2009), 029. arXiv:0812.3622 [hep-ph].
19. F. Bezrukov and M. Shaposhnikov. Standard Model Higgs boson mass from inflation: two loop analysis.
JHEP 07 (2009), 089. arXiv:0904.1537 [hep-ph].
20. F. Bezrukov, A. Magnin, and M. Shaposhnikov. Standard Model Higgs boson mass from inflation. Phys.
Lett. B675 (2009), 88–92. arXiv:0812.4950 [hep-ph].
21. F. Bezrukov and M. Shaposhnikov. The Standard Model Higgs boson as the inflaton. Phys. Lett. B659
(2008), 703–706. arXiv:0710.3755 [hep-th].
22. F. Bezrukov and M. Shaposhnikov. Searching for dark matter sterile neutrino in laboratory. Phys. Rev.
D75 (2007), 053005. arXiv:hep-ph/0611352.
23. F. Bezrukov, Y. Burnier, and M. Shaposhnikov. Can an odd number of fermions be created due to chiral
anomaly? Phys. Rev. D73 (2006), 045008. arXiv:hep-th/0512143.
24. F. Bezrukov. νMSM predictions for neutrinoless double beta decay. Phys. Rev. D72 (2005), 071303.
arXiv:hep-ph/0505247.
25. F. Bezrukov and D. Levkov. Dynamical tunneling of bound systems through a potential barrier: complex
way to the top. J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 98 (2004), 820–836. arXiv:quant-ph/0312144.
26. F. Bezrukov and D. Levkov. Theta-instantons in SU(2) Higgs theory. Theor. Math. Phys. 138 (2004),
397–406. arXiv:hep-th/0303136.
27. F. Bezrukov, D. S. Gorbunov, and Y. G. Kudenko. Pinning down the kaon form factors in K + → µ + νµ γ
decay. Phys. Rev. D67 (2003), 091503. arXiv:hep-ph/0302106.
28. F. Bezrukov, D. S. Gorbunov, and Y. G. Kudenko. Transverse muon polarization in K + → µ + νµ γ: Scanning over the Dalitz plot. Eur. Phys. J. C30 (2003), 487–496. arXiv:hep-ph/0304146.
29. F. Bezrukov, D. Levkov, C. Rebbi, V. A. Rubakov, and P. Tinyakov. Semiclassical study of baryon and
lepton number violation in high-energy electroweak collisions. Phys. Rev. D68 (2003), 036005. arXiv:hepph/0304180.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
30. F. Bezrukov, D. Levkov, C. Rebbi, V. A. Rubakov, and P. Tinyakov. Suppression of baryon number violation in electroweak collisions: Numerical results. Phys. Lett. B574 (2003), 75–81. arXiv:hep-ph/0305300.
31. F. Bezrukov and D. S. Gorbunov. T-odd correlations in π → eνe γ and π → µνµ γ decays. Phys. Rev. D66
(2002), 054012. arXiv:hep-ph/0205158.
32. F. Bezrukov. Using singular classical solutions for calculating multiparticle cross sections in field theory.
Theor. Math. Phys. 115 (1998), 647–657. arXiv:hep-ph/9901270.
33. F. Bezrukov, M. V. Libanov, and S. V. Troitsky. Singular classical solutions and tree multiparticle crosssections. Surveys High Energ. Phys. 10 (1997), 395–403.
34. F. Bezrukov, M. V. Libanov, and S. V. Troitsky. O(4) symmetric singular solutions and multiparticle crosssections in φ 4 theory at tree level. Mod. Phys. Lett. A10 (1995), 2135–2141. arXiv:hep-ph/9508220.
Papers in conference proceedings
1. F. Bezrukov. The Planck and LHC results and particle physics. In: EPS-HEP 2013. arXiv:1312.4100
[hep-ph].
2. G. Moortgat-Pick, I. Fleck, S. Riemann, F. Simon, O. Adeyemi, et al. Helmholtz Aliance Linear Collider
Forum. Ed. by G. Moortgat-Pick (2013).
3. F. Bezrukov. Inflation in the standard model and νMSM with non-minimal coupling to gravity. In: Invisible Universe International Conference: Toward a new cosmological paradigm, Paris, France, 29 Jun - 3
Jul 2009. Vol. 1241. pp.511–520. DOI: 10.1063/1.3462679.
4. F. Bezrukov. νMSM and its experimental tests. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 110 (2008). Proceedings of International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS-HEP2007), Manchester, England, 19-25 Jul
2007, 082002. arXiv:0710.2501 [hep-ph].
5. F. Bezrukov. Non-minimal coupling in inflation and inflating with the Higgs boson. In: Proceedings of
15th International Seminar on High Energy Physics: Quarks - 2008, Sergiev Posad, Russia, 23-29 May
2008. arXiv:0810.3165 [hep-ph].
6. F. Bezrukov. The Standard model Higgs as the inflaton. In: Proceedings of 43rd Rencontres de Moriond on
Electrowek Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Italy, 1-8 Mar 2008. arXiv:0805.2236 [hep-ph].
7. F. Bezrukov and D. S. Gorbunov. T-odd correlations in π → eνe γ decay. In: Proceedings of 37th Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, Les Arcs, France, 9-16 Mar 2002.
arXiv:hep-ph/0205338.
8. F. Bezrukov, C. Rebbi, V. A. Rubakov, and P. Tinyakov. Instanton-like processes in particle collisions: A
numerical study of the SU(2)-Higgs theory below the sphaleron energy. In: Proceedings of XI-th International School “Particles and Cosmology”, Baksan, Russia, 2001. arXiv:hep-ph/0110109.
9. F. Bezrukov, M. V. Libanov, D. T. Son, and S. V. Troitsky. Singular classical solutions and tree multiparticle cross sections in scalar theories. In: Proceedings of Xth Int. Workshop on high energy physics and
quantum field theory, Zvenigorod, 1995. arXiv:hep-ph/9512342.
Papers in arXiv
1. F. Bezrukov and D. Levkov. Transmission through a potential barrier in quantum mechanics of multiple
degrees of freedom: complex way to the top (2003). arXiv:quant-ph/0301022.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
Research statement
General overview and state of the art
Current models of particle physics and cosmology do an excellent job in explanation of the known
experimental observations both in the laboratory and in the astrophysics. All this knowledge culminates in the Standard Model of particle physics. However there are well confirmed experimental facts
which it can not explain. The complete list of such phenomena is: the origin of the neutrino masses,
dark matter (which makes most of the gravitating matter in the Universe), baryon asymmetry of the
Universe (the Universe is composed of matter and not of equal amounts of matter and antimatter),
inflationary (accelerated) expansion of the early Universe at the beginning of the Big Bang, and dark
energy (or accelerated expansion of the Universe at present). Most of the mysteries listed originate
from cosmology.
At present the principal task for theoretical particle physics is to find a fundamental model of nature
explaining the complete history of the Universe. Ultimately, a full theory of particle physics should
explain all yet unexplained experimental facts and provide predictions that can be tested experimentally in present and future laboratory and space based experiments (such as LHC and Planck). The
current proposal is aimed at developing such theories in a way that also provides connections between
the observations at highest experimentally achievable energies, effects at the distances comparable to
the size of the observable Universe, and processes that happened immediately after the initial Big
Bang.
The main idea of this proposal is to extend the Standard Model in a minimal way, so that the same new
physics would be responsible for several currently unexplained experimental facts. In these models
the additional freedom, compared to the well explored Standard Model, is small and no new physical mechanisms are introduced at energy scales between the electroweak scale (studied by present
particle physics experiments) and inflationary scale (governing the very early Universe). This leads
to the possibility to make connections between the cosmological observations and particle physics
experiments. The result of the current proposal will provide, at least, an intriguing possibility to
study or exclude models by combined use of results from collider experiments and astrophysical and
cosmological observations. At most, it will allow to pinpoint some of the properties of the theories at
highest energies, maybe even quantum gravity, which is the long standing mystery of the theoretical
physics. It is worthwhile to mention that the proposed models are being tested now by the current and
planned near future experiments, like BICEP2, PLANCK, LHCb, Higgs searches on LHC, top quark
mass measurements by LHC and Tevatron, X-ray observations of the sky by CHANDRA and XMM.
Specific directions of the proposed research are analysis of the inflation of the early Universe by the
Higgs boson; analysis of inflationary properties of models with several scalar fields and/or higher
order terms in gravitational action and connection with particle physics physics; study of possible
mechanisms of generation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe in such models; analysis of
the role of sterile neutrinos for minimal extensions of the Standard Model and for explanation of
the Dark Matter (DM). Not only the theoretical details of the models will be studied, but also their
implications for laboratory experiments (such as rare meson decays) and cosmological observations
will be analysed. Results of the study will help to specify the future promising directions for the
future collider and cosmological experiments.
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
Background
In my seminal article with M. Shaposhnikov in 2007, I discovered a very economic realization of
inflation in the SM with modified gravitational coupling of the Higgs boson [Phys. Lett. B659 (2008)
703], which is now widely known in physics community as Higgs Inflation. With more than 600
citations, this work is the most cited theoretical paper in Physics Letters B since 2007. I have further
developed this minimal scenario by studying the properties of Higgs inflation, deriving bounds on
the Higgs boson mass, and developing an approach to analysing quantum effects in the theory. These
developments lay a solid foundation for the research proposed in this project.
In addition I have been working on other minimal extensions of the SM, such as extensions with
scalars to provide inflation, and sterile neutrino DM. I also have experience in numerical simulations which were used to study processes with baryon number violation in the SM associated with
instanton-like transitions.
Research Plan
The proposed research can be roughly categorized into cosmological and particle physics tasks:
• Cosmological applications
– Inflationary model properties: Higgs Inflation, additional scalars, R2 and related models
– Dark Matter models: additional scalars, sterile neutrinos
• Particle physics consequences
– Rare decay phenomenology
– Implications for Higgs and top quark mass measurements
Inflationary models. The first part of the proposal concerns minimal inflationary models. Probably the most well known example is Higgs inflation, where no new fields are added to the SM, and
only the interaction of the Higgs boson with gravity is modified.
The recent exciting detection of the B-mode of the polarization of the CMB by BICEP2 (if it stays after the combined PLANCK and BICEP2 analysis) makes analysis of inflationary models very timely,
providing possible evidence of the quantum behaviour at the generation of the initial perturbations at
inflation and setting its energy scale.
One of the main theoretical directions of this part of the proposal is the analysis of the problems
of consistency and completeness, and the predictive power, of non-minimally coupled inflationary
models. A problem that we pointed out at the very start of the study of Higgs inflation is that the nonminimal coupling with large coefficient, which is the key ingredient allowing the model to sustain
viable inflation, makes the theory non renormalizable. The most conservative view is that such a
model cannot be trusted, unless the full underlying UV-complete theory is provided. One can still
make useful predictions in Higgs inflation, if instead of the full UV-complete model one specifies
only some set of properties (or symmetries) that are satisfied by this unknown UV-completion. In
the current project I will continue the analysis of this approach, using an effective field theory with
momentum cut-off depending on the field background. The rigorous development of this approach
is vital for a wide class of inflationary models. Here I will lead the international investigations to
provide a solution to an important unresolved problem of the calculation of the quantum corrections
from the Goldstone modes in the non-minimally coupled model of inflation, including analysis of the
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
relation between these corrections calculated in different parametrizations. This approach does not
give a definite UV-complete theory, but allows an understanding of the properties that are required
of such a theory. Another method will be to construct potential UV-complete theories and study the
non-minimal inflation embedded into them. An interesting model for such study is scale invariant R2
gravity.
The analysis of the renormalization properties of Higgs inflation provides important consequences
for phenomenological study. The recent indications by BICEP2 in favour of large gravity waves
from inflation are possible to accommodate in Higgs inflation only by taking into account quantum
corrections. I will undertake further study of the related effects in various regimes of Higgs inflation.
This type of analysis is also crucial to understand the possibility of realizing Higgs inflation in case
the SM electroweak vacuum is metastable.
I will also study an alternative inflationary model with a light scalar inflaton, which provides a very
direct link between cosmology and particle physics. In this model the properties of the inflaton field
are fixed by cosmological considerations (amount of gravity waves produced at inflation and proper
reheating behaviour), and lead to the constraints on the mass and properties of the corresponding
particle, which can be discovered in the study of rare meson decays in the lab.
One more inflationary model falling in the class of the minimal models is R2 inflation. It provides
inflation without modification of the matter action. The cosmological predictions are very similar to
those of Higgs inflation, but with a notably smaller reheating temperature. The non-linear structure
growth this predicts in the matter dominated phase after inflation, but before reheating, may lead to
generation of potentially observable gravitational waves. This can distinguish between inflationary
models, and is an extremely interesting process on its own. Here I will perform a proper numerical
analysis of the structure formation at this stage.
Dark Matter models. The minimal models described above should incorporate DM. The simplest
options are a fermion singlet under the SM gauge group (sterile neutrino in the context of νMSM), or
an extra singlet scalar (Higgs portal scalar DM). Both models provide non-trivial relations between
particle physics and cosmology. Currently there is an ongoing debate in the X-ray astrophysics community about the possible signal from the decays of 7 keV sterile neutrino DM. In the context of the
minimal models, I will study the possible production mechanisms of sterile neutrino DM, and analyse
the constraints on its mass depending on its production mechanism. As an example, the properties of
the inflaton particle in the model with the light non-minimally coupled scalar inflaton are fixed if its
decays lead to sterile neutrino DM production.
The singlet scalar DM model provides a standard thermally produced CDM candidate. It is bounded
currently by the combination of direct DM searches and collider data on invisible Higgs boson decays. I will study the interplay between the properties of the singlet scalar DM and its role for the
stabilization of the electroweak vacuum for lower Higgs boson masses.
Links to particle physics. There are several connections with particle physics for the minimal
models described in this proposal, which I will explore. Being nearly the SM up to the inflationary
energy scales, these models are sensitive to the stability of the SM vacuum. Further analysis of
this relation is planned, as so far several effects are not understood, such as quantum corrections for
Higgs inflation at the inflationary scale, the definition of the subtraction procedure at the electroweak
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Curriculum Vitæ: Fedor Bezrukov
scale and the definition of the effective potential. I will also work on the non-trivial extraction from
experimental data of the quantities needed to analyse the stability of the EW vacuum.
Another promising way to constrain the minimal models is through their effect on rare decays. The
light inflaton particle and sterile neutrinos in the described models have specific signatures in Bmeson decay experiments (LHCb), and in future proposed experiments for the search of hidden particles (the SHIP initiative at CERN). I will specify the relevant signatures for existing experiments and
analyse the sensitivity of future experiments for the search for the new particles in these models.
Summary
Developing minimal models of cosmology and understanding their consequences for dark matter,
inflation and collider searches are among the most important tasks in current physics. I am uniquely
equipped to make progress in these areas with my track record in field theory, particle physics and
cosmology and development of Higgs inflation and other non-minimally coupled models of inflation.
Although it is difficult to make a detailed time plan in such an innovative area, my main focus in
the first two years will be the analysis of the radiative corrections to Higgs inflation and similar
inflationary models, and further study of the signatures of the minimal models in B-meson decay
experiments. Alongside that I will continue the study of gravitational wave production at reheating
after inflation. Based on the outcome of these investigations I will select the models most worthy of
deeper study in the subsequent years and continue to work closely with experimenters on extracting
specific signatures of them (in particular for the SHIP experiment at CERN). It will be important to
monitor the experimental and observational data as they come in and be ready to confront the models
with them.
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