Max Zoller, currently at the Physik-Institut of the University of Zurich (UZH), has been awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione grant with PSI as host institution. Together with a PhD
student he will join the particle theory group (NUM, Laboratory of Particle Physics (LTP)).
The research of Max Zoller focuses on the automation of perturbative higher-order calculations. Such calculations are required for precise predictions of signal and background processes at particle colliders which in turn are indispensable in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model. A few years ago, the so-called next-to-leading order (NLO) revolution took place that saw a transformation of NLO calculations from 'hand made' to fully automated. Being one of the revolutionaries in the past years, in his project Max Zoller will advance higher-order computations to the next level by tackling the automation of two-loop virtual corrections. They are a key ingredient for next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculations. For many processes NNLO predictions are required to fully exploit experimental results of the Large Hadron Collider and other facilities.
Max Zoller obtained his PhD from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2014. After a year as postdoc at KIT he joined the UZH in 2015 for a postdoctoral position. With the Ambizione grant he will now move to the PSI for four years, starting on 1. June 2019.