Physics potential of the LHC

The basic aim of physics studies at the LHC is to unravel the mechanism responsible for the spontaneous symmetry breaking in the Standard Model (SM). In the currently accepted theoretical picture, this translates into finding ‘direct’ experimental evidence for the Higgs sector. TeV scale supersymmetry (SUSY) provides a very attractive solution to the ‘naturalness’ problem that theories with elementary scalar fields have. Hence in this talk I will summarise the physics potential of the LHC for searching for Higgs and Supersymmetry as well as for measurement of the parameters of the Higgs sector and the SUSY model. Theories with localised gravity (and large extra dimensions) give a credible option to have Standard Model without the attendant ‘naturalness’ problems. I will therefore also summarise the potential of LHC to probe these ‘large’ extra dimensions.