Electron-Positron Collider Physics

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal requests support to continue the University of Michigan group's ongoing research program on the L3 experiment at the CERN LEP collider and to increase the research and development effort in preparation for a new high-energy electron-positron linear collider (LC). The L3 experiment is now taking LEP II data above the W+W- threshold, allowing precise measurement of W boson properties, most notably in mass and couplings, and allowing searches for new particles, especially the Higgs boson in both the Standard Model and supersymmetry. The group intends to continue to participate in L3 data taking through the end of LEP running (expected to be fall 2000) and intends to complete L3 analysis work in mid to late 2001. This group will concentrate on the search for the Higgs boson, exploring both Standard Model and supersymmetric signatures. One leading option for the next major accelerator in the world after the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) currently being built at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland is an electron-positron linear collider with a collision energy equal to or greater than 500 GeV. This would be a natural next step in lepton colliders after LEP II completion. This group has taken leadership roles in LC physics and detector studies since 1995 and plans to increase its efforts substantially in the coming years. In particular, they are focussed on R&D for an LC detector tracking system. Initial work is concentrated on determining the physics requirements of the Higgs search on tracker design. Later work will shift towards R&D on a tracker that meets these requirements