CAREER: Top-Quark Physics, Computing and Software at the Large Hadron Collider

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal is for the study of top quark physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN using the CMS detector. This quark, based on data from the Tevatron at Fermilab, behaves in a manner consistent with the Standard Modelof Particle Physics. Due to the modest energy and luminosity of the Tevatron, however, the number of top quarks that can be studied is small and the tests to date are not very stringent. Early in its operation, the LHC will produce top quarks at 100 times the Tevatron's rate and eventually at one thousand times the Tevatron's rate. The precise measurements enabled by these data rates could reveal new physics or result in a precise validation of the Standard Model for this unusually heavy object. The PI has mapped out a strategy for developing tools that are required to study the top quark at CMS, for using them in the initial effort to understand and calibrate the CMS detector, and for executing a program of physics which includes measurement of the top quark mass, CKM couplings (single top), spin of the top quark, and search for t-tbar-Higgs and rare decays. A technical thrust of the proposal is to lead an effort to establish a Tier-2 computing center for US CMS. The CMS Tier-2 centers will carry out a significant part of the overall computing task and will be crucial to the physics analysis. The PI is the member of the project execution team for US CMS computing and is in charge of the Tier-2 center implementation. The third component is an education and outreach program directed at encouraging young people in rural communities in Nebraska to embark on careers in science. A thoughtful analysis went into the creation of this proposed activity and the idea that there should be benchmarks to evaluate the effectiveness of the program is significant.