Hadron Collider Physics

California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Abstract

The grant proposal entitled Hadron Collider Physics supports the research activities of the Hughes group in the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory at Caltech. The program is directed at studies of electroweak physics and the strong interaction using primarily proton-proton colliding beams. The program has three specific directions. We are active in the first measurement of the polarized gluon distribution of the proton using the STAR detector at RHIC. The gluon spin contribution to the protons spin is expected to be large and positive. First substantive results on the gluon distribution determination from STAR should be released this year. Second, we have joined the ATLAS experiment at CERN. Our research will be focused on the search for new particles and new interactions. We are particularly interested in the first tests of SUSY and the potential modification of gravity at the TeV scale. Finally, we are initiating a long-term accelerator physics Research and Development effort to produce a polarized Helium-3 beam for the RHIC accelerator. This project is relevant to future studies of neutron spin structure at high energies and to a proposed future test of the Bjorken Sum Rule, a fundamental prediction from QCD, at eRHIC