Studies in Elementary Particle Physics

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

This is a proposed program of studies that may eventually give new insight into the origin of the matter dominance of the universe and is likely to contribute to our understanding of the origin of mass. The impact of the proposed research program reaches a broad scope within elementary particle physics. The proposed work on active pixel detector technology has application to instrumentation used at synchrotron light sources to study materials and biological systems. The proposed work on distributed databases has strong overlap with work being done by Johnd Hopkins colleagues for several large astronomy projects. Expertise in grid computing is being used to facilitate biological Molecular Dynamics simulations on the Open Science Grid (OSG) and is paving the way for an expanded presence of the life sciences on the OSG. The proposed research also has an educational component. It provides direct support and training for a number of graduate and undergraduate students. The group are the hosts of a QuarkNet center which has a current membership of 13 Baltimore area high school teachers. This QuarkNet Center has initiated and helped to organize a very successful series of regional Physics Fairs that have brought science to thousands of area residents. Quarknet-aliated teachers and their students have also begun to participate in a series of International Masterclasses that are enriching the educational experiences of high school students from around the world.