Physics at the LHC with CMS

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides continuing support for a program of research for the High Energy Physics group at Vanderbilt University. This group proposes to exploit the rich particle physics program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) as members of the CMS experiment. Since joining CMS in 2005, its established expertise in electronics and silicon detectors, along with a long term interest in computing and information technology, has enabled the members to make significant contributions on the pixel tracker project and in Software and Computing, respectively. They have also recently begun to contribute to Super-LHC design studies as well as developing a physics analysis effort. On the pixel tracker, they provide leadership in the operations and development of the Front End Digitizer (FED), and have recently assumed a leadership role for the pixel slow controls. For the software and computing project on CMS, their efforts are to develop computing resources and grid infrastructure. Their successful establishment of the ACCRE computing center at Vanderbilt and the NSF funded REDDnet project are directly applicable to this effort. Finally, they are contributing to design studies for the SLHC, studying the effectiveness of various proposals to incorporate the pixel tracker into the first level of the CMS trigger. In terms of broader impact, their collaborative efforts with computer scientists are breaking new ground in the area of data logistics. REDDnet is serving researchers from a wide variety of application domains, including the geospatial imaging community, digital archive projects in the Library of Congress, the fusion community, and high energy physics. Emphasis is placed on involving undergraduate students in their research program and reaching out to the community through the QuarkNet project.