NSF RUI: Searches for New Physics with the CMS Detector at the LHC

Siena University, Loudonville NY

Investigators

Abstract

Siena College will participate through the NSF RUI program in research at the Energy Frontier with the CMS Experiment located at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. The participation will be facilitated through collaboration with the nearby CMS experimental group at Cornell University. The Siena team of PI Matt Bellis and undergraduate students will join efforts within CMS to search for rare and forbidden decays (including baryon number violating decays) of the top-quark, a particle which is produced prolifically at the LHC. The collaboration with the Cornell group means that Siena can access expertise and CMS specific information regarding data access, analysis procedures, and publication procedures. Analyses will be performed by the students at Siena. Broader impacts of the program include participation by the PI in the effort within CMS on open-access to data and outreach by the PI and his students to underrepresented and underserved students in physics in local community high schools in the greater Albany NY region.