U.S. CMS Phase-1 Upgrades

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva Switzerland is the world's premier particle collider facility in operation. The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment is one of two large experiments at the LHC seeking to understand the nature of the Higgs Boson, which was discovered there in 2012, and to look for evidence of new physics beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics. These goals are relevant to the understanding of the Universe at its most fundamental level. Meeting this challenge requires the development of new theories, new instrumentation, new accelerators, and new computing and data analysis tools, all of which have significant broader impact for the development of the scientific workforce and the advancement of society. The next three years represent a transition of the LHC physics program from a collision energy of 8 Teraelectronvolts (TeV) data-taking and operation, to extended operations and data-taking at nearly double the energy, 13-14 TeV. Over a thousand scientists from the United States are involved with this scientific program on several major experiments. This award provides support for Dr. Dominguez at the University of Nebraska and his collaborators at eight U.S. universities to upgrade the CMS detector so that it can continue to operate efficiently at higher energies for a longer time and at a higher rate. This upgrade will enable scientists to collect data to search for new physics to explain inconsistencies in the particle theory, which arise as the energy is increased, and to fully understand how the Higgs boson fits into a fundamental theory of the universe. The universities supported by this funding will build new instrumentation to be installed in the CMS detector, which is necessary in order to carry out a real-time selection and collection of data, provide a better measurement of particle energies, and provide charged-particle track information in this new energy and data rate regime. Undergraduate and graduate students will help the postdoctoral researchers and senior scientists build these upgraded detectors, which contain state-of-the-art components. High school students and teachers will also participate in these activities through the QuarkNet program with the goal of attracting and training a new generation of scientists and engineers.