Beyond the Standard Model Searches using Mono-Boson Final States and the ATLAS Pixel Detector Upgrade

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this project is to search for physics that does not have an explanation in the Standard Model (SM), the theory that classifies all the known elementary particles. Using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (the particle European laboratory in Switzerland) this group of scientists will look for events in the ATLAS multi-particle detector where a Z or W Boson (identified by observing electrons or muons to which it decays) is observed moving away from the proton-proton interaction point in the LHC, accompanied by an object that leaves no visible tracks in the detector. This final state can probe many fundamental mysteries of the Universe, e.g. the nature of dark matter, the existence of extra dimensions, and the existence of an extended family of Higgs Bosons predicted by some theories beyond the SM. This group will also play a role in the planned upgrade of the ATLAS detector itself. They will work on the development and use of a device that uses silicon detectors to map out the paths of charged particles passing through. This award will support one PI, a postdoctoral fellow and a graduate student. The PI will continue as a mentor in the U. Washington QuarkNet program, and will also work with high school students from local Seattle High Schools in the MasterClass program. He will also continue to organize events that bring results from the LHC closer to the public. The group will focus on W/Z + large EtransT events in which the particle recoiling against the Boson is invisible and has large, missing transverse energy. Such events would signal the existence of massive neutral particles that could have a number of origins in a variety of theories that lie beyond the SM. The group will also work on data acquisition for use with the ATLAS inner tracker.