Research in Elementary Particle Physics

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The NSF-supported experimental Elementary Particle Physics (EPP) group at the University of Chicago consists of several research teams which involve themselves in the four experiments discussed below: The `Kaon at the Tevatron` (KTEV) experiment is now running at Fermilab. Its intent is to study CP violation and the rare decays of long-lived K-mesons. CP violation is thought to be the origin of the a symmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe. KTEV is an experiment of fundamental importance to our understanding of the origins and evolution of the universe. At the `Collider Detector at Fermilab` (CDF) experiment, the focus is to study high momentum transfer events in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.8 TeV (the highest energy available in the world today). The Chicago group has the responsibility of constructing the electronic systems for the first level calorimeter trigger and the silicon tracker processor. The CDF experiment is being upgraded so that it can exploit the higher luminosity to be provided by the new main injector ring now under construction. The CDF experiment was one of the co- discoverers of the top quark. The `Omni-Purpose-Apparatus-at-LEP` (OPAL) collaboration at the Large Electron-Positron collider (LEP) at CERN has completed a program that uses Z boson decays to conduct several important tests of the `Standard Model` of particle physics: a measurement of the Weinberg angle, a study of various B-meson decays, and a search for exotic particles that would indicate physics beyond the `Standard Model`. The collaboration is now taking data at `LEP200`, where with double its present energy, the accelerator can make W meson pairs and hence obtain direct measurements of the W mass. Searches for new particles are also being conducted at these higher energies. ATLAS (A Toroidal Large Angle Spectrometer) will be a general-purpose detector designed to exploit the potential of the future LHC proton-proton collider. LHC will provide 10 times higher center-of-mass energy and 100 times higher proton-proton collision rates than previous colliders, thus opening up a new frontier of physics. Discovery of the mass- generating mechanism or spontaneous symmetry breaking, which predicts the existence of a scalar particle, the Higgs boson is a primary objective of ATLAS. The Chicago group is the leading group in the EPP program in its education and outreach activities.