Experimental High Energy Physics

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This proposal is for the frontier collider-physics research program of the Experimental High Energy Physics group at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (UNL). The D-Zero collider experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago is the primary focus of this research with a future program involving the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Recently, the PIs have brought three graduate students through their PhDs and physics publication processes; guided several other publications of D-Zero Run I data; met the Level-3 specifications for triggering with a full suite of physics object tools and strategy for maximizing efficiency; and completed an electronics contribution to the upgrade Level-2 muon system for the experiment. The PIs have continuing and new responsibilities for physics analysis initiatives in the higher energy, higher-luminosity Run II. These have been new particle searches and studies of QCD processes. In addition, they propose to build on their long experience in D-Zero and draw on a Run II data set at least 20 times the size of its Run I data set to pursue unprecedented studies in QCD, new particle searches, and W/Z boson production. The physics pursuits of the group are coupled with leadership responsibilities in the triggering, monitoring, luminosity measurement, and operation of the experiment. The CMS Experiment is a natural extension their work as the CERN LHC opens a new energy frontier in 2008. The UNL group has responsibility for coordinating and implementing the measurement of the proton-proton luminosity in CMS and for the physics trigger simulation studies of certain forward physics processes. The group proposes to escalate their preparations for studies at the next energy frontier. The combination of these projects will continue to provide the group with research and education opportunities at the forefront of the field. Through the NSF-funded outreach project CROP (Cosmic Ray Observatory Project), The PIs have established themselves as specialists in education and outreach. In the first 4 years of this expanding project, the UNL group has established a network of 21 instrumented high-school cosmic-ray research stations that will soon be studying extensive air showers in Nebraska simultaneously. CROP is serving as a model for similar emerging high-school cosmic-ray efforts in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. Outgrowths of CROP are contributions of the PIs to education efforts in the cosmic ray Auger Southern Observatory and HEP outreach initiatives and national committees, in which a small investment of time carries a large impact.