High Energy Physics Research at Hadron Colliders

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This three-year award provides support for an ongoing program of research at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in experimental high energy physics (HEP). The program is centered on the DØ experiment currently running at the Fermilab Tevatron and on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. The UIC group consists of four faculty, four postdoctoral research associates, and seven graduate students. For the period covered in this award, the UIC program will include continued involvement in the DØ physics program, concentrating on Tevatron "legacy" measurements using the entire Run II dataset; participation in the operation and commissioning of the CMS Silicon Tracker and High Level Trigger; continuing ongoing object identification and calibration activities at CMS, and build on UIC areas of expertise and focus on studies of QCD, associated production of W and Z bosons with jets and b-jets, and top quark physics.The broader impacts of the proposed activities are multiple and diverse. The challenges faced in successfully building and commissioning complicated trigger and silicon systems enhance the disciplinary knowledge in engineering fields. The physics analyses and hardware projects provide valuable experience and knowledge for UIC HEP students and postdocs, enabling them to pursue successful careers in academia or private sectors. The mature QuarkNet and CLASA (Chicago Large Area Shower Array) outreach activities of the UIC HEP group fosters collaboration between high school teachers and students and UIC HEP group members, strengthening teaching and learning in Chicago-area high schools. As Chicago high schools serve predominantly minority students, this project may lead to a larger number of minority students majoring in a science discipline.