Searches for New Physics with Heavy-Flavor Rich Hadronic Final States in the Post-Higgs Era

概述：位于瑞士日内瓦欧洲核子研究中心的大型强子对撞机（LHC）实验的一个目标是了解最近于2012年在那里发现的希格斯玻色子的性质，并发现超越基本粒子物理学标准模型的新物理。 这些目标与理解宇宙在大爆炸后短短一秒钟内的最基本水平以及为什么我们现在看到的宇宙有关。 为了迎接这一探索的挑战，提出了新的理论，开发和建造了新的探测器和加速器，并创造了新的计算和分析方法，所有这些都对短期内培训青年科学家和长期提高技术对社会的益处产生了广泛的影响。 接下来的三年代表了LHC物理计划的过渡，从碰撞能量为8 TeV的数据采集和操作，到扩展的操作和数据采集，几乎是能量的两倍，13-14 TeV。 来自美国的1000多名科学家参与了这一科学计划的几个主要实验。智力成就：该奖项授予芝加哥大学的米勒教授及其团队，他们的研究旨在通过大型强子对撞机的主要多功能探测器之一ATLAS实验收集的数据，解决有关宇宙性质的深层问题。 所涉及的科学问题包括：新发现的希格斯粒子是一个更大的理论图景的一部分吗？这个理论图景包括了在新的更高的碰撞能量下可能发现的新粒子。 为什么观测到的希格斯玻色子的质量如此之低，只有1260亿电子伏特，大约是质子质量的135倍？ 事实上，这种低质量值是所有科学中最深刻的难题之一，目前正在推动粒子物理学领域的大部分科学话语。 高能下最重的夸克（顶夸克）和电弱相互作用的力载体（W和Z玻色子）的详细性质是什么？ 这些问题对于我们理解粒子物理学标准模型的完整背景和超越标准模型的新物理学至关重要。 从技术上讲，米勒和他的团队将准备ATLAS探测器，特别是测量粒子能量的量热法，用于13-14 TeV的操作。 在分析方面，他们将改进对低能8 TeV数据的物理分析，为高能碰撞中的新测量和潜在发现做准备。 当高能量数据进来时，该小组将专注于通过研究重推顶夸克来寻找超对称性，这可以提供关于超对称性扩展模型的信息。 这样的模型，如果被证明是有效的，在理论上是有吸引力的，因为它们可以容纳观察到的希格斯质量的低值。更广泛的影响：米勒和他的团队将领导的活动将通过培训学生（高中、本科和研究生）和博士后，并通过提高科学的地位，直接使芝加哥当地社区以及整个社会受益。技术、工程和数学（STEM）在社区中。一个特殊的新的推广计划将建立与莱恩科技学院预科高中。 拟议的活动包括直接指导和与Lane Tech学生合作，将高能物理学家今天所感受到的兴奋带入课堂，并真正刺激学生使用现代，高科技和现实生活中的科学项目。

Overview: A goal of experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland is to understand the nature of the Higgs Boson, recently discovered there in 2012, and to discover new physics beyond the Standard Model of Elementary Particle Physics. These goals are relevant to the understanding of the Universe at its most fundamental level in the fleeting fraction of a second just after the Big Bang, and to why we see the Universe as we do now. To meet the challenges of this quest, new theories are advanced, new detectors and accelerators are developed and built, and new computing and analytical methodologies are created, all of which have significant broader impact for the training of young scientists in the near term and the advancement of technological benefits to society over the longer term. The next three years represent a transition of the LHC physics program from a collision energy of 8 Teraelectronvole (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.Intellectual Merit: The research to be conducted under this award to Prof Miller of the University of Chicago and his group is aimed to address deep questions about the nature of the Universe from data collected with the ATLAS experiment, one of the major multipurpose detectors at the LHC. Scientific questions addressed include: Is the newly discovered Higgs particle part of a larger theoretical picture that includes new particles that could be discovered at the new higher collision energy? Why is the observed mass of the Higgs boson so low, found to be 126 billion electron volts, or roughly 135 times the mass of the proton? In fact this low mass value is one of the most profound conundrums in all of science and is currently driving much of the scientific discourse in the field of particle physics. What are the detailed properties of the heaviest of the quarks, the top quark, and the force carriers of the electroweak interaction, the W and Z bosons, at high energy? These questions are critical to our understanding of the full context of the Standard Model of particle physics and to new physics that lies beyond the Standard Model. Technically, Miller and his group will be preparing the ATLAS detector, particularly the calorimetry which measures particle energies, for operations at 13-14 TeV. Analytically, they will be refining their physics analyses on the lower energy 8 TeV data in preparation for new measurements and potential discoveries in the high energy collisions. When the high energy data comes in, the group will focus on searches for supersymmetry through the study of heavily boosted top quarks, which could provide information on extended models of Supersymmetry. Such models, if shown to be valid, are theoretically attractive as they can accommodate the observed low value of the Higgs Mass. Broader Impact: Miller and his group will lead activities will directly benefit the local community in Chicago as well as society at large, both by training students (high school, undergraduate, and graduate) and postdocs, and by enhancing the prominence of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in the community. A special new outreach program will be established with Lane Tech College Prep High School. The proposed activities include directly mentoring and working with Lane Tech students to bring the excitement felt by High Energy Physicists today into the classroom and to truly stimulate the students using modern, high-tech, and real-life projects in science.