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

概述：在瑞士日内瓦欧洲核子研究中心（CERN）的大型强子对撞机（LHC）进行实验的一个目标是了解希格斯玻色子的性质，希格斯玻色子是最近在2012年发现的，并发现超越基本粒子物理标准模型的新物理。这些目标与我们在宇宙大爆炸后那一瞬间对宇宙最基本的理解有关，也与我们为什么看到现在的宇宙有关。为了迎接这一探索的挑战，新的理论被提出，新的探测器和加速器被开发和建造，新的计算和分析方法被创造，所有这些都对短期内培养年轻科学家和长期内提高技术对社会的效益具有重要的更广泛的影响。未来三年，LHC物理项目将从碰撞能量为8太电子伏（TeV）的数据采集和操作过渡到扩展的操作和数据采集，其能量几乎是碰撞能量的两倍，即13-14 TeV。来自美国的一千多名科学家参与了这项科学计划，进行了几项重大实验。智力价值：芝加哥大学的米勒教授和他的团队将在这个奖项下进行的研究，旨在通过ATLAS实验收集的数据来解决关于宇宙本质的深层次问题，ATLAS实验是大型强子对撞机的主要多用途探测器之一。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？这个理论图景包括可能在新的更高碰撞能量下发现的新粒子？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，这个低质量值是所有科学中最深奥的难题之一，目前正在推动粒子物理学领域的许多科学论述。最重的夸克，顶夸克，以及电弱相互作用的力载体W和Z玻色子，在高能量下的详细性质是什么？这些问题对于我们理解粒子物理学标准模型的完整背景以及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仪，用于13-14 TeV的操作。在分析上，他们将对能量较低的8 TeV数据进行物理分析，为新的测量和高能碰撞的潜在发现做准备。当高能数据到来时，该小组将通过研究大量增强的顶夸克来专注于寻找超对称，这可以提供关于超对称扩展模型的信息。这样的模型，如果被证明是有效的，理论上是有吸引力的，因为它们可以适应观测到的低希格斯质量值。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，本科生和研究生）和博士后，以及通过提高科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）在社区中的突出地位，直接使芝加哥当地社区以及整个社会受益。将与Lane Tech College Prep High School建立一个特别的新外展计划。提议的活动包括直接指导和与Lane Tech的学生合作，将高能物理学家今天感受到的兴奋带入课堂，并使用现代，高科技和现实生活中的科学项目真正激发学生。

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.