RUI: Searches for New Physics with the CMS Detector at the LHC

位于瑞士欧洲核子研究中心粒子物理实验室的大型强子对撞机（LHC）是人类迄今为止建造的最大的机器，使科学家能够在最小的尺度上研究物质和能量。这些努力的目标是回答关于我们的宇宙是如何形成的以及它是如何演变成今天的样子的问题。PI是紧凑介子螺线管（CMS）实验的成员，CMS是大型强子对撞机的大型粒子探测器之一，收集每秒4000万个质子碰撞产生的数据。CMS合作项目由世界各地的3000名科学家组成，他们研究这些碰撞产生的所有不同粒子，努力准确地了解它们是如何产生的，以及是否有新物理学的迹象：我们目前对自然的理解出现了裂缝，或者瞥见了新的令人兴奋的理论。这个项目通过寻找尚未观察到的顶夸克的衰变来寻找新的物理学，顶夸克是迄今为止已知的基本粒子列表中的一种粒子。PI将进行一项分析，以寻找顶夸克的重子数违反（BNV）衰变。顶夸克是迄今为止发现的质量最大的基本粒子，虽然它在20年前首次被观察到，但直到最近，实验才开始收集足够的数据来详细研究它们。这一分析与另一种尚未观察到的现象——质子衰变有关。一些理论认为，在每个原子中发现的相同质子最终都会衰变，这些理论被用来试图解释为什么我们的宇宙是由物质主导的，而不是由等量的物质和反物质组成的。任何BNV衰变的迹象，无论是在顶夸克、质子还是其他粒子中，都会立即改变我们对基本粒子相互作用的理解。我们对CMS的第一组数据进行了初步分析，但在接下来的几年里，我们将有10倍的数据来处理，因此我们将对任何新物理现象的迹象更加敏感。与此同时，PI将继续致力于创新的外展技术，例如将CMS和其他实验的真实实验数据简化为教师和公众，以便任何人都可以使用并从中学习。PI还将继续为高中教师举办研讨会，让他们建造云室，这是最早的粒子探测器之一，用于他们的教室。

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Switzerland, is the largest machine that humanity has ever constructed and allows scientists to study matter and energy on the smallest scales. The goal of these efforts is to answer questions about how our Universe came into exisitence and how it evolved to look the way it does today. The PI is a member of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment, one of the large particle detectors at the LHC that collects data produced by the collisions of 40 million protons every second. The CMS collaboration consists of 3000 scientists the world over that study all the different particles that come out of these collisions in an effort to understand precisely how they were produced and whether or not there are indications of new Physics: cracks in our current understanding of Nature or glimpses of new and exciting theories. This project looks for new physics through the search for as-yet-unobserved decays of the top quark, one of the particles that make up the list of fundamental particles known to date. The PI will be conducting an analysis to search for baryon-number violating (BNV) decays of the top quark. The top quark is the most massive fundamental particle yet discovered, and while it was first observed 20 years ago, it is only relatively recently that experiments have begun to collect enough data to study them in detail. This analysis is related to another as-of-yet unobserved phenomenon, proton decay. Some theories suggest that the same protons that are found in every atom will eventually decay away and these theories are invoked to try to explain why our Universe is dominated by matter and does not consist of equal amounts of matter and antimatter. Any sign of BNV decays, whether in top quarks or protons or other particles, would instantly change how we understand fundamental particle interactions. A preliminary analysis was performed with the first set of data from CMS, but in the next couple of years, we will have 10x the data to work with and so we will be much more sensitive to any signs of new physics. In parallel, the PI will continue to work on innovative outreach techniques, such as making real experimental data from CMS and other experiments available to teachers and the general public, simplifed so that anyone can use it and learn from it. The PI will also continue to host high school teachers for workshops where they build cloud chambers, one of the earliest particle detectors, for use in their classrooms.