Investigations in Proton-Proton Collisions at the Large Hadron Collider

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Particle physics considers a vast range of scientific questions, from subatomic to cosmic scales. The Michigan State University (MSU) Group supported through this award investigates such questions through experimentation at the highest available collision energies at accelerators. These studies 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 discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located in Geneva, Switzerland, completed the standard model of particle physics. Now elucidating the dynamics underlying this model stands as a major challenge for particle physics. Precision measurements, especially the production and decay of the Higgs boson, and searches for new particles and forces dominate the energy frontier mission. The Michigan State University (MSU) particle physics group is engaged in this research at the LHC as members of the ATLAS experiment. The group is making significant contributions to ongoing experimental operations, to new and planned upgrades of the experiment, to large-scale computing, and to physics analyses. The MSU group is targeting its physics studies under four general categories: the search for new vector bosons; the study of Higgs boson production and decay; the physics of top quarks, singly and in pairs; and the study of the strong interactions, especially jet production in association with vector bosons and heavy quarks. The group has a strong track record of collaboration with theoretical physicists on both quantum chromodynamics and electroweak processes. This is an important bridge between experimental and theoretical understanding of ongoing measurements.Members of the MSU high energy physics group have traditionally had a strong involvement in education and outreach, and the group has been especially innovative in informal education. A notable element of these activities has been the development of a planetarium show on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In collaboration with other US groups on the ATLAS experiment, the group has also just developed a major planetarium production on dark matter.