Research in Experimental High Energy Particle Physics with the CMS Detector

这个研究项目旨在通过探索自然界的基本对称性及其与质量起源的关系，在最小尺度上更好地理解宇宙。2012年发现的质量接近125 GeV的希格斯玻色子，既代表了粒子物理学标准模型的最高成就，也暗示了这一点——如果没有新的、未被发现的物理学，一个轻希格斯玻色子怎么可能在巨大的、不稳定的量子效应中幸存下来？此外，从天文观测中我们知道暗物质是存在的；然而，暗物质的粒子特性仍然是一个谜。伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校（UIC）小组的联合活动解决了一些困扰科学的基本问题——质量的起源和暗物质的粒子性质——并有可能获得令人惊讶的发现，这些发现可能会改变我们理解物理世界的方式。该奖项将为UIC小组在位于瑞士日内瓦的粒子物理实验室CERN的大型强子对撞机（LHC）上进行CMS实验提供支持。该小组将研究对希格斯玻色子性质的精确测量；顶夸克的研究，包括寻找谐振和非谐振顶对的产生，直到最高的洛伦兹提升，并提供了一个关于破碎电弱扇区的自然性的独特观点；寻找超对称的证据。从技术上说，该小组一直是CMS的硅跟踪器和触发系统的长期贡献者，目前在升级像素跟踪探测器方面发挥着主导作用，这对事件的重建至关重要，特别是那些含有重夸克的事件，以及一级触发器，这对于记录对发现科学的CMS计划特别感兴趣的罕见事件至关重要。UIC集团成熟的QuarkNet外展计划促进了高中教师和UIC集团成员之间的合作，加强了芝加哥地区高中的教学。由于这些高中主要为少数民族学生提供服务，因此该项目旨在增加来自历史上代表性不足的STEM学科专业的学生数量。此外，芝加哥大学的学生群体反映了芝加哥的民族和种族多样性，使其成为重要的少数民族研究机构之一。UIC本科人口的多样性为该机构和UIC集团提供了一个独特的机会，可以增加选择追求学术和研究事业的少数民族学生的数量。作为该计划的核心要素，UIC小组将启动一个新的更广泛的影响组成部分，旨在提高少数民族物理专业的留校率和毕业率。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This program of research aims to better understand the Universe at the smallest scales by probing nature's basic symmetries and their relation to the origin of mass. The 2012 discovery of a Higgs boson with mass close to 125 GeV represents both the crowning achievement of the Standard Model of particle physics and a hint beyond it - how can a light Higgs boson possibly survive huge, destabilizing quantum effects without new, undiscovered physics? Further, dark matter is known to exist from astronomical observations; however, the particle properties of dark matter remain shrouded in mystery. The combined activities of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) group address such basic questions puzzling science - the origin of mass and the particle nature of dark matter - and have the potential for surprising discoveries that may change the way we understand our physical world. This award will provide support for the UIC group's work on the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, a particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. The group will be studying precision measurements of the properties of the Higgs boson; studies of the top quark including searches for resonant as well as non-resonant top pair-production up to the very highest Lorentz boosts and offering a unique view on the naturalness of the broken electroweak sector; and search for evidence of Supersymmetry.Technically, the group has been a long-term contributor to both the Silicon Tracker and Trigger systems for CMS and is currently playing leading roles in upgrades to the Pixel Tracking Detector, essential to the reconstruction of events and particularly those containing heavy quarks, and to the Level-1 Trigger, which is critical to the recording of the rare events of special interest to the CMS program of discovery science. The mature QuarkNet outreach program of the UIC group fosters collaboration between high school teachers and the UIC group members, strengthening teaching and learning in Chicago-area high schools. As these high schools serve predominantly minority students, this project aims to increase the number of students from historically underrepresented groups that major in STEM disciplines. Additionally, UIC's student body reflects the ethnic and racial diversity of Chicago, making it one of the important minority-serving Research 1 institutions. The diversity of the UIC undergraduate population gives the institution and the UIC group a unique opportunity to increase the number of minority students that choose to pursue an academic and research career. As a central element of its program, the UIC group will initiate a new broader impacts component, aimed at increasing the retention and graduation rates of minority physics majors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.