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

这是锡耶纳学院在瑞士日内瓦CERN实验室的大型强子对撞机上进行紧凑型介子螺线管（CMS）实验的基础研究项目。锡耶纳小组通过与康奈尔大学高能物理小组的合作参与了这项实验。锡耶纳大学的本科生致力于物理分析，探索物理学中一些最基本的问题。该小组为产生高动量顶夸克/反顶夸克对的微分截面测量做出了贡献，用全新的教育工具支持CMS数据保存工作，重新启动了搜索顶夸克的重子数违反（BNV）衰变的工作，并聘请了当地的高中教师和他们的学生来教授他们这项令人兴奋的工作。目前，该小组正致力于利用Run II数据寻找顶夸克的BNV衰变，并在此过程中开发出新的方法。在数据保存和推测暗物质搜索方面的新努力也是这个项目的一部分。锡耶纳将继续这一努力，主要是将这些数据用于教育、推广和培训。宇宙中观测到的物质/反物质不对称性比标准模型中允许的夸克扇区CP违反和重子数违反过程的组合所能容纳的要大8个数量级。最引人注目的结果是质子衰变，但对这一过程的广泛研究没有产生任何信号。如果BNV是由一种玻色子介导的，这种玻色子通过更复杂的味道/生成结构运行，那么它可能在高代夸克和轻子中表现得更强烈。锡耶纳的研究小组将扩大对顶夸克BNV衰变的研究，任何对它的观察都将改变粒子物理学。暗物质的本质是物理学中最重要的悬而未决的问题之一，也是标准模型中缺失的一个关键元素。锡耶纳研究小组将进行新的推测性暗物质搜索，其中CMS探测器将以直接探测模式使用，寻找与束交叉无关的大量能量沉积，并在间接探测模式下使用，寻找从地面指向上方的标准模型粒子，这些粒子源于被地球引力困住的暗物质粒子的衰变。通过这个项目，锡耶纳学院的学生有机会为物理分析做出贡献，并在会议上展示他们的工作，并在世界主要实验室开展他们的研究。这些努力的重点是让公众对人类正在了解的自然和宇宙如何运作感到兴奋，同时也鼓励年轻人考虑在STEM领域从事职业。锡耶纳大学的小组强调在当地高中的物理专业中，向女性和其他传统上代表性不足的群体伸出援手。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 is a project by Siena College to carry out fundamental research with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. The Siena group participates in the experiment through an association with the Cornell University high-energy physics group. Siena undergraduates contribute to physics analyses that probe some of the most fundamental questions in physics. The group has contributed to a measurement of the differential cross section for production of high momentum top/antitop quark pairs, supported the CMS data preservation efforts with brand new educational tools, restarted an effort to search for baryon-number violating (BNV) decays of the top quark, and engaged local high school teachers and their students to teach them about this exciting work. The group now leads efforts to search for BNV decays of the top quark with Run II data, developing novel approaches along the way. New efforts in data preservation and speculative dark matter searches are also part of this project. Siena will continue this effort primarily to use these data for education, outreach, and training.The observed matter/antimatter asymmetry in the universe is 8 orders of magnitude larger than can be accommodated by the combination CP violation in the quark sector and baryon-number violating processes allowed in the Standard Model. The most striking consequence of this would be proton decay, but extensive searches for this process have yielded no signal. If BNV is mediated by a boson that operates through a more complicated flavor/generation structure, then it may manifest more strongly in higher generation quarks and leptons. The Siena group will expand the search for BNV decays of the top quark, any observation of which would transform particle physics. The nature of dark matter is one of the most significant outstanding questions in physics and a key missing element of the Standard Model. The Siena group will carry out new speculative dark matter searches in which the CMS detector is used in a direct detection mode, looking for large deposits of energy not associated with a bunch crossing, and in indirect detection mode, searching for standard model particles pointing up from the ground and originating from the decay of dark matter particles gravitationally trapped in the Earth.Through this project, Siena College students have the opportunity to contribute to physics analyses and to present their work at conferences and carry out their research at major world laboratories. These efforts will focus on both exciting the general public about what humanity is learning about Nature and how the Universe works, but also on encouraging young people to consider careers in STEM fields. The Siena group emphasizes reaching out to women and other traditionally underrepresented groups in physics in local high schools.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.