Particle Physics at the Energy Frontier with the CMS Experiment

该研究计划旨在通过探索自然的基本对称性及其与质量起源的关系，更好地了解最小尺度的宇宙。 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，也代表了超越它的暗示——如果没有新的、未被发现的物理学，轻希格斯玻色子如何能够在巨大的、不稳定的量子效应中幸存下来？此外，通过天文观测已知暗物质的存在。然而，暗物质的粒子特性仍然笼罩在神秘之中。堪萨斯大学 (KU) 小组的联合活动解决了令人困惑的物理学基本问题 - 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，从而改变我们理解物理世界的方式。该奖项将为 KU 小组在瑞士日内瓦粒子物理实验室 CERN 大型强子对撞机 (LHC) 上的 CMS 实验工作提供支持。从分析角度来看，该小组拥有广泛的物理兴趣，包括寻找类矢量夸克以及开始寻找超对称性证据，重点关注强调压缩光谱的特征：电弱子、停止和睡眠衰变。这些新粒子中任何一个的发现都将改变现代高能物理学。从技术上讲，KU 将继续与 CMS 跟踪器系统合作，既支持当前的操作，又为未来的高光度 HL-LHC 时代开发新组件。 光子转换重建将用于精确测量跟踪器的主动和被动材料，从而改善与跟踪器材料中的相互作用建模相关的系统不确定性。 KU 将设计、测试和制造电缆，将来自 HL-LHC 内部像素跟踪器模块的高速电子信号传输到探测器上的光学链路，并评估整个电子读出链的性能。该像素跟踪器系统对于重建 CMS 发现科学计划特别感兴趣的许多事件类型至关重要。该组织有两项主要的持续外展工作：一个长期存在的 QuarkNet 中心，通过该中心与地区高中物理教师及其学生进行接触；以及多媒体 Quarked！该项目通过游戏、视频和其他网络内容向年轻人展示现代物理概念。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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 Kansas (KU) group address such basic questions puzzling physics - 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 KU group's work on the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, a particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. Analytically, the group has a broad range of physics interests, including searches for vector-like quarks and the initiation into new searches for evidence of supersymmetry, with emphasis on signatures that emphasize compressed spectra: electroweakino, stop, and slepton decays. A discovery of any of these new particles would transform modern high energy physics.Technically, KU will continue to work with the CMS tracker system, both to support the current operations and to develop new components for the future high luminosity HL-LHC era. Photon conversion reconstruction will be used to precisely measure the active and passive material of the tracker leading to improvements in systematic uncertainties associated with the modeling of interactions in the tracker material. KU will design, test and build cables that will bring the high-speed electronic signals from the HL-LHC inner pixel tracker modules to optical links on the detector and assess how the full chain of electronic readout performs. This pixel tracker system is critical to the reconstruction of many event types of special interest to the CMS program of discovery science. The group has two major continuing outreach efforts: a long-standing QuarkNet center, through which it engages with area high school physics teachers and their students, and the multimedia Quarked! project that presents modern physics concepts to youth through games, videos, and other web content.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.