Particle Physics at the Energy Frontier with the CMS Experiment

该研究计划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，更好地了解最小尺度下的宇宙。2012年发现的质量接近125 GeV的希格斯玻色子代表了粒子物理学标准模型的最高成就，也暗示了一个超越它的线索--如果没有新的、未被发现的物理学，轻希格斯玻色子怎么可能在巨大的、不稳定的量子效应中生存下来？此外，暗物质是已知存在的天文观测;然而，暗物质的粒子性质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这些令物理学困惑的基本问题-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KU小组在瑞士日内瓦粒子物理实验室CERN的大型强子对撞机（LHC）上的CMS实验工作提供支持。在分析上，这个小组有着广泛的物理学兴趣，包括寻找矢量夸克和开始寻找超对称性的新证据，重点是强调压缩光谱的签名：电弱子，停止和slepton衰变。这些新粒子的发现将改变现代高能物理学。从技术上讲，KU将继续与CMS跟踪系统合作，以支持当前的操作，并为未来的高亮度HL-LHC时代开发新的组件。 光子转换重建将用于精确测量跟踪器的有源和无源材料，从而改善与跟踪器材料中相互作用建模相关的系统不确定性。KU将设计，测试和建造电缆，将高速电子信号从HL-LHC内部像素跟踪器模块带到探测器上的光学链路，并评估整个电子读出链的性能。这个像素跟踪系统是至关重要的，许多事件类型的发现科学的CMS程序特别感兴趣的重建。该小组有两个主要的持续推广工作：一个长期的QuarkNet中心，通过它与地区高中物理教师和他们的学生接触，以及多媒体Quarked！通过游戏、视频和其他网络内容向青少年介绍现代物理学概念的项目。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.