Particle Physics at the Energy Frontier with the CMS Experiment

这个研究项目旨在通过探索自然的基本对称性及其与质量起源的关系，在最小的尺度上更好地理解宇宙。2012年，一个质量接近125GeV的希格斯玻色子的发现，既代表了粒子物理标准模型的最高成就，也是一个超越它的暗示--如果没有新的、未被发现的物理学，一个轻的希格斯玻色子如何可能在巨大的、不稳定的量子效应中生存下来？此外，从天文观测中已知暗物质的存在；然而，暗物质的粒子性质仍然笼罩着神秘的面纱。堪萨斯大学(KU)小组的联合活动解决了困扰物理学的基本问题-质量的起源和暗物质的粒子性质-并有可能做出令人惊讶的发现，可能会改变我们理解物理世界的方式。该奖项将为KU小组在欧洲核子研究中心(CERN)的大型强子对撞机(LHC)上开展的CMS实验提供支持。CERN是一家位于瑞士日内瓦的粒子物理实验室。从分析上看，该小组有广泛的物理兴趣，包括搜索类矢量夸克，并开始寻找超对称性证据，重点是强调压缩光谱的特征：电子威金诺、停止和斯普顿衰变。任何这些新粒子的发现都将改变现代高能物理。在技术上，科罗拉多大学将继续与CMS跟踪器系统合作，以支持目前的操作，并为未来的高光度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主动和被动材料，从而改善与跟踪器材料中相互作用的建模相关的系统不确定性。Ku将设计、测试和建造电缆，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，并评估整个电子读数链的运行情况。这个像素跟踪器系统对于重建许多发现科学的CMS计划特别感兴趣的事件类型至关重要。该组织有两个主要的持续推广活动：一个长期存在的QuarkNet中心，通过该中心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年轻人展示现代物理概念的项目。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.