Research in Collider Physics

该大学的研究团队专注于加速器产生的最高能量。当今最强大的加速器是位于芝加哥外的费米国家加速器实验室的Tevatron。Tevatron目前正在探索Terascale的下游，并可能在希格斯玻色子方面取得重要的新发现，以及在标准模型的某些扩展中预测的新粒子的可能存在，然后计划在十年结束前关闭。然而，下一组重大发现可能来自一个新的加速器，大型强子对撞机（LHC）在瑞士日内瓦，计划于2007年开始运行的一组非常令人兴奋的实验。这台机器将使物理学家能够探索费米实验室的Tevatron无法到达的能量区域。大型强子对撞机是欧洲核子研究中心（CERN）的一个项目，CERN是一个国际实验室，成立于1954年，是12个欧洲国家的合资企业; CERN目前有20个成员国，全部来自欧洲。大型强子对撞机将使欧洲核子研究中心成为未来十年世界上最重要的粒子物理中心。美国既参与了加速器的建造，也参与了正在建造探测器的大型合作。美国的参与，包括圣母院一直是实现这一巨大科学机会的重要组成部分。圣母大学是一个名为Quarknet的国家教育/推广项目的领导者，该项目的目的是让高中教师和学生参与最先进的研究，寻求解决有关物质结构和自然基本力量的一些谜团。QuarkNet为高中科学教师提供了参与前沿物理研究的机会。教师们将被纳入圣母大学和其他机构的基本粒子物理学研究小组。QuarkNet是一个全国性的网络，也为参与的科学教师提供了与同行交流知识和经验的机会。

This University research team is focused on the highest energies produced at accelerators. The most powerful accelerator in existence today is the Tevatron at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory outside Chicago. The Tevatron is currently exploring the lower reaches of the Terascale and may make important new discoveries regarding the Higgs boson and the possible existence of new particles predicted in some extensions of the Standard Model before it is scheduled to be shut down by the end of the decade. However, the next major set of discoveries is likely to come from a very exciting set of experiments at a new accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland, which is scheduled to begin operating in 2007. This machine will enable physicists to explore energy regions inaccessible to Fermilab's Tevatron. The LHC is a project of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), an international laboratory established in 1954 as a joint venture of 12 European countries; CERN currently has 20 member states, all from Europe. The LHC will make CERN the most important center in the world for particle physics over the next decade. The United States has participated both in building the accelerator and in the large collaborations that are building the detectors. U.S. participation, including Notre Dame has been an important component in realizing this tremendous scientific opportunity. Notre Dame is a leader in the national education/outreach project called Quarknet, whose purpose is to involve high-school teachers and their students in state-of-the-art research that seeks to resolve some of the mysteries about the structure of matter and the fundamental forces of nature. QuarkNet provides an opportunity for high school science teachers to participate in frontier physics research. Teachers will be integrated into a research group in elementary particle physics at Notre=Dame and other institutions. QuarkNet is a nationwide network that also provides opportunities for participating science teachers to exchange knowledge and experience with their peers.