Experimental particle physics research at Texas Tech University
- Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States)
The high energy physics group at Texas Tech University (TTU) concentrates its research efforts on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and on generic detector R&D for future applications. Our research programs have been continuously supported by the US Department of Energy for over two decades, and this final report summarizes our achievements during the last grant period from May 1, 2012 to March 31, 2016. After having completed the Run 1 data analyses from the CMS detector, including the discovery of the Higgs boson in July 2012, we concentrated on commissioning the CMS hadron calorimeter (HCAL) for Run 2, performing analyses of Run 2 data, and making initial studies and plans for the second phase of upgrades in CMS. Our research has primarily focused on searches for Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics via dijets, monophotons, and monojets. We also made significant contributions to the analyses of the semileptonic Higgs decays and Standard Model (SM) measurements in Run 1. Our work on the operations of the CMS detector, especially the performance monitoring of the HCAL in Run 1, was indispensable to the experiment. Our team members, holding leadership positions in HCAL, have played key roles in the R&D, construction, and commissioning of these detectors in the last decade. We also maintained an active program in jet studies that builds on our expertise in calorimetry and algorithm development. In Run 2, we extended some of our analyses at 8 TeV to 13 TeV, and we also started to investigate new territory, e.g., dark matter searches with unexplored signatures. The objective of dual-readout calorimetry R&D was intended to explore (and, if possible, eliminate) the obstacles that prevent calorimetric detection of hadrons and jets with a comparable level of precision as we have grown accustomed to for electrons and photons. The initial prototype detector was successfully tested at the SPS/CERN in 2003-2004 and evolved over the last decade. In 2012-2015, several other prototypes were built to further reduce leakage fluctuations, improve Cherenkov light yield, increase fiber attenuation length, and other related phenomena. During this grant period, we graduated two students with Ph.D. degrees, and five undergraduate students from our labs went on to prestigious graduate programs in the US and Europe. Also, the TTU HEP team has participated in the QuarkNet program every year since 2001. We are dedicated to working with area teachers and students at all levels and to training the next generation of scientists. Over 20 high school teachers have participated in our program since its inception.
- Research Organization:
- Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0007923
- OSTI ID:
- 1258345
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-TTU-0007923; TRN: US1601504
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CMS DETECTOR
CERN LHC
TEXAS
HIGGS BOSONS
TEV RANGE 10-100
DATA ANALYSIS
HIGGS MODEL
HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
ALGORITHMS
SHOWER COUNTERS
COMMISSIONING
JETS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
CONSTRUCTION
SEMILEPTONIC DECAY
STANDARD MODEL
MONITORING
PERFORMANCE