Searching for Exotic New Physics at the Large Hadron Collider
| Date/Time: | Monday, 21 Sep 2015 from 4:10 pm to 5:00 pm |
|---|---|
| Location: | Physics 0003 |
| Phone: | 515-294-5441 |
| Channel: | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
Abstract: The Standard Model of particle physics provides an excellent description of particle interactions at high energies and small distance scales. With the recent discovery of the Higgs boson, the predicted particle content of the Standard Model is now complete. However, there are several things the Standard Model cannot explain, such as the origin of non-zero neutrino masses, the nature of dark matter, and why the Higgs boson mass is so light. This tension suggests that there are particles and forces beyond the Standard Model, possibly at an energy scale that is within reach of modern experiments. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the ATLAS experiment were built to search for these new particles and forces, and to test our best theories in an unexplored energy regime.
After a description of the LHC and the ATLAS experiment, and a review of our important achievements from the first run of the LHC, I will describe our efforts to look for exotic new physics in high-energy collisions. I will focus on searches for new particles that decay to pairs of heavy Standard Model bosons, which are sensitive to the existence of large extra dimensions and other new phenomena. I will conclude with our prospects for discovery in the ongoing high-energy run of the LHC.
Biography: Mike Hance began his physics career as an undergraduate at Boston University, working on precision muon experiments. He started work on the ATLAS experiment as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on the installation of the inner tracking detector before first LHC data in 2010. His thesis was a measurement of high-momentum photon production at the LHC. As a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he continued his work on ATLAS, first focusing on the search for the Higgs boson, and then on searches for other exotic new physics. He is now an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
* References:
Very technical:
https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/P...-2015-045/ (and references therein)
Slightly-less-technical:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.6081
Non-technical:
http://home.web.cern.ch/about
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/...lhc-run-ii
http://particlefever.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Smashing-Physics-J...1472210301