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At least 199 records · Page 11

Quest for a Top Quark Partner and Upgrade of the Pixel Detector Readout Chain at the CMS

After the observation of a new particle at CERN experiments, which is consistent with being the Higgs boson, the partner of the top quark is the most anticipated candidate to be discovered next. In many extensions of the standard model of particle physics the principle of naturalness dictates that the top quark partner should exist and be relatively light, at or below the TeV scale. It is hence expected to be accessible at energies and luminosities provided by the LHC machine within the next years of running. This proposal calls for supporting the effort targeting the searches for the top quark partner at the CMS experiment. We focus on scenarios and techniques that have not yet been fully explored at CMS, and that carry a large potential for new physics discovery in the immediate future. The second part of the proposal focuses on the R&D effort aiming for continuing high-quality physics program at the CMS at the high instantaneous luminosities. We propose to take one of the leading roles in the forthcoming upgrade of the Pixel detector at the CMS, and upgrade the data acquisition readout chain that would increase the data volume throughput for the new detector.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for Dark Matter with the LZ Experiment

Overwhelming evidence from astrophysical observations indicates that only 20% of the matter in the universe consists of ordinary matter, while the remaining 80% is made of some form of matter called "dark matter''. Although these indirect astrophysical observations convince us that dark matter exists, dark matter has not yet been directly observed. The standard model of particle physics, which has been very successful in explaining the properties of ordinary matter, can neither explain dark matter's presence nor its properties. The discovery and identification of dark matter would have a profound impact on cosmology, astronomy, and particle physics. A leading dark matter candidate consistent with all astrophysical data is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP). WIMPs could be detected through their interactions with atomic nuclei in specially designed detectors. Since the collision rates are expected to be very small (a few collisions per year for a 1-ton detector), large detectors with low backgrounds and excellent detection capability for rare collisions are needed to gain knowledge of the nature of dark matter. With dark matter experiments such as the LZ experiment, we are in a position to detect and study this dark matter through sensitive terrestrial direct detection experiments. If no discovery is made with LZ, it will be very difficult to reconcile the sensitivity limit of this experiment with most conventional WIMP scenarios, and alternate paradigms will have to be strongly considered for dark matter. The main focus of the U-M dark matter group over the past two years was on design validation and fabrication for the LZ project, followed by commissioning and operation of the LZ dark matter experiment, and the analysis of the science data during the following funding cycle. The U-M dark matter group had identified two key areas to contribute to the LZ project: the design and fabrication of a radon removal element for the xenon circulation system, and the execution and coordination of prototyping and design validation performed by the small xenon chamber group.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Cosmic Growth Rate as Probe of Dark Matter and Gravity. Final Report

Some 95% of the energy content of the universe lies outside the standard model of particle physics, with approximately 70% arising from physics that accelerates cosmic expansion in opposition to normal gravity and about 25% dark matter that clusters under gravity but does not interact directly with light. This project made significant advances in developing methods to extract information on the former – dark energy or modified gravity – and latter – dark matter through their effects on the expansion history of the universe and the cosmic growth of large scale structures under the influence of gravity and dark energy. These results directly benefit experimental/observational cosmic surveys of large scale structure imaging hundreds of millions of galaxies and mapping spectroscopically the 3D positions of tens of millions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Research in Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay (Final Report)

The research objective of the supported work was to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in 76 Ge and investigate and identify backgrounds to a double-beta decay search. Understanding the neutrino mass generation mechanism, the absolute neutrino mass scale, the neutrino mass spectrum, and the possible Majorana nature of neutrinos are some of the future discoveries of the next generation neutrino experiments. The Majorana collaboration operated the Demonstrator experiment comprising 44 kg (30 kg enriched in 76 Ge) of Ge detectors in total split between two modules contained in a low background shield at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. Observation of 0νββ would have profound implications for the Standard Model of particle physics by demonstrating that neutrinos are Majorana particles, that lepton number is not conserved, and it would provide a measure of the effective Majorana neutrino mass. The decay rate of 0νββ is incredibly small and may only produce a few signature events in a detector per year. Therefore, observation of this rare process demands a careful study and implementation of signal processing, detector design, and new levels of background suppression.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Higgs event classification using Machine Learning

The Higgs boson is a fundamental particle in the Standard Model of particle physics, theorized in the 1960s and later discovered in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It plays a pivotal role in the mechanism of mass generation for other particles. This poster focuses on the application of Machine Learning algorithms to efficiently classify Higgs boson events.

Khan, Mysha Jahin↗

Strange Mesons and Gluonic Excitations

In the standard model of particle physics, the interactions between the fundamental constituents of nuclear matter, quarks and gluons, are governed by the theory of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). A central goal of nuclear physics is to understand how hadrons, such as protons and neutrons, are formed from these underlying quark and gluon degrees of freedom. A hadron is primarily constructed from three quarks or a quark-antiquark pair; however, the theory of QCD allows for much more exotic configurations. One of the predicted exotic configurations is known as a hybrid meson, which contains an excited gluonic field in addition to the usual quark-antiquark pair. This project aims to search for and study these gluonic excitations using the Gluonic Excitation (GlueX) experiment at Jefferson Lab in Newport News, VA. The discovery potential of the experiment will be significantly extended by studying the quark flavor composition of the meson spectrum through the completion and use of an enhanced detector to identify mesons containing strange quarks. The unprecedented statistical precision of the data collected at GlueX will allow us to search for a pattern of light-quark hybrid mesons, providing new insight into the interactions that bind the fundamental quarks and gluons into the hadrons we observe in nature.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Measuring the muon precession frequency in the E989 Fermilab g-2 experiment

Since more than 50 years the electron and muon anomalies, $a_e$ and $a_\mu$, defined in terms of the gyromagnetic factor $g_i$ for particle $i$ as $a_i=(g_i-2)/2$, have provided a deep insight into the quantum structure of elementary particles.They have been, and continue to be, a milestone for the development of the Standard Model of Particle Physics against which all new theories have to be compared.For almost 20 years, the experimental value of $a_\mu$ has shown a tantalizing discrepancy of more than $3 \sigma$ from the theoretical prediction making it mandatory for experimentalists to improve the current result, dominated by the E821 experiment at BNL\cite{BNL}. The Muon $g-2$ E989 experiment at Fermilab will use the same storage ring technique used at BNL, and previously in the CERN-III experiment, with the goal of decreasing by a factor of 4 the current error on $a_\mu$, which will allow for a finer comparison with the theoretical prediction. E989 started collecting data in winter 2018 accumulating, in the period April-July 2018 (Run1) almost twice the statistics of the previous experiment (before application of data quality cuts). In this document, the experiment will be briefly described, underlying the improvements which will allow to reduce the systematic error, and some preliminary result will be shown.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering at Hall A, Jefferson Lab

The Standard Model of particle physics de?nes quarks and leptons as the basic building blocks of all matter. The interaction between them are mediated by force carrying gauge bosons. Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD), the theory that explains the strong interaction is still not complete enough to derive the physical observables of a Quark-Gluon system from the fundamental degrees of freedom of its constituents. Experimentally observable single particle densities provide important insights into our understanding of the quark-gluon system and hence help fill in the gaps of QCD. Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) provide simultaneous information of both spacial and longitudinal momentum distributions of constituents of a quark-gluon system. Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) is understood to be the simplest and cleanest process to access GPDs. Even though the exclusive DVCS is simple to understand, the experimental process however, is complex with the Bethe-Heitler and e + p ? e + ? + N? being in the mix of the electron proton scattering e+p ? e+?+X. Over the years, 3 generations of DVCS experiments have been conducted in the Experimental Hall-A of Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). This thesis presents the extraction of DVCS cross section in 9 total kinematic points from the 3rd generation experiment (DVCS3) conducted after the 12 GeV upgrade of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) of JLab during Fall 2014 - Fall 2016.

Hashir Rashad, Mohamed Nuhman↗

Quantum simulation of massive Thirring and Gross--Neveu models for arbitrary number of flavors

The study of fermionic quantum field theories is an important problem for realizing the standard model of particle physics on a quantum computer. As a step towards this goal, we consider the massive Thirring and Gross--Neveu models with arbitrary number of fermion flavors, $N_f$, discretized on a spatial one-dimensional lattice of size $L$ in the Hamiltonian formulation. We compute the gate complexity using the higher-order product formula and using block-encoding/qubitization and quantum singular value transformations in the limit of large $N_f$ and $L$. We also prepare the ground states of both models with excellent fidelity for system sizes up to 20 qubits with $N_f = 1,2,3,4$ using the adaptive-variational quantum imaginary time algorithm. In addition, we also classify the dynamical Lie algebras of these relativistic fermionic models and show that they belong to the same isomorphism class. Our work is a concrete step towards the quantum simulation of real-time dynamics of large $N_f$ fermionic quantum field theories models relevant for chiral symmetry breaking, understanding dimensional transmutation, and exploring the conformal window of field theories on near-term and early fault-tolerant quantum computers.

FOS: Physical sciences↗

The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE)

The Primordial Inflation Explorer is an Explorer-class mission to open new windows on the early universe through measurements of the polarization and absolute frequency spectrum of the cosmic microwave background. PIXIE will measure the gravitational-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint in linear polarization, and characterize the thermal history of the universe through precision measurements of distortions in the blackbody spectrum. PIXIE uses an innovative optical design to achieve background-limited sensitivity in 400 spectral channels spanning over 7 octaves in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 micron wavelength). Multi-moded non-imaging optics feed a polarizing Fourier Transform Spectrometer to produce a set of interference fringes, proportional to the difference spectrum between orthogonal linear polarizations from the two input beams. Multiple levels of symmetry and signal modulation combine to reduce systematic errors to negligible levels. PIXIE will map the full sky in Stokes I, Q, and U parameters with angular resolution 2.6 degrees and sensitivity 70 nK per 1degree square pixel. The principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10(exp. -3) at 5 standard deviations. The PIXIE mission complements anticipated ground-based polarization measurements such as CMBS4, providing a cosmic-variance-limited determination of the large-scale E-mode signal to measure the optical depth, constrain models of reionization, and provide a firm detection of the neutrino mass (the last unknown parameter in the Standard Model of particle physics). In addition, PIXIE will measure the absolute frequency spectrum to characterize deviations from a blackbody with sensitivity 3 orders of magnitude beyond the seminal COBE/FIRAS limits. The sky cannot be black at this level; the expected results will constrain physical processes ranging from inflation to the nature of the first stars and the physical conditions within the interstellar medium of the Galaxy. We describe the PIXIE instrument and mission architecture required to measure the CMB to the limits imposed by astrophysical foregrounds.

Kogut, Alan↗

What is Supersymmetry?

In this video, Fermilab's Dr. Don Lincoln describes the principle of supersymmetry in an easy-to-understand way. A theory is supersymmetric if it treats forces and matter on an equal footing. While supersymmetry is an unproven idea, it is popular with particle physics researchers as a possible next step in particle physics.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Quantum Electrodynamics: Theory

The Standard Model of particle physics is composed of several theories that are added together. The most precise component theory is the theory of quantum electrodynamics or QED. In this video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln explains how theoretical QED calculations can be done. This video links to other videos, giving the viewer a deep understanding of the process.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Higgs Boson 2016

The Higgs boson burst into the public arena on July 4, 2012, when scientists working at the CERN laboratory announced the particle’s discovery. However the initial discovery was a bit tentative, with the need to verify that the discovered particle was, indeed, the Higgs boson. In this video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln looks at the data from the perspective of 2016 and shows that more recent analyses further supports the idea that the Higgs boson is what was discovered.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The Sterile Neutrino Discovery

New research results have potentially identified a fourth type of neutrino, a “sterile neutrino” particle. This particle provides challenges for the Standard Model of particle physics, if found to be a valid result in future experiments. The work, conducted by a multi-institutional team at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) near Chicago, confirms results found in the 1990s in the Los Alamos Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND).

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

A dark matter search using the final CDMS-II data and 100 mm SuperCDMS germanium detector ionization test

Astrophysical observations indicate that approximately 85% of the matter in the universe is nonluminous, nonbaryonic, and nonrelativistic (cold) dark matter. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are a particularly well motivated dark matter particle candidate. They would be thermally produced in the early universe and their relics account for the current dark matter abundance. WIMP candidate particles are naturally provided by extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics, such as supersymmetry. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment operates cryogenic germanium and silicon particle detectors in the low-background environment of the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota to search for WIMP-nucleus scatters while rejecting electron-recoil background. The detectors simultaneously measure the ionization and phonon energies of each scattering event. The difference in ionization yield (ratio of ionization energy to recoil energy) discriminates nuclear recoils from the electron-recoil background efficiently.More sensitive detectors are required to probe the WIMP parameter space with lower WIMP-nucleon scattering cross sections. To support the R&D effort especially the detector R&D and characterization of the SuperCDMS experiment, a new CDMS test facility has been developed on the University of Minnesota campus. This thesis documents the test facility and the work involved in its development. In the test facility, we performed the first ionization collection efficiency measurements of the ionization test devices. The test devices are fabricated with detector-grade germanium crystals that are 100 mm in diameter, which is the largest available, and 33 mm in thickness. The measured efficiencies are consistent with the earlier measurements conducted with smaller Ge crystals, demonstrating that these 100 mm crystals can be used for development of the next generation dark matter detectors.Improvements of data analysis methods can also potentially improve the sensitivity of an experiment. The data taken during the last four runs of CDMS II with total raw exposure 612 kg-day were reprocessed with improved ionization pulse reconstruction algorithm. We present the classic timing analysis with the reprocessed data in this thesis. For the four runs combined, this analysis resulted in a new WIMP-nucleon cross section 4.4×10 -44 cm 2 for a WIMP mass of 70 GeV, which is a factor of 1.6 improvement compared to the original c58 classic timing analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Commissioning the DIRC Detector and Searching for Axion-like Particles at GlueX

This thesis centers around problems in the study of the strong nuclear force. The GlueX DIRC, a Cherenkov radiation-based detector, was proposed to upgrade the particle identification capability of the GlueX experiment, which aims to perform quantitative tests of Quantum Chromodynamics in the nonperturbative regime by searching for and studying hybrid mesons. This thesis describes the construction, commissioning, reconstruction, and calibration of the GlueX DIRC detector. Originally proposed to solve the strong CP problem, axions and axion-like particles are hypothetical pseudoscalar particles found in many proposed extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics. This thesis presents a search for photoproduction of axion-like particles using data in photon-proton interactions collected by the GlueX experiment at Jefferson Laboratory in the $\gamma\gamma$ and $\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ final states of the axion-like particles. In addition, the Monte Carlo modeling of the strong interaction at low energies leads to challenges known as the event generator tuning problem. This thesis presents a novel approach to the Monte Carlo event generator tuning problem using Bayesian optimization.

Yang, Yunjie↗

Partial Wave Analysis of Meson Resonances That Decay K*K¯ Using Data from the GlueX Experiment

The GlueX experiment housed in Hall D of the Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory was created to map the light meson spectrum in order to contribute to the Standard Model of particle physics by strengthening our understanding of the strong interaction. GlueX is a medium-energy photoproduction experiment that utilizes a linearly polarized photon beam to create hadronic forms of matter.

Cole, Sebastian↗