This project will improve theoretical predictions within the SM and its supersymmetric extensions. These improvements are necessary in order to fully exploit the potential of the LHC to unravel the origin of symmetry breaking and mass generation, and to search for and disentangle signals of new physics, such as SUSY. The project involves the calculation of higher order effects in quantum field theory (radiative corrections), and the incorporation of these into Monte-Carlo simulations of LHC processes, involving the Higgs and electroweak gauge sector, the top quark, and SUSY particles.
The education and outreach component of this project consists of three parts: Firstly, a permanent, interactive physics exhibition will be established, which will integrate Art with Science, to engage the general public in a dialog about physics in an inspiring and non-intimidating setting. High-school students and their teachers, both scientific and artistic oriented, will be actively involved in the construction of new exhibition displays. Secondly, 'Peer Instruction' will be implemented in introductory college physics courses, and its effectiveness will be measured. Finally, undergraduate students will be provided with an opportunity to experience and contribute to particle physics research, allowing them to acquire skills applicable to areas within and beyond the scope of particle physics.
This award funded research in theoretical particle physics, conducted by Prof. Doreen Wackeroth, two Postdoctoral Research Associates, and two graduate students at the University at Buffalo (UB). This award also funded the Physics and Arts Summer Institute for high-school students. Particle physics research has entered an exciting era: The CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is successfully colliding proton beams at energies that allow for the exploration of matter and their interactions at the most fundamental level. The LHC probes the fabric of matter at length scales as small as 10^-19 meters. The LHC is expected to provide answers to some of the most fundamental questions in science: What is responsible for the generation of mass and what is the nature of dark matter ? With the LHC, we can certainly look forward to discoveries of new particles and new insights in the fundamental principles that govern all dynamics and properties of matter. The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics is a thoroughly tested framework for describing electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions of the fundamental constituents of matter, based on a symmetry principle and mathematically formulated as a renormalizable Quantum Field Theory. The SM successfully describes all presently observed electroweak and strong interactions of matter particles (quarks and leptons) and their mediators, the photon, W and Z bosons, and the gluon. Despite this enormous success of the SM, it is generally accepted that the SM is merely a low-energy approximation to a more fundamental theory, which is expected to reveal itself at the LHC in form of the emergence of new, non-SM particles and interactions. Moreover, there is still one prediction of the SM that awaits experimental confirmation: as a consequence of spontaneous electroweak symmetry breaking, a mechanism proposed to generate masses for the W and Z bosons, the SM predicts the existence of a spin-less, electrically neutral particle, the Higgs boson. The recent discovery of a new boson at the LHC may well mark the beginning of an exciting journey where the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking and its messenger, the Higgs boson, is revealed. With increasing number of collisions and energy, the LHC keeps accessing regions where one expects to see signals of new physics, i.e. phenomena that are not described by the SM. A promising candidate for a theory beyond the SM, which also provides a dark matter candidate, is Supersymmetry (SUSY), an additional symmetry connecting fermions and bosons. The LHC is presently searching for signals of SUSY. For a successful exploitation of the LHC's potential for unraveling the origin of electroweak symmetry breaking and mass generation, and for searching for and disentangling signals of SUSY, precision calculations are required that predict the outcome of the collision experiment and can be confronted with and tested by collision data. For instance, the identification of new particles requires precise measurements of their properties, and the challenge on the theory side is to provide equally precise predictions for the corresponding cross sections. Moreover, new physics may manifest itself in minute deviations from SM predictions which also requires high precision measurements and predictions. As a result of this award, new and improved calculations became available for the discovery and study of the Higgs boson and for precision studies involving top quarks, W and Z bosons. To achieve the required precision, these calculations involved complex quantum-field theoretical calculations of cross sections at higher-order in perturbation theory within the SM and its SUSY extension. For realistic simulations, these calculations have been implemented in Monte Carlo computer programs and are directly used in the interpretation of LHC data. The results of this award have been presented at national and international conferences and in journal publications. This award has provided the graduate students with an advanced research experience and with skills valuable beyond the scope of particle physics research. The outreach component of this award consisted of five, 3-week long Physics and Arts Summer Institutes (PASI) (physics.buffalo.edu/pasi), where high-school students, mentored by a high-school physics teacher, a physics undergraduate student, and Prof. Wackeroth, created particle physics inspired exhibits for the permanent Physics and Arts Exhibition (physics.buffalo.edu/ubexpo) at the UB Physics Department. They attended lectures on topics in modern physics and on art by a UB professor of Visual Studies and an art high-school teacher. Using art in a physics exhibition has proven to be a formidable vehicle to make this 'hard science' more accessible, less intimidating, and to reach wider audiences. The PASI experience also included an one-day trip to Fermilab, where the students took a guided tour of the D0 and CDF experiments, and met with Fermilab scientists. Many of the PASI participants moved on to studying physics, e.g. at Harvard, Brown, and Cornell University and at UB, and two of these students returned to PASI as lecturers and mentors.
