This award provides partial support to the University of Kansas experimental particle physics group (KU) to continue studies with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, the D0 experiment at Fermilab's Tevatron, data analysis from the CLEO experiment, efforts on international linear collider (ILC) detectors, using radio detection techniques for high-energy cosmic rays, and performing public outreach. The range of studies by KU form the basis for the high intellectual merit of the program since these studies have the potential to provide a greater understanding of matter and energy at the smallest distance scales and so address some of the most fundamental questions in science. The broader impacts of this proposed activity are also considerable. Graduate students and postdocs will receive extensive training. The group also has a strong record of success in undergraduate research and will continue such involvement. The Quarked! Project, started by Professor Alice Bean in 2004, as well as the QuarkNet program provide an important outreach focus as will the continuation of the program to disseminate research findings via the Internet with web sites aimed at different communities.
NSF grant 0970004 supported the activities of the University of Kansas (KU) experimental particle physics group from July 1, 2010 until December 31, 2013. About 75% of the funds went to salary support for the group, which includes four faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, undergraduate students, and some summer high school researchers. The remainder of the funds provided supplies and travel support for the group. The intellectual merit of the proposal comes from the potential to provide a greater understanding of matter and energy at the smallest distance scales and so address some of the most fundamental questions in science. KU belongs to two multipurpose experiments at hadron colliders that are at the forefront of research in the field -- the CMS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider and the D0 experiment at Fermilab's Tevatron. The group also has efforts on international linear collider detectors, radio detection techniques for high-energy cosmic rays, and public outreach. CMS began taking data in late 2009 and KU was involved in several data analysis projects. We studied processes involving the heaviest known elementary particle, the top quark, and also studied processes involving its partner, the bottom quark. Studies of the force carriers for the weak force, searches for the Higgs boson, and initial searches for events that include both the Higgs boson and the top quark were also performed. Results from these studies were published in leading peer-reviewed physics journals and were presented at conferences. KU helped to build and commission the part of the CMS detector known as the silicon strip tracking detector. The group helped to operate this subdetector and studied its performance. KU is also helping to develop a replacement for the pixel tracking detector, with a focus on the electronic readout system and the testing of the sensors. The D0 experiment operated until September 2011. KU contributed to the day-to-day operation of the track-trigger and fiber-tracker. KU analysis efforts with D0 data included studying force carriers of the weak force, searching for the Higgs boson and studies of states that produce three high momentum leptons. Linear collider work included studies of novel ways to measure particle energies in the environment of a future electron-positron collider. KU participated in a 2013 national study of future directions for the field of particle physics, with a focus on the role of a future linear collider. KU also had a concerted effort to study cosmic ray-initiated extensive air showers. These experiments can explore particle energies of up to 1020 eV. Using the group’s experience with radio wave-neutrino detection in Antarctica, it worked on experiments located in Utah, Antarctica and the Tunka Valley in Russia. This radio detection technique was pioneered at KU and provides a unique strategy for detecting unusual cosmic ray events. The broader impacts of this proposal were also considerable. Graduate, undergraduate and postdoctoral students received extensive training. The Quarked!TM project was an important outreach focus. A major goal is to get children excited about science by presenting modern physics principles in an engaging way. The website (www.quarked.org) that was launched in February 2006, was further developed and some of the educational games were made available as phone aps. KU has been a part of QuarkNet, a nationwide project to introduce particle physics into the high school classroom, since 2001. Each summer the KU center’s activities included a workshop for area high school physics teachers and research experiences for area high school students. Three graduate students completed their Ph.D dissertations and a fourth student is nearing his graduation. Two additional graduate students completed Masters degrees with the group. Carrie McGivern, using data from the D0 experiment, successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis in April 2012 on ``Measurement of WZ production and searches for anomalous top quark decays and Higgs boson production using tri-lepton final states''. Two journal articles were published based on her work. Guo Chen successfully completed his Ph.D. on March 1, 2013, using D0 data. His thesis title was "Search for a Higgs-like boson decaying to two photons in proton-anti-proton collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV." Using some of the first CMS data, Jennifer Sibille defended her Ph.D in April, 2013. The title of her dissertation was "Radiation Hard Hybrid Pixel Detectors, and b/b-bar Cross-Section Measurement at the CMS Experiment." Daniel Noonan has already published two journal articles based on his CMS research into associated production of top quarks with W bosons. He is finishing his dissertation in July 2014.
