One of the major intellectual achievements of the 20th century was the development of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. This model succeeded in classifying all of the elementary particles known at the time into a hierarchy of groups having similar quantum properties. The validity of this model to date was recently confirmed by the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. However, the Standard Model as it currently exists leaves open many questions about the universe, including such fundamental questions as to why the Higgs mass has the value it has.
In this project new analysis techniques will be applied in the search for "Beyond the Standard Model" new physics using data collected at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the LHC. The LHC is a premier Energy Frontier particle accelerator, operating at the CERN laboratory near Geneva Switzerland. It is currently one of the foremost facilities for answering "Beyond the Standard Model" questions and studying the properties of the Higgs boson. The new technique, boosted jet algorithms, is a way of discovering the properties of primary quarks decaying from new particles such as the Higgs boson. The signature of quarks from a primary interaction in CMS is the formation of a large number of detected particles all flowing in approximately the same direction. This formation is known as a jet. Extracting jets from background and measuring the energy and precise direction of a jet requires sophisticated algorithms such as the boosted jet algorithm that will be used here. These quarks are difficult to detect because they are hidden in a background of particles coming from uninteresting decays, the so-called pile-up background. The quark jets of interest here are coming from the decay of new particles such as the Higgs boson and other as-yet undiscovered, but theoretically proposed, particles that decay to highly boosted (high kinetic energy) top quarks and di-boson resonances (WW, ZZ and WZ). The boosted jet algorithm and other related techniques are showing great promise in identifying boosted jets in the presence of high background and are being used productively in the analysis of CMS data.
The broader impact of this work involves extending the coverage of the current outreach program at the University of Buffalo (UB) to engage the broader public in discussions of major results in particle physics, as well as to enliven particle physics for young students. This will be implemented based on similar events as the "HiggsFest" that the PI organized at UB.
