This proposal from the University of Chicago requests support for a group participating in the CDF experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, currently the world's highest energy accelerator. The particular goal of this research is to understand electroweak symmetry breaking, which in the Standard Model of particle physics is described by the Higgs mechanism, The physics associated with this mechanism, and the Higgs boson itself, is poorly understood and tested. However, one can infer the properties of the boson by indirect probes using precision measurements of electroweak observables such as the W-boson mass, the top-quark mass and the Z-boson properties via quantum corrections. This investigator plans to measure the top-quark properties, including its mass, and the W mass with the Tevatron Run 2b data. She also plans on working on future projects that will provide better sensitivities to these physics measurements, namely the upgrade of the Silicon Vertex Trigger and the hardware track finder project for the ATLAS experiment.
During this work, many younger physicists, including under-represented minorities and women, will be trained. The work on the silicon and triggering systems will strengthen international ties in science and can be expected to have a broader impact on the electronics technology.
