This award funds the research activities of Professor Can Kilic at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been operational since 2010, probing nature at shorter distance scales than any previous collider experiment. In 2012 the LHC has led to the discovery of the Higgs boson, the only particle in the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics that had not been observed previously. After this final triumph of the SM, the primary mission of the LHC will be to look for new physics beyond the SM. The existence of such new physics within the reach of the LHC is motivated by several observations which cannot be explained within the SM, but which point to the distance scales that are being explored at the LHC. The existence of Dark Matter (DM) in the universe with the correct properties is an example of this. In light of the fact that no clear signs of such new physics have been observed so far, the possibility needs to be considered that the new particles in question may be difficult to discover, either because they are rarely produced, or because their experimental signatures can be easily mistaken for those of known particles present in the SM. The results of the LHC searches for new physics will define the path of high energy physics in the future, which makes it essential that all efforts be made to maximize the discovery potential. Professor Kilic's research project will address how further optimization for discovery and higher precision for measurements can be obtained in the challenging scenarios mentioned above.
There are also several broader impacts of the research described in this project. A significant portion of the research will be conducted by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, which will allow them to develop critical research skills in pursuing an academic career path. In order to make it possible for young people to appreciate the excitement associated with particle physics, Professor Kilic will also give lectures about aspects of modern physics at local high schools including the Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) and Travis High School. At a more formal level, Professor Kilic also teaches a class on the SM and on beyond-the-SM physics at the University of Texas at Austin at the postgraduate level, the curriculum of which will be modified in light of future discoveries made at the LHC.
