This award funds the research activities of Professor Stephen P. Martin at Northern Illinois University. These research activities will advance our knowledge of how the basic building blocks of the universe interact. This includes study of the known fundamental subatomic particles, including the recently discovered Higgs boson. Martin will also investigate new theories that go beyond the known sub-atomic particles, including a possibility known as supersymmetry. The key prediction of supersymmetry is that for each of the known fundamental particle types, there must be a another type with very similar properties but much heavier particles than the presently known ones. Martin will work on strategies for discovering these new particles in experiments. Martin will mentor students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels on research methods, participate in education and training of high school teachers, and directly interact with pre-college students through local and regional science fair judging.
The proposed research will study the relations between observable quantities measured at colliders and the underlying parameters of the Standard Model, by performing relevant calculations in a more accurate and detailed approximation than ever before. These calculations, together with more accurate data on the Higgs boson that will be obtained by the Large Hadron Collider, will allow us to understand the dynamics of the Higgs field, and test the consistency of the minimal Standard Model of particle physics. Martin will study and improve formulas relating the Higgs boson mass to its self-interaction strength and its interactions with other particles. Martin will also continue to study supersymmetry, which now is significantly constrained, but certainly not ruled out, by Large Hadron Collider data. Martin will work on strategies for maximizing the experimental reach of the Large Hadron Collider for supersymmetric particles, by investigating novel signatures and areas of parameter space where discovery or exclusion will be particularly difficult or subtle. He also plans to investigate variations of the minimal supersymmetric theory that make distinctive predictions that can be experimentally tested if supersymmetric particles are discovered. Martin will develop more accurate calculations and tools that will aid in the interpretation and understanding of a future discovery of supersymmetry, by relating the masses and interactions of the new particles to the parameters of the underlying theory. This research will affect the interpretation of experiments at the CERN LHC proton-proton collider, and various dark matter detection experiments. These experiments are major science infrastructures, and employ many researchers and students at all levels in a variety of science and engineering fields.
