Overview
Experimental Particle Physics, Collider Physics, Detector Construction, Detector R&D
Research Focus
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) allows us to study particle collisions at the highest energies ever achieved in a laboratory, creating matter states that only existed shortly after the big bang. It allows us to "peek into the past" and thus might help us to understand how our universe evolved to its current state.
We have already learned a lot from the LHC. The discovery of the Higgs boson told us how elementary particles obtain their mass. Yet, there is much more to learn. My recent work includes studies of the self-coupling of the Higgs field. This interaction with its own field determines the potential form of the Higgs field. Studying the potential through the self-coupling might answer some questions we have about our universe: For example, why do we see so much matter in the universe and basically no antimatter? A modification to the Higgs potential from its theorized shape might explain why all the antimatter in the universe disappeared during a phase-transition to the current minimal energy state of the Higgs potential.
We at Cornell university, take and analyze the data of the CMS experiment at the LHC to study exactly this and many other questions.
Besides analyzing the data of the CMS experiment, I also work on the construction of an upgraded tracking detector for the CMS experiment. The new detector, layers of pixelated silicon sensors, will withstand enormous data rates and radiation doses, which we expect after the upgrade of the LHC machine. It will be able to track particles with very high precision despite the challenging environment and is crucial to keep taking high-quality data at the CMS experiment.
My recent research also involves the development of new detector technologies based on monolithic silicon sensors for tracking and calorimetry at future collider experiments.
Publications
L. Fasselt et al., “Energy calibration through X-ray absorption of the DECAL sensor, a monolithic active pixel sensor prototype for digital electromagnetic calorimetry and tracking”, Front. Phys. 11, 1231336 (2023)
C. Accettura et al., “Towards a Muon Collider”, Eur. Phys. J. C 83 (9), 864 (2023)
P. Allport et al., “DECAL: A Reconfigurable Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor for Tracking and Calorimetry in a 180 nm Image Sensor Process”, Sensors 22 (18), 6848 (2022)
The Tracker Group of the CMS Collaboration, “The CMS Phase-1 Pixel Detector Upgrade”, JINST 16 (02), P02027 (2021)
The CMS Collaboration, “Observation of the production of three massive gauge bosons at √s = 13 TeV”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125 (15), 151802 (2020)
The CMS Collaboration, “Search for direct top squark pair production in events with one lepton, jets and missing transverse energy at 13TeV with the CMS experiment”, JHEP 05, 032 (2020)
The CMS Collaboration, “Search for the production of W±W±W∓ events at √s = 13TeV”, Phys. Rev. D 100 (1), 012004 (2019)
The CMS Collaboration, “Searches for supersymmetry using the MT2 variable in hadronic events produced in pp collisions at 8 TeV”, JHEP 05, 078 (2015)