Experimental Particle Physics Research at SUNY Albany

Project Title: Experimental Particle Physics Research at SUNY Albany Applicant/Institution: University at Albany Address: 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222 Lead Principal Investigators: Jesse Ernst, Vivek Jain The experimental particle physics group at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany proposes to carry out research using data collected by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Switzerland. ATLAS is a multi-purpose detector designed to record the products of collisions between high energy proton beams. Our proposed program seeks to: a) make progress on fundamental questions about how well the Standard Model of particle physics describes the constituents and interactions of matter, and b) advance the ATLAS experiment itself by improving data-reconstruction techniques for current data as well as performing studies that will inform design decisions for the high-luminosity ATLAS upgrade planned for 2022-2023.  To improve our understanding of the Standard Model, we will continue our investigations into the nature of the Higgs boson, discovered at the LHC  in 2012. Specifically, we will study its coupling to top quarks to understand whether the Higgs sector in nature matches the predictions of the Standard Model, or whether the discovered Higgs boson is instead part of a more complicated sector, as predicted by some extensions to the Standard Model. To enhance the ATLAS experiment itself, we will expand our studies of design options for the inner ATLAS tracking system.  We will continue our work to understand the impact of changing the number and design layout of the silicon tracking layers. The merit of a given design will depend in part on ATLAS' ability to e_x000E_fficiently reconstruct primary interaction points. Work in this area will effect the upcoming run in 2015 as well as future runs at the LHC.