VH-NG-701
Higgs Physics with Photons
Programmorientierte Förderung von DESY
Higgs Physics with Photons
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Notkestraße 85
22607 Hamburg
Institut für Experimentalphysik
Universität Hamburg
Luruper Chaussee 49
22761 Hamburg
With the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) starting to record data at sqrt(s) = 7TeV in 2010, a new energy regime is opened up in particle physics. The upcoming years promise to be exciting and could hold the discovery of new phenomena at so far unprobed energy scales. Two multi-purpose experiments are taking data at the LHC: ATLAS and CMS. A key component of their program is the search for the up to now unobserved Higgs boson, which, in the Standard Model of Particle Physics, is responsible for giving mass to all elementary particles.
The long-term research goal for the proposed Young Investigators Group is the study of the Higgs sector, in particular of the Higgs decay into two photons. Recent results from the LEP and Tevatron experiments suggest a rather light Higgs boson and for Higgs masses below 140 GeV, the decay into two photons is one of the most promising discovery channels. A large fraction of the work that is necessary for the Higgs search can be carried out with the data collected now and in the early stages of the duration of the proposed Young Investigators Group. The study of Standard Model direct photon production improves our understanding of Quantum Chromodynamics, the theory that describes the strong interaction. It also serves for the understanding and improvement of the photon reconstruction and the understanding of backgrounds to the Higgs boson search. For these studies, the Young Investigators Group will put emphasis on the use of photons that convert into an electron-positron-pair in the detector material. The group will move from using the data collected at 7TeV and early data collected at higher energies to study SM production of single photons and diphotons to searching for H-decays.
Silicon detectors are a necessary tool for physics studies at the LHC and vital to the reconstruction of converted photons. In parallel to operating the ATLAS detector, work is ongoing for a planned upgrade of the detector by about 2020. To complement the work on photon and Higgs physics, the proposed Young Investigators Group will participate in DESY's effort to upgrade the silicon micro-strip detector.
Leader of the Young Investigators Group of Helmholtz:
Dr. Kerstin Tackmann
DESY
Notkestr. 85
22607 Hamburg
Office: 3/123
Phone: +49 40 8998 1445
Email: kerstin.tackmann@desy.de
University Partners
Prof. Dr. Peter Schleper
Universität Hamburg
Institut für Experimentalphysik
Luruper Chaussee 149
22761 Hamburg
Office: 68/132
Phone: +49-40-8998-2957
Email: peter.schleper@desy.de
