University of Colorado High Energy Experimental Physics
The University of Colorado high energy experimental physics group has eight faculty members: John Cumalat, Bill Ford, Alysia Marino, Jim Smith, Kevin Stenson, Steve Wagner, Eric Zimmerman, and Uriel Nauenberg (emeritus). The group is currently involved in several experiments:
CMS
Six faculty members are currently working on CMS. The group is currently working on several physics topics including searches for supersymmetry (Ford and Smith), and searches for new gauge bosons (Cumalat), and measurements of the production and decay of b-hadrons (Stenson). In addition, Stenson works on track reconstruction and Wagner is leading an effort to develop diamond tracking detectors. Colorado hosts a Tier-3 CMS computing site.
T2K
The T2K effort at CU is lead by Zimmerman and Marino. T2K is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan. T2K has seen conclusively seen evidence for the appearance of electron neutrinos in a beam of muon neutrinos. This indicates a non-zero value of theta13. The CU group built one of the pion focusing horn magnets and is involved in many areas of physics analysis for both the near and far detectors. Colorado hosts a T2K computing center.
NA61/SHINE
The NA61 effort at CU is lead by Zimmerman and Marino. NA61/SHINE is a large-acceptance detector located in the North Area a CERN. It has a broad physics program and allows us to make precise measurements of the production of hadrons from high-energy protons interactions. These measurements can help us to better understand the neutrino fluxes for accelerator-generated neutrino beams such as those used for T2K and other experiments.
DUNE
The DUNE effort at CU is lead by Zimmerman and Marino. DUNE is a proposed long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that would involve a new neutrino beam from Fermilab to South Dakota. The CU group is primarily focused on making in situ and ex situ measurements of the hadrons in the neutrino beam, to improve predictions for the neutrino flux.
ILC
Emeritus faculty member Nauenberg works on the ILC experiment. For many years, he has involved undergraduates in conducting simulations of various experimental configurations and their response to SUSY physics signals. Some of these results have been collected on a web page. Other students have worked on understanding a new detector technology, SiPD.
Wagner has worked on tracking studies for the ILC.