Experimental High Energy Physics
The experimental high energy physics program at Ohio State is strong and broad. There are eight faculty members in this research area, with 10 postdoctoral researchers, 12 PhD students, and a supporting staff of a dozen engineers and technicians. The faculty members are among the leaders of several national and international collaborations. Ohio State physicists play major roles in the design and construction of these experiments as well as leading crucial data analysis efforts. Funding comes primarily from the Department of Energy and totals more than a million dollars annually.
High energy physics research focuses on the fundamental particles and forces in the universe. These are the leptons, like the electron and muon, and the quarks from which the strongly interacting particles, such as the proton and neutron, are composed. Extremely high collision energies are required to get these particles close enough to study the interactions between them. Since particle accelerators and detectors are complex and expensive devices, these experiments are usually performed at national and international laboratories. Below are the on-going and future experiments which Ohio State physicists are involved in:
Proton-Antiproton Collisions at 1.8 TeV with the CDF Experiment
This on-going experiment is located at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago. Its main physics aims are to refine the understanding of the top quark (co-discovered by CDF in 1995) and to search for the Higgs boson, a key prediction of the Standard Model that will lead to fundamental understanding of the origin of mass.
Electron-Proton Collisions at 315 GeV with the ZEUS Experiment
ZEUS is an on-going experiment located at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg, Germany. Its key physics goals are the precision measurement of the structure of the proton, the searches for quark and lepton substructures and the testings of the strong interaction theory QCD.
Electron-Positron Annihilations at 10 GeV with the CLEO Experiment
The CLEO Experiment is carried out at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, in Ithaca, New York. This experiment specializes in the detailed studies of the charm and bottom quarks as well as the tau lepton.
Proton-Proton Collisions at 14 TeV - ATLAS and CMS Experiments at the LHC
Currently under construction at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, the LHC will be the highest energy collider in the world upon its completion in 2006. The ATLAS and CMS experiments provide excellent opportunities to discover the Higgs boson. The new energy region opened up by the LHC could also yield unexpected discoveries, paving the way toward our understanding of particle physics beyond the Standard Model.
Studies of CP Violation with the BTEV Experiment
BTEV is an experiment being planned at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The goal of BTEV is a comprehensive study of the violation of CP invariance in the b-quark sector.
Experimental High Energy Physics Faculty
L. Stanley Durkin, Professor
Ph.D. Stanford University, 1981
Deep Inelastic Electron-proton Scattering
High Energy Proton-proton Collisions
Searches for the Higgs Boson and physics beyond the Standard Model
Detector Front-end Electronics Systems
K. K. Gan, Professor
Ph.D. Purdue University, 1985
Electron-positron Interactions
High Energy Proton-proton Collisions
High Resolution Energy and Position Detectors
Klaus Honscheid, Professor
Dr. rer. nat. University of Bonn , 1988
Decay Properties of Heavy Quarks
Trigger and Data Acquisition Systems
Richard E. Hughes, Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, 1992
Testing of the Standard Model of Particle Physics
Detailed Studies of the Top Quark and Electroweak Symmetry Breaking
Development of DAQ and Trigger Electronics
Harris P. Kagan, Professor
Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 1979
Electron-positron Interactions
High Energy Proton-proton Collisions
High Resolution Energy and Position Detectors
CVD Diamond research and detector development
Richard Kass, Professor
Ph.D. University of California at Davis, 1978
Electron-positron Interactions
High Energy Proton-proton Collisions
High Resolution Energy and Position Detectors
T. Y. Ling, Professor
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, 1971
Deep Inelastic Electron-proton Scattering
High Energy Proton-proton Collisions
Searches for the Higgs Boson and physics beyond the Standard Model
Detector Front-end Electronics Systems
Brian L. Winer, Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 1991
Testing of the Standard Model of Particle Physics
Detailed Studies of the Top Quark and Electroweak Symmetry Breaking
Development of DAQ and Trigger Electronics