CMS+2010

Research Team Teachers:
Mark Kirzeder Thomas Loughran Jill Ziegler

QuarkNet Center Name:
University of Notre Dame QuarkNet Center

Mentors:
Dan Karmgard Jamie Antonelli

Project Title: CMS e-Lab
**Purpose:** To understand the processes by which the Higgs is expected to be discovered, and the consequences of its discovery.

Methods:
We used a variety of resources to learn about the Higgs boson and how CMS expects to discover it. We primarily used the CMS e-lab and its great number of links to gather information, but we have also talked to knowledgeable physicists like Dr. Karmgard.

Results:
What was discovered is that we do not know if the Higgs boson actually exists, only how we expect to detect it if it does exist. Whether it is its existence or nonexistence that is evidenced, information either way could provide new insight to how our universe works.

Discussion & Conclusion:
We will analyze various graphs and data obtained from the CMS detector to search for possible indications of the existence of the Higgs boson. The particle’s presence or absence has certain repercussions that will impact our understanding of our world; the consequences of both will be discussed.

Further work
We do not yet have any real data from LHC at CERN, so further work for this project will obviously entail the processing of such data. In the future, real data will hopefully be integrated into the CMS e-lab so students can reproduce various discoveries for themselves.

Siddharth and Matt CMS group

Monday: 6/21/10 Activities: -Internet was down, so we didn’t do planned activities. -We were introduced to particle physics -Began watching Nova: “The Elegant Universe”

Tuesday: 6/22/10 Activities: -Finished watching “The Elegant Universe” -Became members of michiana stem, set up skype, became gmail members. Set up communications

Wednesday: 6/23/10 Activities: -When Dr. Loughran arrived, we participated in the think aloud protocol to get our initial reactions and ideas to the CMSe-Lab -Started checking technical aspects of the CMSe-Lab website. Small bugs, layout, etc. -Matt’s Birthday -Watched Dr. Poirier’s lecture about GRAND

Thursday: 6/24/10 Activities: -Took notes on particle physics from the link on CMSe-Lab site. -Learned about particle physics -Began navigating milestones to see how they can be improved

Friday: 6/25/10 Activities: -Took more notes -Made more suggestions for the CMSe-Lab -Watched Mrs. Dauerty’s Presentation on biological models