Giovanni
Bonvicini, David Cinabro, Mikhail Dubrovin, and Alexander Schreiner
One of the
great mysteries in physics is why the fundamental particles come in
three and
only three families. Studying the properties of the three families in
detail is
one way to further understand this mystery which is central to
understanding
the universe at a fundamental level.
The Wayne State CLEO group is focused on investigating the
properties of the quarks of the second and third families. CLEO is an experiment
at Cornell that currently produces very large samples of the second family charm
quark pairs in electron-positron collisions. This is a pristine environment
and CLEO is a very capable detector able to see both charged and neutral particles.
These allow unmatched sensitivity to rare behavior and unparalleled accuracy
in measurements of the charm quark. We are focused
on studying charm decays to three bodies and the search for charm quarks spontaneously
turning into anti-charm quarks.
We also work on the physics of particle accelerators. When the intense beams of
particles collide the electric field of one beam causes the particles of the
other beam to radiate. This radiation can be measured to learn if the beams are
colliding head on or not. Properties of the
radiation also indicate exactly how the beams are missing each other
and allow them to quickly be brought back into proper alignment. A prototype is in
the electron-positron ring at Cornell and we are developing the detector for use in a future
high-energy electron-positron linear collider.
Our research is supported by the National Science Foundation of the United States.
For more information on CLEO see http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLEO/
.
The CDF can identify new, large mass particles produced in the pbar-p collisions. For example, the elusive Higgs boson is predicted to have a mass of about 120 times the mass of the proton. Another class of large mass particles which has been hypothesized are the supersymmetric particles, some of which may be types of dark matter.
Particles containing the charm quark are produced
copiously
in the pbar-p collisions at Fermilab.
The Wayne State group is studying rare decays of charm particles
for evidence that the decays are affected by the existence of previously
undiscovered, high mass particles.
The Wayne State group maintains operation of the front-end electronics for the CDF calorimeters. The calorimeters are a key part of the CDF apparatus and are used to measure the energy of pions (and other strongly interacting particles) as well as electrons.
A new accelerator is under development by the world-wide physics community: a high energy electron-positron linear collider. This accelerator could make precise measurements of the properties of new, high mass particles. The detector for the collisions produced by the linear collider will require novel technologies. At Wayne State, we are developing a prototype muon detector which could meet the requirements for accurate time resolution, good spatial granularity and stable long term operation.
Our research is supported by the United States
Department of
Energy.
For information about the CDF experiment, see http://www-cdf.fnal.gov/pubcdf.html.
For information about the Linear Collider, see http://blueox.uoregon.edu/~lc/alcpg/
Recent
Publications:
Neutral Current Decay D0 -> mu+ mu- in p-pbar Collisions
at sqrt(s) =1.96 TeV'', Phys. Rev. D68, 091101 (2003).
D. Acosta et al., (CDF Collaboration),
``Observation of the
Narrow State X(3872) -> J/psi pi+ pi- in p-pbar Collisions at
sqrt(s) = 1.96
TeV", to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2004).