The SCIPP group is based at CERN and is thus very actively engaged in
the experimental program. Our physics interests are in the fields
of B physics (where we have studied decays of interest for evidence
of CP violation), and the search for new particles (including the Higgs boson
and Supersymmetric particles) and new phenomena at these high energies.
We are studying single and multiphoton
final states which play a key role in the search for various forms of
invisible, or almost invisible, matter, and in the study of
the electroweak interaction and the pointlike nature of the electron
at distances down to 10
cm.
Recently, the group initiated
an effort to search for the effects of quantum gravity in models which
incorporate large extra spatial dimensions (beyond the three we are already
familiar with). The SCIPP/ALEPH group has now made measurements related to all
four forces in Nature: strong, electromagnetic, weak, and gravitational.
The SCIPP group also plays a key role in the operation of the detector, particularly with respect to the silicon vertex detector. The precision tracking capability of the vertex detector is critical for the detection of jets containing b-quarks, and is therefore vital in the search for the Higgs boson, which is expected to decay a large fraction of the time into b anti-b jets.
SCIPP contact: Alan Litke