CSU PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM “Searching for Supersymmetry at the LHC” Keith Ulmer

University of Colorado Boulder Monday, Dec. 8th at 4:00pm

120 Engineering (Hammond Auditorium)

Abstract The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN currently provides the highest energy particle collisions ev- er produced in a laboratory. These collisions were reconstructed and analyzed by the CMS and ATLAS experiments to claim the discovery of the Higgs Boson in 2012, thus completing the standard model of particle physics. This talk explores what's next for the LHC, including the implications of the Higgs dis- covery on the search for new physics beyond the standard model. In particular, such open questions as the nature of dark matter and the gauge hierarchy problem may find eloquent solutions in super- symmetry, a proposed new symmetry of nature relating fermions and bosons. I will discuss the cur- rent state of experimental searches for supersymmetry at CMS, including the near term prospects for discovery, and will conclude with an example of the innovative new technological solutions being ex- plored to continue the hunt for new physics into the High Luminosity LHC era set to begin in the com- ing decade.

Biography I graduated from Amherst College in 2001 with undergrad degrees in Math and Physics. I got my PhD from the University of Colorado with the BaBar experiment in 2007. I joined the CMS experiment as a postdoc also at the University of Colorado, and moved to Texas A&M as an assistant professor in 2014. I returned to CU as an assistant professor in 2017. I was the convener of the CMS supersymmetry group from 2014-2015.