PHYSICS DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Murtaza Safdari

Ph.D. Candidate:  Murtaza Safdari

Research Advisor:  Ariel Schwartzman

Date: July 28 2022
Time: 2pm
Location: PAB 102/103

Zoom Link:  https://stanford.zoom.us/j/95161166307

Zoom Password: email nickswan [at] stanford.edu (nickswan[at]stanford[dot]edu) for password

 

Title: A Novel Search for Exotic Decays of the Higgs Boson with the ATLAS Detector and Enhancing the Physics Potential of the LHC and Atom Interferometers with New Techniques

Abstract: Modern fundamental physics research efforts seeks to explain phenomenon like the matter anti-matter asymmetry of the universe and the nature of dark matter using various experimental modalities such as particle colliders like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The ATLAS detector at the LHC is conducting a diverse physics program of precision Standard Model measurements and searches for Physics beyond the Standard Model.  This talk presents a search for an exotic decay mode of the Higgs boson coupling to a new light scalar field, using LHC proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector. Additionally, two research projects are presented to enhance the physics potential of the ATLAS detector. The first introduces a novel algorithm to improve the efficiency of locating interesting physics within saved events. The second improves the jet energy calibration procedure by enabling the use of gradient based regression with a novel objective function along with a unified neural network based framework.PHYSICS DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Murtaza Safdari