Darien Wood, Emanuela Barbaris, Toyoko Orimoto

Sponsor: NSF

Experimental Particle Physics Research at High Energies

The Standard Model successfully describes nearly all particle physics data, yet it cannot be complete—it fails to fully explain the universe’s matter composition and gravity. Real collider data are needed to test it and reveal what lies beyond. The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector examines the world’s highest-energy proton collisions from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, recreating conditions like the early universe. The Barberis-Orimoto-Wood group at Northeastern University analyzes these data, using specialized models and observables to evaluate theories extending the Standard Model. They are also upgrading CMS for the High-Luminosity LHC—work that will benefit science for decades and train the future scientific workforce.