Ketino Kaadze

This report summarizes the work of the Energy Frontier New Physics working group of the 2013 Community Summer Study (Snowmass).

We present a sensitivity study for the pair-production of supersymmetric particles which decay through R-parity violating channels. As the scope of possible RPV signatures is very broad, the reach of several selected signatures spanning a representative variety of possible final states is considered. Preference in representation is given to spectra motivated by naturalness, i.e. light higgsinos, stops and gluinos. The sensitivity studies are presented for proton-proton collisions at 14 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 300 and 3000 fb^-1, as well as at 33 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 3000 fb^-1.

The MIP Timing Detector will provide additional timing capabilities for detection of minimum ionizing particles (MIPs) at CMS during the High Luminosity LHC era, improving event reconstruction and pileup rejection. The central portion of the detector, the Barrel Timing Layer (BTL), will be instrumented with LYSO:Ce crystals and Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) providing a time resolution of about 30 ps at the beginning of operation, and degrading to 50-60 ps at the end of the detector lifetime as a result of radiation damage. In this work, we present the results obtained using a 120 GeV proton beam at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility to measure the time resolution of unirradiated sensors. A proof-of-concept of the sensor layout proposed for the barrel region of the MTD, consisting of elongated crystal bars with dimensions of about 3 x 3 x 57 mm$^3$ and with double-ended SiPM readout, is demonstrated. This design provides a robust time measurement independent of the impact point of the MIP along the crystal bar. We tested LYSO:Ce bars of different thickness (2, 3, 4 mm) with a geometry close to the reference design and coupled to SiPMs manufactured by Hamamatsu and Fondazione Bruno Kessler. The various aspects influencing the timing performance such as the crystal thickness, properties of the SiPMs (e.g. photon detection efficiency), and impact angle of the MIP are studied. A time resolution of about 28 ps is measured for MIPs crossing a 3 mm thick crystal bar, corresponding to an MPV energy deposition of 2.6 MeV, and of 22 ps for the 4.2 MeV MPV energy deposition expected in the BTL, matching the detector performance target for unirradiated devices.

In this Dissertation I present a detailed study of p$\bar{p}$ → WZ production using fully leptonic decays of W and Z bosons with electrons and muons in the final state. Data used for the study were collected by the DØ detector at the Fermilab p$\bar{p}$ collider with a center-of-mass energy of √s = 1.96 TeV and correspond to 4.1 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. The most precise measurement of the WZ production cross section is obtained and found to be in a good agreement with the standard model prediction. I also present a search for new phenomena in the WZ production by investigating the coupling between W and Z bosons and by searching for new charged particles that can decay into WZ boson pair. No evidence for new physics is found, and the most stringent limits are set on the anomalous WWZ coupling parameters and masses of charged resonances. This result also sets the stringest limit on one of the possible sources of electroweak symmetry breaking, a low-scale Technicolor with a typical heavy techni-pion hypothesis.

In this article we describe the methods of observing WZ signal at CMS experiment at Large Hadron Collider. To reduce the dependence on Monte Carlo simulation we use data-driven techniques and estimate that 5sigma significance of WZ signal can be reached with less than 350 pb^{-1} at 95% C.L. for sqrt{s} = 14 TeV. We also overview several models that would yield anomalous production of the WZ final state, sensitivity to which can be achieved with less data.

This document has been prepared as a Snowmass contributed paper by the Public Policy \& Government Engagement topical group (CEF06) within the Community Engagement Frontier. The charge of CEF06 is to review all aspects of how the High Energy Physics (HEP) community engages with government at all levels and how public policy impacts members of the community and the community at large, and to assess and raise awareness within the community of direct community-driven engagement of the U.S. federal government (\textit{i.e.} advocacy). The focus of this paper is the advocacy undertaken by the HEP community that pertains directly to the funding of the field by the U.S. federal government.