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Particle Physics at Caltech A Grad Student Perspective

Particle Physics at Caltech A Grad Student Perspective. David Doll. Introducing the Elephant – an Overview of Particle Physics*. *In one slide. The particles represent our current theory of fundamental physics Many outstanding questions: “Gravity?”, “Neutrino Mass?”, “Matter vs. Anti Matter?”

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Particle Physics at Caltech A Grad Student Perspective

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  1. Particle Physics at CaltechA Grad Student Perspective David Doll

  2. Introducing the Elephant – an Overview of Particle Physics* *In one slide • The particles represent our current theory of fundamental physics • Many outstanding questions: “Gravity?”, “Neutrino Mass?”, “Matter vs. Anti Matter?” • My experiment dealt with answering the latter question

  3. What can cause the imbalance? • Our theory does allow for a small amount (~1 Billion times too small) of asymmetry through the decay of heavy particles to light particles. B0 Y(4S) • We reconstruct the B mesons (one is matter, the other anti-matter) to look for differences. e+ e- B0 bb

  4. What we do n’t know • All measurements are consistent with our theory • All except Matter/Anti matter asymmetry of course • The theorists who gave us this theory won half of the Nobel prize in physics last year. • Where do we go from here? • Many new theories, “Beyond the Standard Model”-theories, try to come up with new sources of matter/anti matter differences • All must reproduce what has already been shown • Searches with Babar’s data can already place limits on the parameters of these new theories (my thesis deals with this)

  5. My Thesis – Quickly!! γ • We look at a b quark turning into an s quark and emitting a photon. • Very sensitive to the effects of New Physics (NP) models • The rate is around 1 in 10,000 B mesons decays in a mode we care about An example “Feynman diagram”: “Weak Force”-carriers (from first slide). Could be replaced by new particles in NP theories

  6. Beyond my Thesis • Chance to go to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress on behalf of particle physics • Only graduate student from my experiment (~500 collaborators) ~1/2 the group (it was 8AM!!)

  7. Life at Caltech • Involved in the Caltech Grad Student Council • This year’s Advocacy Committee chair • Working to increase graduate student exposure to potential donors as a way of increasing graduate student fellowships • Involvement in teaching/tutoring programs • RISE program – Only Math/Science focused tutor program in Pasadena Unified School District • YESS program – targets gifted under-represented minority students in physics and biology.

  8. My Grad Experience Summary • Getting to do ground breaking particle physics research • Did I mention my advisor (David Hitlin) was my experiment’s first spokesman? • With a great name comes great opportunities • Chance to participate in a variety of activities here at Caltech Thank you!!

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