Events at Physics |
Events on Friday, May 3rd, 2013
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology)
- Low-Mass Higgs Bosons in the NMSSM and Their LHC Implications
- Time: 2:15 pm
- Place: 2335 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Shufang Su, University of Arizona
- Abstract: We study the Higgs sector of the Next to Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) in light of the discovery of the SM-like Higgs boson at the LHC. We perform a broad scan over the NMSSM parameter space and identify the regions that are consistent with current Higgs search results at colliders. In contrast to the commonly studied ``decoupling'' scenario in the literature where the MSSM CP-odd Higgs boson mass is large mA>>mZ, we pay particular attention to the light Higgs states in the case when mA ~ mZ. The SM-like Higgs boson could be either the lightest CP-even scalar or the second lightest CP-even scalar. These NMSSM parameter regions have unique properties and offer rich phenomenology. We evaluate the production and decay of the Higgs bosons in this model and comment on further searches at the LHC to probe the Higgs sector of the NMSSM.
- Physics Department Colloquium
- 2013 Alumni Award Winner
- Pursuing Climate Science: From Small Particles to Large Airplanes
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm)
- Speaker: David Fahey, Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
- Abstract: I will present two topics to highlight how my NOAA research contributes to climate change science. First, black carbon particles play a complex role in our climate system. Refractory black carbon is the primary cause of aerosol optical absorption in the atmosphere and also changes cloud properties and snow and ice albedo. Large gaps exist in our ability to measure and model black carbon abundances and climate effects. I helped lead a recently published assessment* which is the first evaluation of black-carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms. Second, the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS)**, the worldaEuroTMs largest, can travel 10000 nm on 30-hr flights at altitudes up to 20 km. In an ongoing flight campaign, our principal objective is to advance understanding of processes occurring in the tropical tropopause layer related to water vapor and ice clouds. These processes control stratospheric humidity, which plays an important role in EarthaEuroTMs radiation budget and stratospheric photochemistry. The data from recent tropical flights demonstrate the great potential of Global Hawk for Earth science research. * **