Physics Department Colloquia |
Events on Friday, September 27th, 2024
- FASER: New Eyes for the LHC
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: Chamberlin 2241
- Speaker: Jonathan Feng, University of California-Irvine
- Abstract: Particle colliders have been the workhorse tool of particle physics for over 60 years, and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN has been the focus of attention for decades. Despite this, in recent years, it has become clear that the physics potential of the LHC is far from being fully explored. In particular, the existing billion dollar detectors are blind to forward collisions, which produce particles along the beamline. We now know that these collisions are a treasure trove of physics, containing the highest-energy neutrinos ever produced by humans and possible evidence for dark matter, dark sectors, milli-charged particles, and other new particles and forces. FASER, the Forward Search Experiment, was designed to cover this blind spot. Beginning in 2022, FASER detected the first neutrinos in the history of particle colliders, opening a new window on the high-energy frontier, and started searching for a variety of new particles with world-leading sensitivity. This talk will describe FASER's recent results, how they complement the traditional LHC program, and the Forward Physics Facility, a proposal to fully realize the potential of forward physics in the coming decade.
- Host: Lu Lu