Physics (Internal)

Dark Photons & How to Find Them

This event is part of the Graduate Student Council Events.

Part of the student seminar series. A recording of the meeting will be posted on the event page.

Abstract: There is no shortage of potential theories to expand upon the Standard Model, ranging from quite minimal to wildly complex. In this seminar, we focus on former of these, discussing an in-progress analysis searching for a new U(1) gauge boson, the "dark photon," decaying into two muons using LHC data from the CMS detector. Though the theory and signature are relatively simple, the parameter space of the search can pose unique challenges; in this case a 1-10 GeV mass range, which calls for a host of new measurements and analysis techniques to understand the behavior of the detector in that low-mass regime. This talk will explore these techniques, as well as provide a holistic picture for the whole process of a "bump hunt" analysis, from finding and using muon pairs, to setting actual limits on cross-sections.