High Energy Physics Research at Texas A&M University

PI: Alexei N. Safonov

Co-PI’s:  Bhaskar Dutta, Ricardo Eusebi, Teruki Kamon, 

Kevin Kelly, Christopher Pope, Louis Strigari

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Texas A&M University

The program focuses on experimental research at the Energy Frontier in High Energy Physics (HEP) and Theoretical Research in HEP at Texas A&M University for the next 3 year period, from 2023 - 2026. The activities include 3 PIs (Eusebi, Kamon, Safonov) performing experimental research at the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and 4 PIs (Dutta, Kelly, Pope, Strigari) working on a wide range of theoretical topics. 

Task A: Collider Physics Program (Experimental Research at the Energy Frontier in HEP) 

Profs. R. Eusebi, T. Kamon, and A. Safonov co-lead the Texas A&M (TAMU) collider program focusing on the CMS experiment at the LHC. In 2023, in addition to our faculty Co-PIs, the CMS research team at Texas A&M University consists of 2 engineers, 3 post-docs, 6 graduate students, and several undergraduate students. The group has high synergy in physics and follows a coherent long-range physics program that incorporates data analysis, development of new analysis techniques, detector operations and the high luminosity HL-LHC upgrades to maximally explore the ultimate physics potential of the LHC program. In the area of physics analyses, the team’s focal areas include searches for new physics in the Higgs domain, including extended Higgs sectors, hidden sectors and supersymmetry inspired scenarios with ties to Cosmology. 

Task D: Particle Physics Theory (Theoretical Research in HEP) 

Our particle physics theory task is the combined effort of Profs. B. Dutta, C. Pope, K. Kelly, and L. Strigari. This team of theorists, working either individually or in collaboration, addresses several important cutting-edge theoretical issues in high energy physics. Dutta, Kelly and Strigari have individually and collaboratively been working on understanding the new physics that may be extracted from neutrino and dark matter experiments, specifically the ongoing COHERENT experiment, the upcoming DUNE experiment, direct and indirect detection dark matter searches, and the LHC experiments. They are exploiting these experiments in novel ways to search for new neutrino interactions, low mass dark matter, and axion-like particles (ALPs). In addition, Dutta is constructing models for dark matter, neutrino interactions, and flavor anomalies.  Kelly is working on maximizing the science output of current and upcoming experiments, including devising new search strategies for neutrino oscillations, CP violation, sterile neutrinos, and BSM physics. Strigari is working on extracting neutrino and dark matter properties from astroparticle and terrestrial experiments. Pope is working on geometrical aspects of gravity, quantum gravity and string theory, and the role of black holes as probes of these theories at the most fundamental level. The theory section of our renewal proposal outlines the past accomplishments of this group and their individual plans for the coming funding cycle.