2011-2012 Research Report
Evidence of Higgs boson
UNL’s experimental high-energy physics team celebrated the discovery of a new particle matching the long-theorized Higgs boson, a subatomic particle that may prove to be the final piece in understanding the nature of the universe. The team has been extensively involved in the Higgs hunt for nearly two decades, capturing and analyzing data in an international effort to find the elusive particle using the atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland. UNL is one of seven Compact Muon Solenoid Tier-2 sites, and team member Ken Bloom coordinates the U.S. CMS experiment. If confirmed, the discovery promises to lead to a new realm of investigation. UNL’s team includes physicists Bloom, Dan Claes, Aaron Dominguez, Ilya Kravchenko and Greg Snow, in collaboration with computer scientist David Swanson.
