EXPERIMENTAL PARTICLE PHYSICS

Elementary Particle Physics

L. Holloway,* J. J. Thaler,* D. Bird, R. Downing, B. Eisenstein, D. Errede, S. Errede, R. Gardner, G. Gladding, G. Gollin, M. Haney, L. Jones, I. Karliner, T. LeCompte, T. Liss, R. Roser, V. Simaitis, S. Willenbrock, J. Wiss, J. Wray, D. Lesny, S. Barone, L. Christofek, R. Keup, A. Martin, R. Greene, M. Kidd, R. Keup, M. Vondracek, C. Ji
U.S. Department of Energy, DE-FG02-91ER40677

The two main purposes of high-energy physics research are to determine the form and strength of the fundamental interactions in nature and to determine the properties of the particles that enter into these interactions. In recent years, families of new particles heavier than the proton, neutron, and electron have been discovered. Most of our research is involved with studying these new particles. Our present research focuses on work at Fermilab and Cornell. Our future plans include participation in work at the Large Hadron Collider to be built at CERN.

High-Energy Photoproduction

J. Wiss,* R. Gardner, K. S. Park, C. Caulfield, A. Rahimi, in collaboration with physicists from other institutions

We study charm particles produced by the interaction of high-energy photons on nuclear targets. We have reported on new measurements of charm lifetimes, photoproduction dynamics, hadronic and semileptonic decay, and excited state spectroscopy from our sample of 80,000 charm decays collected in the 1990/1991 run of Fermilab E687. We are in the process of upgrading the existing spectrometer for a new experiment Fermilab E831, which will try to extend these studies using an order of magnitude larger charm sample. The Illinois group has made major contributions to the experimental software, hardware, and data analysis.

Collider Detector at Fermilab

L. Holloway,* R. Downing, D. Errede, S. Errede, T. Liss, R. Roser, V. J. Simaitis, B. Kharadia, L. Christofek, R. Keup, A. Martin, in collaboration with physicists of the CDF group at Fermilab

The superconducting particle accelerator at Fermilab is used to store beams of protons and antiprotons at 1000 GeV, the world's highest energy. The CDF group has built a large detector to investigate the nature of the interactions that occur when these beams collide head-on. Precise measurements of the properties of the W boson, top quark, and other elementary particles are being made.

Study of Heavy Flavors at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR)


T. Bergfeld, B. Eisenstein, J. Ernst, G. Gladding, G. Gollin, M. Haney, E. Johnson, I. Karliner, S. Luo, M. Marsh, M. Palmer, M. Selen, J. Thaler

We use the CLEO detector at CESR to study the properties of the tao lepton and of particles containing the b and c quarks. These studies allow us to perform stringent tests of the standard model of the fundamental interactions. This is the modern equivalent of the atomic physics experiments performed early this century to test quantum mechanics. We are participating in a major upgrade of the CLEO detector, which will effect dramatic improvements in the experiment's resolution and statistical precision. One of our goals is to determine whether or not the standard model can account for the small matter-antimatter asymmetry present in our universe.