Axel Gross with Kurt Hinterbichler and Pavel Fileviez Perez
Implications of Gauge Unication without Leptoquarks
While the Standard Model has been veried on numerous occasions and has been successful in predicting several new particles, it is incomplete. It fails to explain many of the current problems in physics, such as the origin of...
Particle Astrophysics Experiment
Jackson Kishbaugh-Maish with John Ruhl
How Light from the Cosmic Microwave Background Interacts with Filters
SPIDER and the South Pole Telescope (SPT) are two experiments that my advisor, Professor Ruhl, is involved in. Both experiments involve using telescopes to observe the cosmic microwave background (CMB). My goal in this project is...
Samuel Merriman with Benjamin Monreal
Continuous Liquid Interface Production of Gas Electron Multipliers
Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) are detector tools used in high-energy particle physics research to detect weak ionizing radiation. GEMs are designed small enough to generate strong electric fields in small areas, allowing them to increase the signal from...
Adele Zawada with John Ruhl
Developing New Techniques for Characterizing Optical Properties of Millimeter Wavelength Detectors
Poster
Characterization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is a major focus of modern experimental research in cosmology and astrophysics. CMB photons carry important information that could expand our understanding about the origin and content of...
Methods for the Improvement of High Energy Cosmic Ray Shower SimulationsJohnathan Harper with Corbin CovaultExotic forms of matter such as Quark Gluon Plasma and Dark Matter are difficult to detect. Before attempting to directly observe evidence of them in cosmic ray showers, it is advantageous to first perform simulations...
Nicholas Clyde with John Ruhl
Polarization Properties of Half-wave Plates
Millimeter wave optical components are useful for current Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) experiments in the field of astrophysics. Therefore, it is useful to characterize these components. The purpose of this study is to test specifically the polarization properties of Millimeter...
Calvin Gao with Dan Akerib and Tom ShuttAnalysis of Single-Electron/Few-Electron Background in LUX S2 DataThe LUX dark matter experiment consists of a two-phase xenon detector which detects interactions between particles and the xenon nuclei and electrons. Such interactions will excite the xenon atoms causing them to emit photons and...
Nathan Harmon with Paul Harding
Improved Photometry of Metal-Poor Giants in the Kepler Field
Astroseismology is capable of measuring the properties of the interior of stars, for red giants an accurate measure of their age can then be derived. The purpose of this project is to find potentially old stars which...
Kristen McKee with John Ruhl
Measuring Scattering, Absorption, and Reflection Properties for Filters in the South Pole Telescope
A current problem with many ground-based telescope experiments, such as the South Pole Telescope, is that the optical loading on the detectors is undesirably high. In the South Pole Telescope, millimeter-wavelength photons from...
Evan Telford with Harsh Mathur
The Relativistic Hofstadter Problem
Hofstadter studied electrons in a strong magnetic field perturbed by a weak periodic potential on a square lattice. He found that the energy levels plotted as a function of the magnetic field formed a beautiful pattern with a recursive structure now Hofstadter...
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