@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ The Tier-2 staff have also pioneered a number of technical innovations, such as
Meanwhile, in the face of rapidly increasing instantaneous LHC luminosity, CMS is making plans for upgrades to the detector, and the UNL group has positioned itself to play a leading role in the construction of the new pixel detector. Dominguez was the organizer and editor of the Technical Proposal for the Phase 1 upgrade of the pixel detector~\cite{bib:LHCC2011006}, and of the relevant sections of the Technical Design Report for the CMS Phase 1 upgrade that was submitted to the LHCC this fall~\cite{bib:upgradeTDR}. He also coordinated studies that demonstrated how the upgraded detector would significantly extend the experiment's reach in studying the Higgs boson and searching for supersymmetric particles. As part of this effort, Bose and Jindal have studied the performance of tracking and $b$-tagging algorithms with the new detector under high-lumonisoty conditions, and Malbouisson assisted in some of the Higgs studies.
Meanwhile, the UNL group has positioned itself to construct parts of the new forward pixel detector. Funds from the MRI grant have been used to outfit a laboratory, and modules of the new detector will be assembled in Nebraska using a computer-controlled precision pick-and-place gantry and wirebonding machines. Institutional expertise in the design, construction and operation of pixel detectors was gained through the PIRE program, which has allowed Lazo-Flores, Knowlton, former graduate student Tony Kelly and undergraduates Cameron Bravo, Caleb Fangmeier and Dale Oleson to spend significant time at PSI, where the barrel pixel detector was built and the pixel readout chip was designed. Pixel module construction will be an important element of the UNL HEP group's work during the period covered by this proposal, as we prepare for installation of the new pixel detector in 2016.
Meanwhile, the UNL group has positioned itself to construct parts of the new forward pixel detector. Funds from the MRI grant have been used to outfit a laboratory, and modules of the new detector will be assembled in Nebraska using a computer-controlled precision pick-and-place gantry and wirebonding machines. Institutional expertise in the design, construction and operation of pixel detectors was gained through the PIRE program, which has allowed Lazo-Flores, Knowlton, former graduate student Tony Kelly and undergraduates Cameron Bravo, Caleb Fangmeier and Dale Oleson to spend significant time at PSI, where the barrel pixel detector was built and the pixel readout chip was designed. Kelly completed a master's thesis in 2010 that was based on studies of the temperature dependence of the pixel calibration completed at PSI. Pixel module construction will be an important element of the UNL HEP group's work during the period covered by this proposal, as we prepare for installation of the new pixel detector in 2016.
Looking further ahead, Kravchenko, Butt and undergraduates Pavel Patino and Gabriel Ayala have worked on studies for the track trigger that is envisioned for the Phase 2 upgrade of CMS. They studied several algorithms for fast jet reconstruction using information from the pixel detector that could be implemented within the Level 1 trigger time constraints, and implemented simple versions of these algorithms in an FPGA test board.
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@@ -50,5 +50,10 @@ The UNL group has also made a major contribution to DZERO through operation of t
In addition, Bloom has chaired DZERO editorial boards supvervising publications in top-quark physics. The most prominent of these has been a measurement of the $t\bar{t}$ production forward-backward asymmetry that agrees poorly with standard-model predictions and has been of great interest in the community~\cite{bib:ttbarasym}. Claes has served on an editorial board that has reviewed searches for new phenomena. Snow has been responsible for the public tour area at the experiment, which will be reconfigured as the experiment is decommissioned.
{\bf Astrophysics} 1 page
{\bf Astrophysics} The Pierre Auger Observatory has now recorded an integrated exposure of 28,500~km$^2$~sr~yr to high-energy cosmic rays, much more than has been integrated by any similar experiment. New extensions to the observatory have made it sensitive to cosmic-ray energies as low as $10^{17}$~eV. Snow has continued as Task Leader for Education, Outreach and Public Relations at the observatory. The Education and Outreach group oversees the Visitor Center in Malargue which receives more than 6000 visitors/year. Snow has overseen yearly science fairs that attract students from all over Mendoza Province., and Snow has also organized Auger collaborators to make visits to rural schools in the region. In addition, a video documentary has been released, and extensive air-shower data has been made available over the Web for instructional purposes.
In addition, Snow has worked with the Auger atmospheric monitoring group, constructing and installing light detection and ranging (Lidar) detectors on the Auger site. These detectors help determine the density of the atmosphere and are an element of the Auger energy calibration system. Some of this work was included in the master's thesis of Emily Petermann, who graduated in 2010.
Kravchenko has continued his exploration of ultra-high energy neutrionos in a series of smaller experiments. He has continued to support the RICE/NARC experiment at the South Pole. The final paper on the RICE/NARC data has been submitted~\cite{bib:RICE}. The experiment's equipment is now being used for calibration studies of its successor experiment, the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA). With student Sergey Avdeev, Kravchenko has developed the vertex reconstruction software for ARA, calibrated testbed antennas, and started developing the analysis job processing framework. He has also worked on the CRADAR experiment in Utah, which seeks to detect cosmic rays with a radar technique~\cite{bib:CRADAR}.
