With the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) detector we will look for new particles such as Higgs and Supersymmetric particles produced in ultra-high energy proton-proton collisions. The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) accelerator, now under construction at CERN will supply center-of-mass energies of 14 TeV when it is complete in 2007-2008.

The UCLA-CMS group is working on the detection of muons, which are essential signatures for the Higgs and other new particles. We are working on two construction projects: muon "trigger" electronics to identify the muon particles quickly, and construction of a testing facility for the large muon detector chambers.

The Main Focuses of The UCLA - CMS Group

Trigger Electronics- UCLA is designing and prototyping high-speed electronics for the endcap muon system. Within a few hundred nanoseconds, the electronics will find muon "tracks" using as input some 400,000 data channels. The electronics is "pipelined" at a rate of 40 MHz, the crossing frequency of particle bunches in the LHC. The sagitta, or amount of bending, of the muon tracks is measured with an accuracy of about 1 mm. At the same time, several GHz of background particle interactions are rejected. Muon Chambers- UCLA has taken responsibility for the final assembly and testing of a large number of muon chambers. This will take place in the new Science and Technology Research Building (STRB) on the Southwest part of the UCLA campus.