The Standard Model now explains all of particle physics phenomena to great detail below 200 GeV. But particle physicists will soon begin studying collisions in the TeV energy regime at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to search for violations of the model. The LHC, located at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, will collide protons on protons at 14 TeV in the center of mass. The CMS detector is one of two large experiments being constructed to investigate the collisions in a search for the Higgs particle, supersymmetric particles, and other non-Standard Model phenomena.

The high-energy physics group at The University of Mississippi, along with other U.S. and international groups, is participating in the design and construction of the CMS experiment. We are working on the hadron calorimeter, which will measure the energy released in the violent collisions, and provide a trigger for rare phenomena. We are also working on a pixel-tracking detector able to determine the precise origin of particles in the interaction to 30 micrometers. This fine-grained tracking is decisive in distinguishing rare events from normal background interactions. The experiment is to begin running in 2007.

An introduction to CMS is availble as well as a Brochure. Our High Energy Physics outreach is available from QuarkNet.