New York University physicists who played a significant role in the discovery of the Higgs boson are available for comment on the winners of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics, Peter Higgs and François Englert, who received the award in recognition of their work in developing the theory of what is now known as the Higgs field, which gives elementary particles mass.
NYU and other U.S. scientists made notable contributions in advancing the theory and in discovering the particle that proves the existence of the Higgs field, the Higgs boson.
The NYU team will be holding a celebration today, October 8, 11 a.m. EDT at NYU’s Department of Physics, Meyer Hall, 5th Floor (4 Washington Place at Broadway).
Reporters wishing to speak to NYU physicists involved in the discovery or to attend the celebration should contact James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, at 212.998.6808 or [email protected].
The discovery of the Higgs boson is the culmination of decades of work by the particle physics community. The NYU group searched for evidence of the Higgs boson using data collected by the Large Hadron Collider, developed statistical tools and methodology used to claim the discovery, and performed measurements of the new particle establishing that it is indeed the Higgs boson.
NYU researchers formally joined the search in 2006, when they began collaborating on the A Toroidal LHC Apparatus, or ATLAS, one of the main detectors at the Large Hadron Collider, which was used to make the discovery of Higgs.
NYU faculty on the team include: Professors Peter Nemethy, who focuses on new, fundamental forces, and Allen Mincer, who led the data-collection team, as well as Professors Kyle Cranmer, who was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering for his studies on the Higgs search, and Andrew Haas.
Other researchers who have been part of the effort are research assistants Rost Konoplich, Kirill Prokofiev, Ben Kaplan, and Christopher Musso as well as graduate students James Beacham, Loek Hooft van Huysduynen, Karthik Krishnaiyengar, Ricardo Neves, Lukas Heinrich, Colleen Treado, and Sven Kreiss, who first saw the statistical evidence pass the threshold needed to claim discovery in June 2012 (“Opening the Box,” New York Times, March 4, 2013).
The university’s physicists continue to search for exotic interactions that involve Higgs, with Haas, Kaplan, and Beacham looking for connections that will enhance our understanding dark matter or other deep mysteries.For more on the U.S. contributions to the discovery of the Higgs boson, go to http://uslhc.us/higgs.
Editor’s Note:Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the world’s foremost research universities and is a member of the selective Association of American Universities. NYU has degree-granting university campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai; has eleven other global academic sites, including London, Paris, Florence, Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, and Accra; and sends more students to study abroad than any other U.S. college or university. Through its numerous schools and colleges, NYU conducts research and provides education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, business, dentistry, education, nursing, the cinematic and performing arts, music and studio arts, public administration, social work, and continuing and professional studies, among other areas.
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