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Chris Quigg

Publications and source records attributed to Chris Quigg.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2011

LHC Physics Potential vs. Energy: Considerations for the 2011 Run

Parton luminosities are convenient for estimating how the physics potential of Large Hadron Collider experiments depends on the energy of the proton beams. I quantify the advantage of increasing the beam energy from 3.5 TeV to 4 TeV. I present parton luminosities, ratios of parton luminosities, and contours of fixed parton luminosity for $gg$, $u\bar{d}$, $qq$, and $gq$ interactions over the energy range relevant to the Large Hadron Collider, along with example analyses for specific processes. This note extends the analysis presented in arXiv:0908.3660. Full-size figures are available as pdf files at http://lutece.fnal.gov/PartonLum11/

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Resource Letter: Quantum Chromodynamics

This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the relativistic quantum field theory of the strong interactions. Journal articles, books, and other documents are cited for the following topics: quarks and color, the parton model, Yang-Mills theory, experimental evidence for color, QCD as a color gauge theory, asymptotic freedom, QCD for heavy hadrons, QCD on the lattice, the QCD vacuum, pictures of quark confinement, early and modern applications of perturbative QCD, the determination of the strong coupling and quark masses, QCD and the hadron spectrum, hadron decays, the quark-gluon plasma, the strong nuclear interaction, and QCD's role in nuclear physics. The letter {E} after an item indicates elementary level or material of general interest to persons becoming informed in the field. The letter {I}, for intermediate level, indicates material of a somewhat more specialized nature, and the letter {A} indicates rather specialized or advanced material.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Looking into Particle Production at the Large Hadron Collider

Lightly triggered events may yield surprises about the nature of "soft" particle production at LHC energies. I suggest that event displays in coordinates matched to the dynamics of particle production (rapidity and transverse momentum) may help sharpen intuition, identify interesting classes of events, and test expectations about the underlying event that accompanies hard-scattering phenomena.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Learning to See at the Large Hadron Collider

The staged commissioning of the Large Hadron Collider presents an opportunity to map gross features of particle production over a significant energy range. I suggest a visual tool - event displays in (pseudo)rapidity-transverse-momentum space - as a scenic route that may help sharpen intuition, identify interesting classes of events for further investigation, and test expectations about the underlying event that accompanies large-transverse-momentum phenomena.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2009

LHC Physics Potential vs. Energy

Parton luminosities are convenient for estimating how the physics potential of Large Hadron Collider experiments depends on the energy of the proton beams. I present parton luminosities, ratios of parton luminosities, and contours of fixed parton luminosity for $gg$, $u\bar{d}$, and $qq$ interactions over the energy range relevant to the Large Hadron Collider, along with example analyses for specific processes.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2009

Unanswered Questions in the Electroweak Theory

This article is devoted to the status of the electroweak theory on the eve of experimentation at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. A compact summary of the logic and structure of the electroweak theory precedes an examination of what experimental tests have established so far. The outstanding unconfirmed prediction of the electroweak theory is the existence of the Higgs boson, a weakly interacting spin-zero particle that is the agent of electroweak symmetry breaking, the giver of mass to the weak gauge bosons, the quarks, and the leptons. General arguments imply that the Higgs boson or other new physics is required on the TeV energy scale. Indirect constraints from global analyses of electroweak measurements suggest that the mass of the standard-model Higgs boson is less than 200 GeV. Once its mass is assumed, the properties of the Higgs boson follow from the electroweak theory, and these inform the search for the Higgs boson. Alternative mechanisms for electroweak symmetry breaking are reviewed, and the importance of electroweak symmetry breaking is illuminated by considering a world without a specific mechanism to hide the electroweak symmetry. For all its triumphs, the electroweak theory has many shortcomings. . . .

hep-ph↗
arXiv2009

Gedanken Worlds without Higgs: QCD-Induced Electroweak Symmetry Breaking

To illuminate how electroweak symmetry breaking shapes the physical world, we investigate toy models in which no Higgs fields or other constructs are introduced to induce spontaneous symmetry breaking. Two models incorporate the standard SU(3)_c x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y gauge symmetry and fermion content similar to that of the standard model. The first class--like the standard electroweak theory--contains no bare mass terms, so the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry within quantum chromodynamics is the only source of electroweak symmetry breaking. The second class adds bare fermion masses sufficiently small that QCD remains the dominant source of electroweak symmetry breaking and the model can serve as a well-behaved low-energy effective field theory to energies somewhat above the hadronic scale. A third class of models is based on the left-right--symmetric SU(3)_c x SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x U(1)_{B-L} gauge group. In a fourth class of models, built on SU(4)_{PS} x SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R gauge symmetry, lepton number is treated as a fourth color. Many interesting characteristics of the models stem from the fact that the effective strength of the weak interactions is much closer to that of the residual strong interactions than in the real world. The Higgs-free models not only provide informative contrasts to the real world, but also lead us to consider intriguing issues in the application of field theory to the real world.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

NuFact08 -- Closing Talk

Nufact08 is the tenth in a series of workshops started in 1999, whose main goal is to understand options for future neutrino-oscillation experiments to attack the problems of the neutrino mass hierarchy and CP violation in the leptonic sector. I present a very brief review of what we know and what we would like to know about neutrino mass, mixing, and flavor change. I consider the interplay between neutrino physics and forthcoming information from the Large Hadron Collider. I comment on a decade's progress and offer some context for work that lies ahead.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

Cosmic Neutrinos

I recall the place of neutrinos in the electroweak theory and summarize what we know about neutrino mass and flavor change. I next review the essential characteristics expected for relic neutrinos and survey what we can say about the neutrino contribution to the dark matter of the Universe. Then I discuss the standard-model interactions of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos, paying attention to the consequences of neutrino oscillations, and illustrate a few topics of interest to neutrino observatories. I conclude with short comments on the remote possibility of detecting relic neutrinos through annihilations of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos at the $Z$ resonance.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking as a Basis of Particle Mass

Electroweak theory joins electromagnetism with the weak force in a single quantum field theory, ascribing the two fundamental interactions--so different in their manifestations--to a common symmetry principle. How the electroweak gauge symmetry is hidden is one of the most urgent and challenging questions facing particle physics. The provisional answer incorporated in the "standard model" of particle physics was formulated in the 1960s by Higgs, by Brout & Englert, and by Guralnik, Hagen & Kibble: The agent of electroweak symmetry breaking is an elementary scalar field whose self-interactions select a vacuum state in which the full electroweak symmetry is hidden, leaving a residual phase symmetry of electromagnetism. By analogy with the Meissner effect of the superconducting phase transition, the Higgs mechanism, as it is commonly known, confers masses on the weak force carriers W and Z. It also opens the door to masses for the quarks and leptons, and shapes the world around us. It is a good story--though an incomplete story--and we do not know how much of the story is true. Experiments that explore the Fermi scale (the energy regime around 1 TeV) during the next decade will put the electroweak theory to decisive test, and may uncover new elements needed to construct a more satisfying completion of the electroweak theory. The aim of this article is to set the stage by reporting what we know and what we need to know, and to set some "Big Questions" that will guide our explorations.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

Higgs Bosons, Electroweak Symmetry Breaking, and the Physics of the Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider, a 7 + 7 TeV proton-proton collider under construction at CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva), will take experiments squarely into a new energy domain where mysteries of the electroweak interaction will be unveiled. What marks the 1-TeV scale as an important target? Why is understanding how the electroweak symmetry is hidden important to our conception of the world around us? What expectations do we have for the agent that hides the electroweak symmetry? Why do particle physicists anticipate a great harvest of discoveries within reach of the LHC?

hep-ph↗
arXiv2006

Gravitational Lensing of Supernova Neutrinos

The black hole at the center of the galaxy is a powerful lens for supernova neutrinos. In the very special circumstance of a supernova near the extended line of sight from Earth to the galactic center, lensing could dramatically enhance the neutrino flux at Earth and stretch the neutrino pulse.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2006

New states above charm threshold

We revise and extend expectations for the properties of charmonium states that lie above charm threshold, in light of new experimental information. We refine the Cornell coupled-channel model for the coupling of c-cbar levels to two-meson states, defining resonance masses and widths by pole positions in the complex energy plane, and suggest new targets for experiment.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2006

Neutrino Coannihilation on Dark-Matter Relics?

High-energy neutrinos may resonate with relic background neutralinos to form short-lived sneutrinos. In some circumstances, the decay chain that leads back to the lightest supersymmetric particle would yield few-GeV gamma rays or charged-particle signals. Although resonant coannihilation would occur at an appreciable rate in our galaxy, the signal in any foreseeable detector is unobservably small.

astro-ph↗