Rare Higgs decays are a powerful tool to probe for new physics. While predicted by the Standard Model to occur at very low rates, due to the presence of new forces and particles these rates can be significantly enhanced. Particularly in four-muon final states the background can be small enough so that just a few extra events might be the telltale sign.

CMS uses silicon pixel detectors close to the LHC beam to measure trajectories of charged particles created in the proton-proton collisions. The group is involved in R&D of new radiation hard sensors and the forward pixel detector (TFPX) that will be used in the High-Luminosity LHC.  We develop a bump-bonding quality measurement in our lab. The group contributes to the building and Run-3 operation of the smallest pixel detector that sits just 4 cm away from the LHC beam. 

We search for "Long-Lived Particles": new particles with macroscopic lifetimes. These particles can travel through the CMS detector before decaying, evading traditional searches and leaving a wide variety of signals in the detector.  Searching for these particles requires building new reconstruction techniques, and understanding all the details of the detector, and there's lots of wide open space to find something new. 

Exploration of the energy frontier has led to some of the most fundamental discoveries of the last century. To continue this exploration into the future, a paradigm shift is needed: we can't simply build larger and larger versions of the same ee and pp machines: constraints from cost, available land, and energy efficiency put a cap on the reach of these machines. The group is exploring options for building a muon collider: a compact, cost-effective colliser with the potential to reach the 10 TeV scale and beyond.