Professor Syracuse praised his contributions to experimental particle physics

The American Physical Society (APS) recognizes a professor from the College of Arts and Sciences (A & S) for his contributions to particle physics.

Sheldon Stone, Distinguished Physics Professor, is the 2019 winner of the prestigious W.K.H. from the APS. Panofksy Award in Experimental Physics of Particles.

The prize includes $ 10,000, a travel allowance for the meeting where Stone will be honored and a certificate citing his ongoing research on the fundamental forces and particles in the universe.

"We applaud [Stone’s] transformative contributions to the physics of flavors and hadronic spectroscopy, especially through his intellectual leadership in the construction and analysis of detectors on the beauty of CLEO and the Large Hadron Collider [LHCb] experiments, and for the long-standing and profoundly influential advocacy for the physics of flavors in hadron colliders, "said APS President Roger Falcone.

Established in 1985, the Panofsky Award recognizes and encourages outstanding achievements in experimental particle physics. Seven laureates subsequently won the Nobel Prize.

Stone seeks forces in the universe that help answer the most persistent questions of astrophysics, such as "Why is there more matter than antimatter in the world? universe?"

"Each particle has a corresponding antiparticle, identical in every respect, but with an opposite charge," says Stone, a decorated APS scholar. "When matter and antimatter come in contact, they wipe out in a burst of energy, much like what happened at the Big Bang. I want to know why the matter has become so dominant. "

Stone also excels in hadronic spectroscopy, a subfield of physics that studies the quark content of hadrons and their masses.

Under his leadership, A & S's 20-member High Energy Physics (HEP) group gained international recognition for entering the new physics – physics beyond the standard model, a theory that is several decades describing the fundamental forces of the universe. particles.

HEP members often share their time between Syracuse, where the material is designed, developed, built and tested, and the CERN Physics Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, where experiments are conducted. CERN is home to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world.

Stone is the principal investigator of a new $ 3.7 million, three-year grant project organized by the National Science Foundation, which explores the physics of heavy quarks. The grant supports HEP's involvement in the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCB) experiment, also at CERN.

"The nucleus of an atom consists of protons and neutrons, each containing three quarks.We produce these quarks and others heavier with the LHC," he says.

HEP is interested in how heavier quarks break down or turn into lighter quarks. Considerable emphasis is placed on three of the six types of quarks – the top or t quark, which has a particular name; the "low", "beauty" or "b" quark; and the "charm" or "c" quark.

"The study of the decays of these heavy quarks could help us understand what happened after the Big Bang, nearly 14 billion years ago," Stone adds.

At CERN, the LHC emits beams of protons at the speed of light. HEP treats the debris from these collisions to find new or detectable force clues in the universe.

Since 2014, the LHCb experiment has transformed the field of his ear into discoveries of various hadrons, including two rare pentaquarks (a four-quark particle and an antiquark), a tetraquark (two quarks and two antiquarks) and several baryons. (three quarks).

A unifying feature of these discoveries is the presence of a "b" or "c" quark. "We can not discern the presence of" b "quarks until they break down into something else," says Stone.

Ian Shipsey, Professor Henry Moseley Centenary of Experimental Physics at the University of Oxford, praises Stone's understanding of the instrumentation used to record elementary particle interactions. "In fact, he built a lot of it," says Shipsey, who is also head of Oxford's physics department. "His knowledge is accompanied by a remarkable intuition and tenacity that has allowed him to discover new particles" – from the discovery of the B meson and the first definitive observation of the D meson to the recent discovery of pentaquark states.

In addition to data analysis, HEP is leading the construction of the Utstream Tracker (UT). This new device, scheduled for completion in 2020, will replace part of CERN's existing charged particle tracking device.

"The UT will enhance the capabilities of the 10 sub-detectors in the experiment, which are also being upgraded," Stone said, adding that Professor Marina Artuso is overseeing the UT project.

Stone is optimistic about the upgrade, which plans to increase the amount of data that LHCb can handle from five to ten. "Improved brightness will allow more accurate measurements of fundamental particles and will allow for rare processes to occur under the current sensitivity level," he explains.

Guy Wilkinson, a founding member and former spokesman for the LHCb experiment, is also excited. He says HEP was an "esteemed participant" long before the LHC made its first collisions in 2009.

"Sheldon has been a key figure in the exploration of aroma physics," says Oxford professor, referring to the different types or "flavors" of quarks and leptons. "He has shown great vision and leadership in the development of new experiments and experimental techniques, and has played a central role in many important discoveries."

Wilkinson points to HEP's "extremely solid results" in the production of major, large-scale publications – most of which explain how protons and neutrons bind together and how matter is formed. "Do not be fooled by the size of the group, they are impressive," he says, referring to the small collection of HEP, made up of about twenty professors, research assistants and students.

Before coming to Syracuse in 1991, Stone held teaching positions at Cornell and Vanderbilt Universities. He has also been co-spokesperson for the CLEO experiment at Cornell and BTeV's collaboration at the Fermilab National Laboratory of Accelerators (Fermilab) located outside of Chicago.

Stone is the author or co-author of hundreds of research articles and has participated in conferences around the world. He earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Rochester.

Joel Butler, a scientist emeritus at Fermilab, says Stone's expertise in data analysis and detector design, coupled with an "unusual understanding" of the theory behind them, allows search strategies innovative and visionary experimental approaches.

"Sheldon has devoted his career to the study of heavy quark decays, especially" b "quarks, with the goal of seeing deviations from the standard model of particle physics that would indicate new phenomena in the CERN's Muon Solenoid Experiment (CMS) "This effort has the potential to see evidence of new forces and particles that can not be directly observed even with our most energetic colliders."

The Panofsky Award is named after the German-American physicist who founded and led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). "He has profoundly influenced elementary particle physics as a researcher, machine builder and administrator of basic research," says Stone, who did several experiments at SLAC during Panofsky's 46-year term in 1961.

Chris Quigg, a distinguished scientist emeritus at Fermilab, regards Stone as an exceptional addition to the "enchanted circle" – no pun intended – of the Panofsky Award winners.

"Sheldon has been at the center of many key developments, has contributed significantly to the literature defining important issues in the field, and has led the development of new techniques in both instrumentation and analysis," said the eminent theoretical physicist. "He built a great experimental group in Syracuse, fueling the intellectual growth of his younger colleagues."

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APS is a non-profit organization working to advance and disseminate knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals; scientific meetings; and education, awareness, advocacy and international activities. The organization represents more than 55,000 members, including academic physicists, national laboratories and companies from the United States and around the world.