Current Research or Professional Activities

High energy particle interactions and jets
The strong force (i.e. the nuclear or "color" force) is not well understood. Neither is the structure of the proton. Collisions between protons and electrons make it possible to explore a number of models by which something may be said about the distribution and properties of matter within the proton and the mechanisms that drive the energy evolution during an interaction. Beams are accelerated in the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and injected into the HERA storage ring where they intersect and create a spray of new particles which are detected by ZEUS tracking and calorimeter components. Analysis of the experimental data is supported by an extensive computer farm and Monte Carlo simulated data generated in a global distributed computing environment. Occasionally Andrews students have helped with handware testing (eg. the Barrel PreSampler) and installation (eg. the Straw Tracker) as well as analysis projects.