High Energy Physics Seminars

Dark matter self-interactions is a fascinating concept that could help explain some of the universe's mysteries, such as the distribution of dark matter near galactic centers. If such interactions occur in nature, dark matter could form bound states, which might be observable in LHC collisions. In this search for self-interacting dark matter (SIDM), the dark matter particles produced at the LHC form a heavy bound state, which subsequently decays into a pair of boosted, long-lived dark photons. The decays of these dark photons could produce clusters of displaced and collimated leptons, which are reconstructed as "displaced lepton jets". The first part of the talk focuses on the reconstruction efficiency and displacement of these lepton jets. For the High Luminosity-LHC, the CMS detector is undergoing a massive upgrade, which involves the addition of an MIP Timing Detector (MTD). The central part of the MTD, the barrel timing layer (BTL), is designed to measure the arrival time of charged particles with a precision of 30ps. At UVA, we are making one-fourth of the total BTL. In the second part of the talk, I will talk about the components of the BTL and the progress we have made in its production.