Measurement of Higgs Boson Decays into Bottom and Charm Quarks using the Vector Boson Fusion Production Mode in the ATLAS Detector
Author: Trevor Hart
Faculty Supervisor: Maarten Golterman
Department: Physics & Astronomy
The Standard Model, the holy grail of particle physics, describes all known particles and interactions in the universe. Studying the Standard Model and the interactions it describes requires the most complex machine on earth, the Large Hadron Collider. With this machine and the ATLAS detector, one can understand more about the internal structure of the universe. In the ATLAS collaboration, I study how Standard Model particles decay, notably the Higgs Boson decaying into Bottom and Charm quarks. The work starts with understanding the underlying physics of a process, applying various machine learning algorithms and optimization studies, and improving the significance of measurements to help improve the signals of the final state particles. This process culminates in measuring or refining limits inside the Standard Model.