Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Physicist Wins NSF Grant to Support Subatomic Particle Research

Tuesday, July 19, 2016, By Carol Boll
Share
College of Arts and Sciencesresearch

The National Science Foundation has awarded $160,000 to Matthew Rudolph, assistant professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, to continue his work with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN’s accelerator complex near Geneva, Switzerland.

Matthew Rudolph

Matthew Rudolph

The two-year grant will provide funding to support Rudolph’s work on b quark physics as part of a project titled “Flavor Physics and Upgraded Tracking at LHCb.” Specifically, it will help cover his personal costs and support a new graduate student working on both physics analysis and an upgrade to the LHC’s Upstream Tracker. The upgraded tracker is part of an effort to further enhance the quality of data drawn from the collision of subatomic particles and the decay of the particles emerging from those collisions. It will allow for greater sensitivity and precision measurements of the particles and processes that are produced by the collisions.

One of the key objectives of the LHCb research project is to answer a mystery stretching back to the Big Bang: Why is our universe dominated by matter and not antimatter?

“The experiments at CERN and, in particular, the LHC experiments, are about pushing the absolute limits of our knowledge of physics,” says Rudolph. “The LHC is, literally, a discovery machine. All the experiments are designed to discover completely new physical interactions. By accelerating particles to such high energies and creating as many collisions as possible, we can study conditions that haven’t existed in nature since soon after the Big Bang. LHCb uniquely looks for these new discoveries by making precision measurements and looking for rare decays of particles containing bottom and charm quarks. This award will jump-start my new series of measurements and help ensure that we are able to construct an excellent new tracking detector to improve the LHCb experiment as a whole.”

Quarks are elementary particles that serve as building blocks for matter. Bottom and charm quarks are two of six types of quarks that have been identified as part of particle physics’ “Standard Model,” a well-established, yet incomplete, theory of how the basic building blocks of matter interact. The LHCb experiments seek to answer some of the remaining questions relating to that theory and further expand understanding of subatomic particles and, consequently, the origins of the universe.

Rudolph has been working on LHC experiments at CERN—the European Organization for Nuclear Research—since he was a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he also earned his Ph.D. He joined the Syracuse physics faculty in 2015, and his current LHCb research is part of a collaboration with fellow Syracuse physics faculty colleagues Sheldon Stone, Marina Artuso, Tomasz Skwarnicki and Steve Blusk. They are among more than 800 scientists from 16 countries involved in the LHCb experiment at CERN.

  • Author

Carol Boll

  • Recent
  • Fusion of Art and Science Leads to Discovery
    Monday, April 19, 2021, By Ellen de Graffenreid
  • Architecture Instructor Wins 2021 Ragdale Ring Competition
    Monday, April 19, 2021, By Julie Sharkey
  • Dining Centers to Resume In-Person Dining Monday, April 19, at 11 a.m.
    Sunday, April 18, 2021, By News Staff
  • Libraries Receive Two Access and Digitization Grants
    Sunday, April 18, 2021, By Cristina Hatem
  • Pre-Registration Open for On-Campus Vaccine Clinic
    Friday, April 16, 2021, By News Staff

More In STEM

Fusion of Art and Science Leads to Discovery

Robert Wysocki arrived at Syracuse University in 2008, having made a name in the art world by capturing landscapes in three dimensions. Known for large sand sculptures showcased in galleries from Los Angeles to Florida, Wysocki’s inspiration began on a…

Bioengineering Ph.D. Student Receives National Recognition for Breakthrough Molecular Computational Tool

Nandhini Rajagopal’s accomplishments are massive even though her research focuses on small molecules. As part of biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Shikha Nangia’s research group, the Ph.D. student has focused her work on minute interactions between protein molecules in the…

New Study From Department of Biology Highlights Ways to Support Students in Virtual Learning Environments

The mass migration to virtual learning that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic led to a profound change in student learning. While it presented many challenges, it also created opportunities for documenting responses. Two researchers from the Department of Biology in…

Research Computing: A Decade of Discovery on Campus

Do you need more computing power to move your work forward? Since 2011, the Research Computing team within Information Technology Services (ITS) has helped faculty and staff tackle computational challenges beyond the capabilities of a normal desktop or laptop computer. Each…

Engineering Professor Shobha Bhatia Receives 2021 Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Scholar Award

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Shobha Bhatia has been honored by Chancellor Kent Syverud with a 2021 Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Scholar award. The award recognizes exceptional creativity and a passion for excellence. It provides $10,000 for Bhatia to undertake an…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.