2:00 pm Zoom
"Off the beaten track: Unconventional Searches at the Large Hadron Collider"
We know that the Standard Model cannot be the complete picture of the universe. Countless hints, from natural phenomena like dark matter, to theoretical concerns such as the hierarchy puzzle, strongly suggest that new fundamental particles should appear at energies probed by the LHC. As the LHC transitions from increases in energy to increases in luminosity, it is essential to break long-standing assumptions about how best to look for new physics.
In this talk I will outline a search program for unconventional track-based signatures. These compelling signatures break the underlying assumptions of our experiment's design, and pose tremendous challenges for LHC physicists. I will discuss how to push the boundaries of our current detectors to accelerate our discovery potential in the upcoming run, and touch on ways to improve our detector’s capabilities to look for these signatures at the High Luminosity LHC and beyond.