The highly anticipated startup of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) later this year will herald a new era in elementary particle physics. The LHC's unexplored energy domain will provide unique opportunities to search for new physics. To improve prospects for these types of discoveries it is absolutely critical to not only develop methods for offline analysis but also formulate strategies that can be used real-time to “trigger” on potentially interesting events. Triggering on new phenomena is a particularly formidable challenge owing to its unexpected and not yet determined nature. I will describe the current status of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the LHC and focus on the strategies and techniques being commissioned in order to surmount these challenges and prepare for the LHC turn-on. I will review the discovery potential of the CMS experiment with emphasis on searches for new physics with early LHC data. I will also describe the challenges presented by unconventional final states involving long-lived particles and present lessons learned from the Tevatron experience.
Friday, October 16th at 4:00 PM
Room L211, Technological Institute
Refreshments are served at 3:30 PM
