LHC Physics Center

What I will be working on:

In the coming year my main focus will be on preparing for high-priority top physics analyses that can immediately be performed when the LHC turns on at the new energy of 13 TeV. I will also continue to oversee the completion of the legacy publications based on the 7 and 8 TeV datasets, and the combination of Run I legacy results between CMS and ATLAS in the framework of the TOPLHC Working Group. The LPC travel allowance allows me to work more closely with top physics experts at FNAL and collaborating institutes, and will give me new opportunities to improve the visibility of the CMS achievements in this field, to interact with theorists and phenomenologists at conferences and workshops, and to recruit new people to ensure the successful continuation of a vibrant top physics program in CMS.

My role in CMS past and present:

My first involvement with CMS was as a member of the LPC, where I started in 2004 as co-convenor of the LPC Muon working group. When I moved to CERN at the end of 2005 I continued working on muon reconstruction and identification in CMS using the new CMSSW software framework. I coordinated analysis efforts at the Magnet Test and Cosmic Challenge (MTCC) in 2006, and the Cosmic Run at Four Tesla (CRAFT) in 2008 and 2009, leading to an improved understanding of the CMS magnetic field, muon reconstruction performance, and validating detector simulations. During my term as CMS Muon physics object group co-convenor (2008-2009), CMS published 23 CRAFT performance papers and one physics publication, on the measurement of the cosmic muon charge ratio. In recent years I have been working on precision measurements with top quarks, in particular the top quark mass and the mass difference between top quarks and anti-quarks, using the Ideogram analysis technique. In 2012 I became top mass contact person in the TOPLHC working group, and co-convenor of the top-mass subgroup of the CMS Top physics group. During that year we published the world's most precise top mass measurement in each of the top decay channels. As co-convenor of the CMS Top physics group in 2013 and 2014 I was responsible for the entire CMS top physics program, ensuring publication of the Run 1 legacy measurements and preparing for the start of the next run in 2015. I have also been instructor in several past CMS Data Analysis Schools (CMSDAS) and since 2012 I am deputy director of the CERN schools of High-Energy Physics, organizing schools in Europe, Latin-America and in the Asia-Pacific region.