Office Location: 267 Physics
Office Phone: (919) 660-2561
Email Address: thomas.phillips@duke.edu
Web Page: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~phillips
Specialties:
Experimental high energy physics
Education:
PhD, Harvard University, 1986
MA, Harvard University, 1982
MS, Stanford University, 1980
BS, Stanford University, 1980
Research Categories: Experimental High Energy Physics
Current projects: CDF, Antimatter Gravity Experiment
Research Description:
Associate Research Professor Thomas J. Phillips' primary research is done at the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF), where protons and antiprotons are collided to produce the highest center-of-mass energies available at any laboratory. This energy can produce massive particles such as the top quark that are new to science. On CDF Professor Phillips has been responsible for the Central Outer Tracker (COT) readout electronics and cabling, construction and evaluation of a full-length COT prototype, survey and final assembly of the VTX vertex tracking chamber, and other hardware projects. Software contributions to CDF include the missing Et algorithm used in Run I, and track-timing reconstruction software for the COT.
In CDF's early runs, Professor Phillips worked on many analyses including measurements of the W boson mass, monojets, discovery of the top quark, and hadronic production of W bosons. This last analysis is particularly relevant for many Run II analyses where QCD W production (W + jets) is a major background for many standard model and beyond the standard model signals.
In CDF Run II, Professor Phillips is analyzing the CDF data looking for signals of new (exotic) physics including extra dimensions and supersymmetry by looking for long-lived massive charged particles (CHAMPs). Most beyond-standard-model theories predict new massive particles, and most searches for these particles assume that they decay immediately. However, if they are stable long enough to traverse the detector, they would have evaded these searches. The CHAMPs analysis looks for charged particles with high momentum but low velocity, which is a signature for high mass. CHAMPs are predicted by many classes of theories, where the stability comes from weak coupling constants, limited phase space, or other constraints such as a new conserved (or nearly conserved) quantity.
In addition to the CHAMPs analysis, Professor Phillips is participating in an analysis looking for new physics in events with W or Z bosons. The goal of this analysis is to look for deviations from standard-model predictions in the photons produced along with the W or Z boson. Deviations could be an indication of anomalous couplings to the W or Z boson.
Professor Phillips is founder of the Antimatter Gravity Experiment (AGE) and is co-spokesperson of the AGE collaboration. If funded, this experiment will make the first measurement of the gravitational force between the earth and antimatter. The plan is use trapped antiprotons and positrons to make a slow beam of antihydrogen. The beam will be directed through an atomic interferometer, where the phase shift due to gravity will be measured.
In the future Professor Phillips expects to transition from the CDF experiment to the ATLAS experiment at CERN.
Areas of Interest:
Charged Massive Stable Particles
W and Z bosons
multi muons
Antihydrogen
Antimatter Gravity
Electric Vehicle Power Sources
Recent Publications (More Publications)