ILC and Higgs

Introduction

The International Linear Collider (ILC) will give physicists a new way to study the Higgs boson with great precision. The ILC will be an electron-positron collider. Electrons and positrons will be produced and then accelerated to high energies before they collide. A result of these collisions can be the Higgs boson. To understand what physicists will look for to find the Higgs signal in ILC, we will examine Z and WW decays from the Large Electron Positron collider (LEP), which operated until 1999 in the tunnel which now houses the Large Hadron Collider.

Objectives

Participants will:

Use conservation laws to explain and characterize the decays of Z and W bosons in LEP.
Use the hypotheses formed about Z and W decays to predict the patterns of Higgs boson event in ILC.

Workflow

LEP Z-decay. Examine the slides of decays of Z-bosons and try to characterize the patterns according to decay products (particles), number of tracks, energy loss, and anything else you observe. This does not all have to be quantitative. Take notes. Discuss and form a consensus on how the Z boson decays. Resources: Slides (original, inverted colors), Information sheet, Notes sheet.
LEP WW-decay. Examine the slides of decays of pairs of W-bosons and try to characterize the patterns according to decay products (particles), number of tracks, energy loss, and anything else you observe. This does not all have to be quantitative. Take notes. Discuss and form a consensus on how the W boson pairs decay. Resources: Slides (original, inverted colors), Information sheet, Notes sheet.
Higgs in ILC. Examine the ILC/Higgs slides to learn how the Higgs boson will be produced in ILC. Use what you have learned from LEP events to predict what the Higgs events in ILC will look like. Draw diagrams and share these with your colleagues. Resources: Slides, Information sheet, Notes sheet, poster board, markers.