Colin Jessop

Associate Professor,
Experimental Particle Physics

B.A. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
M.A. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Ph.D. Harvard University, Massachusetts

Research Interests

Particle physics has been immensely successful in understanding the fundamental forces that control the interactions of all matter. However there remain a wide variety of unsolved problems and several inconsistencies in the standard theory. These include the nature of mass itself, the preponderance of matter over anti-matter in the universe and the incorporation of gravity at the quantum level into a consistent theory. My research focuses on the experimental study of heavy quark and lepton decays to search for evidence of new particles and interactions that may help to solve some of these problems.

Most recently I have been conducting experiments with the BaBar experiment at the PEPII electron-positron ring at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. This is a general purpose facility designed to produce and detect copious quantities of B mesons and also D mesons and Tau leptons. I contributed extensively to the design, construction and operation of this facility, particularly the CsI crystal calorimeter. Using this facility I have focused on the study of the radiative decays of the B meson in the hope of finding evidence of new interactions in the quantum corrections of these decays. I am also contributing to the design and construction of upgraded high speed data acquisition electronics for the tracking chamber.

Selected Publications

“Determination of the Branching Fraction for Inclusive Decays B (B ® Xs g ),” BaBar Collaboration, hep-ex 0207076

“Search for the Exclusive Radiative Decays B ® rg and B ® wg ,” BaBar Collaboration, hep-ex 0207076 (to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett.)

“Measurement of B  ®  K *^g Branching Fractions and Charge Asymmetries,” BaBar Collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 101805 (2002).

“Measurement of CP violating Asymmetries in B0 Decays to CP Eigenstates,” BaBar

Collaboration Phys. Rev. Lett , 86 2515 2001

“The BaBar Detector,” BaBar Collaboration, Nuc. Inst. and Meth. A 479 , 1 (2002).

“Studies of Electroweak Radiative B meson Decays,” CLEO collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84 , 5283 (2000).

“First Search for CP Violation in Tau Lepton Decay,” CLEO collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3823 (1998).

“Search for the Top Quark Decaying to Charged Higgs in proton-antiproton collisions,” CDF collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 72 , 1977 (1994).

Awards

• Full curriculum vitae (pdf)
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