Randal C. Ruchti

Professor,
Experimental High Energy
Elementary Particle Physics

Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1973

Research Interests
The objective of Prof. Ruchti's research program is the study of the fundamental questions at the high energy frontier (TeV scale), with particular emphasis on experiments performed at hadron colliders. Key areas of interest include studies of the production and decay of the top quark, testing of the Standard Model of Electroweak Interactions, and search for physics beyond the Standard Model, including searches for evidence of Supersymmetry and investigation of the Higg's sector. The research program is based around the D0 Experiment at the Tevatron Collider at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and future experimentation at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) using the CMS detector.

The quest for the understanding of fundamental particles and forces has led to the development of new detector technologies which are capable of extracting rare and new phenomena from the harsh and complex experimental environment at hadron colliders. His Notre Dame collider physics group has pioneered one of these: scintillating fiber (SciFi) tracking technology, which combines the speed and efficiency of a scintillation detector and the flexibility and robustness of organic-plastic optical fibers. Scintillation light is read out of the multiclad fiber using state-of-the-art solid-state photosensors called visible light photon counters (VLPC). This group is participating in the research and development, design and construction of an 80,000 channel SciFi central tracker for the upgrade of the D0 experiment for use at the Tevatron with the Main Injector, and is developing new scintillator and waveshifter materials and optical readout systems for hadronic calorimetry for the CMS detector.

To carry out the complex and long-term particle physics experiments, a strong program of education and outreach called QuarkNet is under way which partners high school teachers and students from around the USA with experimental particle physicists working on hadron collider experiments. Notre Dame, with Fermilab, LBNL, and Hampton University, is leading this National Effort to strengthen science education. Ruchti also serves as education coordinator for US CMS.

Selected Publications:

"Observation of the Top Quark," S. Abachi, et al. (D0 Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, No. 14, 2632-2637 (1995).

"Quark and Lepton Masses," R. Ruchti and M. Wayne, Proceedings of the 8th Meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1220-1223 (1995).

"The Use of Scintillating Fibers for Charged Particle Tracking," R.C. Ruchti, Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, Vol. 46, 281-319 (1996).

"SciFi 97 Conference on Scintillating and Fiber Detectors," A.D.Bross, R.C. Ruchti, and M.R. Wayne, eds., Notre Dame 1998, AIP Conference Proceedings, 450 (1998).

"Measurement of the W Boson Mass," B. Abbott, et al. (D0 Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 58, 092003, 1-37 (1998).

Honors and Activities
Fellow, American Physical Society

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