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Dr. Todd Adams

Prof. Adams received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 1997 in Experimental Particle Physics.  Afterwards, he was a post-doctoral researcher at Kansas State University studying neutrino physics with the NuTeV collaboration.  He joined the faculty at FSU in 2001.  His research interest is in particle physics, also known as high energy physics.  The goal is to understand the most basic particles and forces in nature.  Prof. Adams currently works with the FSU High Energy Physics Group on the D0 Experiment at Fermilab and the CMS Experiment at CERN.

The D0 collaboration is currently engaged in an eight year period of recording proton-antiproton collisions at the highest energies yet achieved in a laboratory.  Prof. Adams is one of the collaboration's experts on Monte Carlo simulations and has worked on numerous projects including upgrades to important trigger systems for the silicon tracker and calorimeter.

Prof. Adams' recent research has focussed on searches for new physics and studies of top pair production.  In 2006, he performed a search for a neutral, long-lived particle decaying to two muons using data from D0.  The result was highlighted as Fermilab's Result of the Week on March 2, 2006 and publishing in Physical Review Letters (PRL 97, 161802 (2006)).  In 2007, work is ongoing on measuring top pair production in a final state involving a tau lepton, an electron or muon, two b-quarks and several neutrinos. The top quark was originally discovered by the D0 and CDF experiments in 1995 and the tau decay is the last remaining standard model mode to be observed.  It is unique in two ways, it involves only 3rd generation particles and is sensitive to some models of charged Higgs bosons.

Prof. Adams is continuing his pursuit of signs of new physics at the CMS experiment at CERN.  CMS is beginning data taking in 2007 and will provide proton-proton collisions at an energy 7 times higher than Fermilab.  The possibilities are astounding!  For more information on Prof. Adams' research, see his webpage.