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Professor and Vice-Dean

Experimental High Energy Physics

Telephone (Dean's Office): (416) 978-3390
Fax: (416) 978-3887
Telephone (High-Energy Physics): (416) 978-5270
Fax: (416) 978-8551
e-mail: pekka.sinervo@utoronto.ca


Research Recent Talks Papers

Post-Docs Students




B.Sc., University of Toronto (1980); Ph.D., Stanford University, USA, (1986). Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Pennsylvania, USA (1986-1988); Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania, USA (1988-1990); Associate Professor, University of Toronto (1990); Professor, University of Toronto (1995); Rutherford Memorial Medal and Prize (1996), Royal Society of Canada; Chair, Department of Physics (1997-2000); Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1999); Vice-Dean, Research Infrastructure and Graduate Education, Faculty of Arts and Science (2000-).



In the past decade, the Standard Model of the Electroweak and Strong forces has provided an excellent description of the electromagnetic and weak force. My research focuses on experimental tests of this model, many of which can only be done by studying particle interactions at very high energies.

I am currently engaged in the study of proton-antiproton collisions using the CDF detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, where these collisions can be made at the highest energies possible. I am also involved in the development of the next generation proton-proton collider studies, using the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

My specific interest has been the search for the top quark, one of the last missing particles in the Standard Model (the other being the hypothesized Higgs boson). This search resulted in its discovery in March 1995. It turns out to be extremely massive (the mass of a gold nucleus) and is therefore created only rarely in particle annihilations. Our group has received funding by NSERC for the CDF II experiment. The first of the two funded proposals is a major equipment grant request for hardware for the CDF II detector upgrade, and the second is a project grant request for operating funds for the IPP/CDF II group.

I'm also involved in the design and development of the ATLAS experiment, which will study proton-proton interactions at a center of mass energy of 14 TeV (7 times higher than Tevatron energies). The focus of this experiment will be the search for the Higgs boson. Its discovery and the study of other phenomena at these very high energies will bring us closer to a more complete understanding of the subatomic structure of our world.


Detector R & D

My hardware interests have been data acqusition technologies for hadron collider detectors, digital front-end electronics systems, and off-line software development for CDF. Much of this work is performed in close collaboration with groups in Canada and the US with similar interests.

I currently am involved in the development of pixel detectors for the ATLAS detector, in collaboration with the US ATLAS group at LBNL.

My group is also working on the design of a position monitoring system for the SVX II, a new silicon tracking detector planned for installation in CDF in 1999.


Teaching

I have most recently taught the spring term of PHY 140Y, the specialist introduction to Modern Physics (1999 and 2000).

I have assisted in the organisation of the Physics Olympiad Preparation Programme ( POPTOR), which helps prepare Ontario high school students to excel in the Canadian and International Physics Olympiad (I am currently the President of the Canadian Chemistry and Physics Olympiad, but the truth of the matter is that the Director, Dr. Pierre Savard, does almost all the work!).


Recent Talks

Statistical Significance in High-Energy Physics Experiments , Invited Talk given at the Conference on Advanced Statistical Techniques in High-Energy Physics, Durham, England (March 2002).

2001 CAP Lecture: The Discovery of the Top Quark, Trent University (March 2001).

Search for the Higgs at the Tevatron, Invited plenary talk at the SUSY-Higgs Workshop, Orsay, France (March 2001).

What We Know About Truth, Invited talk at the Western Regional Conference on Nuclear and Particle Physics (February 2000).

Role of Calorimetry in Top Physics, Presentation at CALOR 99, University of Lisbon, Portugal (June 1999).

Top Quark Properties, HEP seminar on top quark properties, Carleton University (February 1999).


Recent Manuscripts

Measurement of the Top Quark Pt Distribution Physical Review Letters article on the first measurement of the Top Quark transverse momentum distribution (May 2001).

The Search for a W' Boson via the Decay W' -> mu nu_mu in 1.8 TeV p-pbar Collisions, Physical Review Letters article on a search for a W' boson (September 1999).

Top Studies at Hadron Colliders, writeup of a set of lectures given at the 1995 SLAC Summer Institute (May 1996).


Other Links of Potential Interest?

Andrew Robinson's Ph.D. dissertation

Back to the University of Toronto Department of Physics home page.





``Measurement of the Top Quark Pt Distribution,'' F. Abe et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 102001 (2001).

``Search for a W' Boson via the Decay Mode W' --> mu nu in 1.8 TeV Proton-Antiproton Collisions,'' F. Abe et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5716-5721 (2000).

``Measurement of b Quark Fragmentation Fractions in Proton-Antiproton Collisions at root(s)=1.8 TeV,'' T. Affolder et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1663-1668 (2000).

``Measurement of the Top Quark Mass with the Collider Detector at Fermilab,'' F. Abe et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 271 (1999).

``Observation of Top Quark Production in Proton-Antiproton Collisions with the Collider Detector at Fermilab,'' F. Abe et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 2626-2631 (1995).

``Evidence for top quark production in pbar-p collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV'', F. Abe et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 225-231 (1994); F. Abe et al., Phys. Rev. D50, 2966-3026 (1994).

``A Search for the Top Quark Decaying to a Charged Higgs in pbar-p Collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV'', F. Abe et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 1977-1981 (1994).










This site is maintained by Pekka K. Sinervo. It was last updated on 13 April 2002.