Pierre Savard

Assistant Professor and TRIUMF Scientist
Experimental Particle Physics

Office: MP- 803
tel: (416) 978-0764
fax: (416) 978-8221
email: savard@physics.utoronto.ca

Brief CV

 Assistant Professor at University of Toronto, TRIUMF Scientist  (2002-)
 Research Associate, University of Toronto (2000-2002)
 FCAR Fellow, University of  Toronto (1998-2000)
 Ph.D., Université de Montréal (1998)
 M.Sc., Université de Montréal (1993)
 B.Sc., Université de Sherbrooke (1991)

Research Interests:

   How do fundamental particles become massive? This is one of the great  questions that the field of particle physics is trying to answer.  Our current theoretical framework, the Standard Model of particle physics, explains how particles acquire mass through the breaking of electroweak symmetry.  In this context, a particle's mass is determined by the strength of its interaction with a scalar field called the Higgs field. If the Standard Model is correct, we should be able to observe the excitation of this field: a neutral scalar particle called the Higgs boson.  To this day, the Higgs boson eludes experimental confirmation.

  The observation of the Higgs boson would be a great triumph for the Standard Model.  However, finding the Higgs would not answer another interesting question related to the observed mass hierarchy
of fundamental particles, that is: why are the masses of particles so different, spanning more than ten orders of magnitude?

  My current research efforts are aimed at answering these questions by studying the heaviest particle yet discovered: the top quark. By virtue of its heavy mass, which is close to the energy scale of electroweak symmetry breaking, the top quark is likely a link to our understanding of the Higgs mechanism and the origin of the observed mass hierarchy.  I am currently working on a precision measurement of the top quark mass,
a measurement of the production cross section and decay to dileptons, and on measuring the electroweak production rate of single top quarks.

  Top quark measurements can only be performed at the Tevatron, the world's most powerful particle accelerator. This machine is located at Fermilab, a laboratory near Chicago.  Two experiments study the collisons produced by the Tevatron and my research is done with the CDF detector. The CDF
collaboration consists of about 600 physicists from over 40 international institutions.

 Recent conference proceedings on Higgs and top quark physics

 On the hardware front, I am particularly interested in calorimeters which are devices that measure the energy of particles.   I've helped design the hadronic endcap calorimeter of the ATLAS experiment and more recently was in charge of the calorimeter reconstruction group of CDF.

Link to current work and research contributions

Selected Publications:

Measurement of the top anti-top  production cross section in proton anti-proton
collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV unsing dilepton events. CDF Collaboration.
FERMILAB-PUB-04-051-E, Apr 2004. 18pp.
Accepted by Phys.Rev.Lett.  e-Print Archive: hep-ex/0404036

Search for single top quark production in proton anti-proton collisions at  sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV.
CDF Collaboration, Phys. Rev. D  65, 091102 (2002).

Search for a W' Boson Decaying to a Top and Bottom Quark Pair in 1.8
TeV proton anti-proton collisions. CDF Collaboration, accepted by Physics Review Letters,
 hep-ex/0209030

Study of the heavy flavor content of jets produced in association with W bosons
in proton anti-proton collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV.  CDF Collaboration ,
Phys. Rev. D 65, 052007 (2002)

Measurement of the top anti-top cross section in proton anti-proton collisions
at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV. CDF Collaboration, Phys. Rev. D 64, 032002 (2001).

Complete publication list from SPIRES database


Courses: PHY225 Fundamental Physics Laboratory (course homepage)
                     PHY256 Introduction to Quantum Physics (course homepage)
 

Students and Research Associates:

 Reda Tafirout (Research Associate)
 Simon Sabik (Ph.D. Student)
 Teresa Spreitzer (Ph.D.Student)
 Bernd Stelzer (Ph.D. Student)

  Interested in becoming a NSERC Summer Student? Please contact me in January/February

  Also, f you are interested in graduate studies in experimental particle physics, feel
  free to contact me.

Committees:

 Welsh Lecture Committee (2002-2004)
 Standards and Evaluations (2003-2004)
 Library Committee


site maintained by P. Savard, last update 09/09/04