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General University News STONY BROOK, NY, January 8, 2008 – Dr. Alexander Mitov, a researcher in the Department of Theoretical Physics at Liverpool University, UK, will join Stony Brook University's C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics (the YITP) for the spring semester as the first winner of a National Science Foundation Large Hadron Collider Theory Initiative Postdoctoral Fellowship.
The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC for short, is by some measures the largest scientific instrument ever built. Its construction phase is now nearly complete at the European Center for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland. It is designed to probe the origin of the Standard Model, the spectacularly-successful, yet fundamentally incomplete contemporary theory of elementary particles and forces. While at Stony Brook, Dr. Mitov will study higher-order corrections to such important LHC processes as heavy flavor production and precision top-quark studies. The interpretation of LHC data will require an unprecedented international collaboration of theoretical and experimental physicists. The NSF's LHC Theory Initiative is intended to enable young theorists at the postdoctoral and graduate level to take part in this scientific drama as it unfolds. This year, the first such postdoctoral fellowship was made available in an international competition. Each application named a sponsoring host institution, and Dr. Mitov's award is recognition both of his accomplishments and Stony Brook's historic strength in elementary particle theory and experiment. According to YITP director George Sterman, Dr. Mitov has already made important contributions to the theory of the strong interactions, known as quantum chromodynamics, which is a part of the Standard Model. “This is logical and noteworthy collaboration,” says director Sterman. “Alexander’s innovative and precise work will complement Stony Brook's already-distinguished program at the frontier of particle physics.” Among Mitov's specialties are predictions for how particles known as heavy quarks will be produced at the LHC. Over a decade ago, the Stony Brook-led experiment "DZero" at Fermilab discovered the heaviest quark of all, the so-called "top,” relying in part on theoretical advances developed at the YITP. The LHC will make possible for the first time a truly clear look at the top quark's properties. -30- © Copyright 2012 by Stony Brook University |
