About the US/LHC Project

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland is opening new vistas on the deepest secrets of the universe, stretching the imagination with newly discovered forms of matter, forces of nature, and dimensions of space. This site provides general information about the Large Hadron Collider and detailed information about American participation in the LHC accelerator and experiments. U.S. LHC participation is supported by the US Department of Energy's Office of Science and the National Science Foundation.

A proton-proton collision event in the CMS experiment producing two high-energy photons (red towers). This is what we would expect to see from the decay of a Higgs boson but it is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes. (Courtesy: CERN)

Home > The US and the LHC > Collaborating Institutions > Northeastern University

Northeastern University

A rectangular, transparent crystal with a wire sticking out one end against a gray background

A crystal from the electromagnetic calorimeter Image courtesy of Northeastern University

Northeastern University has been involved in the CMS experiment at the LHC from the beginning, leading the development of both radiation-hard photodetectors and other hardware, plus the core software and computing effort. Our involvement at the LHC represents the next natural stage in the group's decades-long NSF funded program of investigating the fundamental structure of matter and the forces by which it interacts using the very highest energy particle accelerators.

We view the LHC experiments, and CMS in particular, as discovery machines, and have focused our physics efforts on what we can discover that is new based on our best present understanding of physics from previous experiments. We have already developed several novel approaches to problems such as the "Higgs mechanism" which is postulated to give rise to all nonzero masses in the universe, and are eager to look into the data as they come in.

We maintain a very broad and diverse set of supporting activities including training of students ranging from elementary schools in our neighborhood to graduate students, and a vigorous outreach program involving newspapers, radio, and television. Our research cuts across disciplines and includes computing, electronics, particle astrophysics, and spinoff applications to fields including biology and medicine.