Benjamin Hooberman

For More Information

• Hooberman High Energy Physics Group at UIUC

Education

• BA in Physics, Columbia University, 2005
• MSc in Physics, University of California at Berkeley, 2007
• PhD in Physics, University of California at Berkeley, 2009

Biography

Professor Hooberman is an experimental high energy physicist whose research focuses on using particle colliders to probe exotic new phenomena, including supersymmetric particles and extra dimensions of spacetime. He is particularly interested in using data from colliders to investigate and understand dark matter.

Professor Hooberman received a bachelor's degree in physics from Columbia University in 2005 and a Ph.D in physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 2009. From 2009-2014, he worked as a Research Associate at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory as a member of the CMS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). He joined the University of Illinois in 2014 as an assistant professor.

His research began in the field of experimental cosmology, and focused on using measurements of the left-over radiation from the big bang (the "cosmic microwave background radiation") to better understand the evolution history of the universe. He transitioned to experimental particle physics in graduate school, where he searched for exotic new physics phenomena at the BaBar experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator, and performed detector research and development and physics simulation studies for a future high-energy lepton collider. As a research associate at Fermilab and a member of the CMS collaboration at the LHC, he searched for exotic new particles that are predicted by supersymmetric models and may explain the presence of dark matter in the universe. He continues these research topics as a member of the ATLAS collaboration at the LHC as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois.

Academic Positions

• Affiliate Professor, Illinois Center for Advanced Studies of the Universe (ICASU), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2020-present
• Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2014-2020
• Research Associate, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 2009-2014
• Graduate Student Research Assistant, University of California at Berkeley, 2005-2009
• Undergraduate Researcher, Columbia University, 2003-2005
• Associate Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2020-present

Research Statement

In 2012, the Higgs boson was discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland, completing the standard model of particle physics and leading to the Nobel Prize in 2013. This discovery transformed our understanding of the building blocks of matter and the fundamental forces by explaining the origin of the masses of subatomic particles and the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking. However, the standard model is not capable of resolving key open questions and thus cannot be the final theory of nature. In particular, it cannot explain the origin of dark matter, which comprises about five times as much total mass in the universe as visible matter but whose nature is not understood. The standard model also predicts that the mass of the Higgs boson should be at the Planck scale, 16 orders of magnitude larger than the electroweak scale at which it was measured (the "hierarchy problem"). Understanding the nature of physics beyond the standard model and its potential connection to dark matter is among the highest priorities of the LHC physics program and the focus of my research.

Supersymmetry (SUSY) is an extension to the standard model that may explain the origin of dark matter while resolving the hierarchy problem and leading to a grand unified theory of nature. SUSY is a symmetry between fermions and bosons, which predicts that each particle in the standard model has an associated "super-partner" with spin differing by 1/2. These exotic new particles may be produced in the proton-proton collisions at the LHC, leading to a rich phenomenology of possible detector signatures. My primary research thrust is the search for supersymmetry in data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. To do so, my research group analyzes LHC data using the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, selects signal-like collision events, estimates rates for standard model background processes, and performs statistical analysis of the results. I have also played key leadership roles on both CMS and ATLAS that have provided me the opportunity to lead international teams of dozens of physicists in the search for supersymmetry at the LHC. My group also contributes to upgrades to the ATLAS charged particle tracking detector and trigger systems that will enhance the discovery reach in future data. A discovery would transform our understanding of the composition and fundamental laws of the universe.

Research Interests

• Tracking and vertexing simulation studies to guide the design of the upgraded ATLAS detector
• Machine learning for particle physics applications
• Fast hardware-based tracking with the ATLAS Fast TracKer
• Supersymmetry and the potential connection with dark matter
• Experimental high-energy particle physics at the Large Hadron Collider

Selected Articles in Journals

• ATLAS Collaboration, "Search for displaced leptons in 13 TeV and 13.6 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector," ATLAS-CONF-2024-11
• ATLAS Collaboration, "Prospects for a search for direct pair production of top squarks at the high-luminosity LHC with the ATLAS detector," ATL-PHYS-PUB-2024-001
• ATLAS Collaboration, "The ATLAS Trigger System for LHC Run 3 and Trigger performance in 2022," JINST 19 P06029
• ATLAS Collaboration, "The ATLAS Inner Detector Trigger performance in pp collisions at 900 GeV and 13.6 TeV for LHC Run 3 operation during 2022," ATL-DAQ-PUB-2023-002
• ATLAS Collaboration, "Searches for new phenomena in events with two leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum in 139 fb−1 of sqrt(s)=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector", Eur. Phys. J. C 83 515, 2023
• ATLAS Collaboration, "The ATLAS Fast TracKer System," JINST 16 P07006, 2021
• D. Belayneh, F. Carminati, A. Farbin, B. Hooberman et al., "Calorimetry with deep learning: particle simulation and reconstruction for collider physics," Eur. Phys. J. C 80, 688, 2020
• ATLAS Collaboration, "Search for chargino-neutralino production using recursive jigsaw reconstruction in final states with two or three charged leptons in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector," Phys. Rev., D98(9):092012, 2018
• ATLAS Collaboration, "Search for new phenomena using the invariant mass distribution of same-flavour opposite-sign dilepton pairs in events with missing transverse momentum in sqrt(s)=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector", Eur. Phys. J., C78(8):625, 2018
• ATLAS Collaboration, "Search for electroweak production of supersymmetric particles in the two and three lepton final state at sqrt(s)=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector ", Eur. Phys. J., C78(12):995, 2018
• ATLAS Collaboration, "Search for new phenomena in events containing a same-flavour opposite-sign dilepton pair, jets, and large missing transverse momentum in sqrt(s)=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector", Eur. Phys. J., C77(3):144, 2017
• ATLAS Collaboration, "ATLAS Phase-II Upgrade Scoping Document", CERN-LHCC-2015-020, LHCC-G-166, 2015
• ATLAS Collaboration, "Search for supersymmetry in events containing a same-flavour opposite-sign dilepton pair, jets, and large missing transverse momentum in 8 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector", Eur. Phys. J., C75(7):318, 2015
• CMS Collaboration, "Search for physics beyond the standard model in events with two leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at 8 TeV", Journal of High Energy Physics, 04:124, 2015
• CMS Collaboration, "Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV", Phys. Rev., D90(9):092007, 2014
• CMS Collaboration, "Search for electroweak production of charginos, neutralinos, and sleptons using leptonic final states in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV", Eur. Phys. J., C74(9):3036, 2014
• CMS Collaboration, "Search for top-squark pair production in the single-lepton final state in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV", Eur. Phys. J, C73(12):2677, 2013
• CMS Collaboration, "Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV", Phys. Lett., B718:815-840, 2013
• CMS Collaboration, "Search for electroweak production of charginos and neutralinos using leptonic final states in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TEV", Journal of High Energy Physics, 11:147, 2012
• CMS Collaboration, "Search for physics beyond the standard model in events with a Z boson, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV", Phys. Lett., B716:260-284, 2012
• CMS Collaboration, "Search for Physics Beyond the Standard Model in Opposite-sign Dilepton Events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV", Journal of High Energy Physics, 06:026, 2011
• CMS Collaboration, "Missing Transverse Energy Performance of the CMS Detector", J. Instrum., 6:P09001, 2011
• BABAR Collaboration, "Search for Charged Lepton Flavor Violation in Narrow Upsilon Decays", Phys. Rev. Lett., 104:151802, 2010
• M. Battaglia, B. Hooberman, N. Kelley, "A Study of e⁺e^- -> H⁰A⁰ Production and the Constraint on Dark Matter Density", Phys. Rev., D78:015021, 2008
• B. Hooberman with M. Battaglia et al., "Tracking and Vertexing with a Thin CMOS Pixel Beam Telescope", Nucl. Instrum. Meth., A593:292, 2008
• B. Hooberman with M. Battaglia et al., "A Study of monolithic CMOS pixel sensors back-thinning and their application for a pixel beam telescope", Nucl. Instrum. Meth., A579:675, 2007

Articles in Conference Proceedings

• B. Hooberman (on behalf of the ATLAS collaboration), "Supersymmetry searches and combinations," ATL-PHYS-PROC-2022-030, Proceedings of the 56th Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Italy, 12 - 19 Mar 2022
• B. Hooberman (on behalf of the ATLAS collaboration), "First tracking performance results from the ATLAS Fast TracKer", Proceedings of the 2019 Connecting the Dots and Workshop on Intelligent Trackers, arXiv:1911.07962 [physics.ins-det]
• B. Hooberman, A. Farbin, G. Khattak, V. Pacela, M. Pierini, J.-R. Vlimant, M. Spiropulu, W. Wei, M. Zhang and S. Vallecorsa, "Calorimetry with Deep Learning: Particle Classification, Energy Regression, and Simulation for High-Energy Physics", Deep Learning for Physical Sciences Workshop at the 31st Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS), 2017
• B. Hooberman, for the CMS Collaboration, "Searches for Top and Bottom Squarks in pp collisions at 8 TeV", proceedings of the 2012 Hadron Collider Physics Symposium (HCP2012), European Physical Journal Web of Conferences 49:15012, 2013
• B. Hooberman, for the BABAR Collaboration, "Searches for Exotic Decays of the Upsilon(3S) at BABAR", proceedings of the 2009 Lake Louise Winter Institute, arXiv:0906.0354 [hep-ex], 2009
• P. Kangaslahti, T. Gaier, M. Seiffert, S. Weinreb, D. Harding, D. Dawson, M. Soria, C. Lawrence, B. Hooberman, A. Miller, "Planar polarimetry receivers for Large Imaging Experiments at Q-band", Microwave Symposium Digest, IEEE MTT-S International, 89-92, 2006

Other Publications

• University of Illinois Press Briefing, "Hooberman, Shelton selected for DOE Early Career Awards", Aug 15, 2017
• ATLAS Physics Briefing, "ATLAS releases new results in search for weakly-interacting supersymmetric particles", May 18, 2017

Research Honors

• Department of Energy Early Career Research Award (August 2017)
• CMS Fellowship Award (January 2013)

Recent Courses Taught

• PHYS 212 - University Physics: Elec & Mag
• PHYS 225 - Relativity & Math Applications
• PHYS 398 DAP - Soph/Junr Special Topics Phys
• PHYS 435 - Electromagnetic Fields I