Speaker: Benjamin Stieger, CERN

The mass of the top quark—the only colored state to decay before forming stable hadrons and the altogether heaviest known particle—presents an important benchmark to test the self-consistency of the standard model of particle physics and a unique opportunity to study effects of non-perturbative quantum chronodynamics. The CMS experiment recently published a set of standard top-quark mass measurements using LHC proton-proton collision data at 8 TeV center-of-mass energy, reaching an unprecedented precision of less than 0.5 GeV. With the steady increase in experimental precision comes a theoretical challenge of interpreting the results and the motivation of using alternative methods. In this seminar, I will discuss the CMS set of analyses using the 8 TeV dataset, both with conventional methods and non-standard techniques. I will also give a brief outlook at possible future improvements in measurements of the top mass, the outcome of which might just determine the fate of our universe.

Refreshments served at 3:30 p.m.