Research
High energy particle physics
Since 2014, I have been a member of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The LHC collides protons at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, nearly the speed of light. It is almost 17 miles in circumference and is the largest machine in the world. The collisions are recorded by the CMS detector, a giant camera for elementary particles that is 70 ft tall and 50 ft long.
In my research, I use the data from the CMS experiment to look for evidence of new particles such as those predicted in models of supersymmetry or dark matter.
Select publications
"Dark sector searches with the CMS experiment", CMS Collaboration, Physics Reports 1115 (2025) 448–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2024.09.013
"Search for Inelastic Dark Matter in Events with Two Displaced Muons and Missing Transverse Momentum in Proton-Proton Collisions at sqrt(s) = 13TeV", CMS Collaboration, PRL 132 (2024) 041802, doi 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.041802
"Shedding light on the MiniBooNE excess with searches at the LHC", C. Herwig, J. Isaacson, B. Jayatilaka, P. Machado, A. Reinsvold Hall, & M. Safdari, Phys. Rev. D 109 (2024) 075049. https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.075049
"Snowmass White Paper Contribution: Physics with the Phase-2 ATLAS and CMS Detectors", ATLAS and CMS Collaborations, CMS Physics Analysis Summary FTR-22-001 (2022), http://cds.cern.ch/record/2806962
"Search for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in final states with two bottom quarks and two photons in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)
"Searching for long-lived particles beyond the Standard Model at the Large Hadron Collider", J. Alimena et. al., J. Phys G. 47 (2020) 9, doi 10.1088/1361-6471/ab4574, arXiv:1903.04497
"Combined search for gauge-mediated supersymmetry with photons in 13 TeV collisions at the CMS experiment", CMS Collaboration, Phys. Lett. B 801 (2020) 135183, doi 10.1016/j.physletb. 2019.135183, arXiv:1907:00857
"Search for supersymmetry in final states with photons and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV", CMS Collaboration, JHEP 06 (2019) 143, doi 10.1007/JHEP06(2019)143, arXiv:1903.07070
Scientific computing
High energy physics (HEP) experiments generate incredible volumes of data that must be stored, processed, and analyzed in order to learn about the underlying physics. In fact, the World Wide Web was developed at CERN to allow scientists all over the world to share and access scientific data. As part of my research, I work on improving the algorithms used in HEP to make them more efficient on modern computational architectures.
I am also interested in improving the way we do data analysis in CMS and other HEP experiments, in particular by adapting tools used by the Data Science industry. For example, from 2020 - 2022 I was a convener of the Data Analysis Working Group within the HEP Software Foundation, a community organization that promotes collaboration and discussion of software and computing tools in HEP.
Select publications
“Training and onboarding initiatives in High Energy Physics experiments", A. Reinsvold Hall et al, Frontiers in Big Data 8 (2025) doi 10.3389/fdata.2025.1497622
“Exploring code portability solutions for HEP with a particle tracking test code", H. Ather, S. Berkman, G. Cerati, M. Kortelainen, K. Kwok, S. Lantz, B. Norris, S. Lee, M. Reid, A. Reinsvold Hall, D. Riley, A. Strelchenko, & C. Wang, Frontiers in Big Data 7 (2024) doi 10.3389/fdata.2024.1485344
"Constraints on future analysis metadata systems in High Energy Physics", T. Khoo et. al., Computing and Software for Big Science 6 (2022), doi 10.1007/s41781-022-00086-2
"Optimizing the hit finding algorithm for liquid Argon TPC neutrino detectors using parallel architectures", S. Berkman et. al., JINST 17 (2022) 01, doi 10.1088/1748-0221/17/01/P01026, arXiv:2107.00812
"Speeding up particle track reconstruction using a parallel Kalman filter algorithm", S. Lantz et. al., JINST 15 (2020) 09, doi 10.1088/1748-0221/15/09/p09030, arXiv:2006.00071
"Coffea - Columnar Object Framework For Effective Analysis", N. Smith et. al., Proceedings of the Computing in High Energy Physics 2019 Conference, EPJ Web of Conferences 245 06012 (2020), doi 10.1051/epjconf/202024506012, arXiv:2008.12712
Midshipmen research
One of my goals at USNA is to provide engaging, worthwhile research experiences to midshipmen. A full CMS analysis is naturally divided into independent pieces, which can be adjusted to have a scope that is appropriate for a short-term research project or a senior capstone project. I work with several students a year as part of one-, two-, or three-credit research projects.
Midshipmen who research with me gain exposure to cutting-edge science, data analysis techniques, and global communities of scientists working toward a common goal. Several students have gotten to visit Fermilab, the premiere US particle physics laboratory in the US, and attend conferences or workshops. Students learn valuable soft skills--such as presentation skills, technical writing, and practice interacting in an international collaboration--and hard skills in programming and data analysis. These skills are directly transferable to help them succeed in their future leadership roles in the Fleet.
(If you're a midshipmen who is interested in potential research projects, please reach out!)
