Michael Pitt
Particle Physicist • Researcher at CERN
This is the personal webpage of Michael Pitt, particle physicist.
As a physicist at CERN, my research is dedicated to probing the fundamental principles that govern the universe, as described by the Standard Model of particle physics. High-energy collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are studied to investigate the interactions of elementary particles, examining how the fundamental forces shape the properties of matter, and investigating the mechanisms that underlie the formation and evolution of the universe we see today. By combining theoretical insight with experimental evidence, these studies aim to provide a deeper comprehension of the building blocks of nature and the dynamics that connect them.
While at CERN, I became fascinated by the fact that light can interact with light (yes, electromagnetic waves). In certain conditions the Large Hadron Collider effectively becomes a photon collider.
Since then, I’ve been exploring what happens when photons collide, including forward and diffractive processes and central exclusive production processes. You can read more about my research at CERN in our CERN Courier article: CMS looks forward to new physics with PPS.
Experimental particle physics encompasses sophisticated data analysis as well as contributions to the design, construction, and commissioning of particle detectors for current and future high-energy physics experiments. The goal is to reveal hidden interactions through advances in experimental techniques, paving the way for new and more sophisticated experiments.
Today, within the CMS experiment, efforts are focused on extending detection capabilities with new particle detectors.
Photon collisions at the LHC
To hunt photon collisions at the LHC, one needs to look for a very distinct signature: the protons that emit photons can remain intact, and the only particles produced come from the photon–photon interaction, resulting in no hadronic activity where the protons collide. At the LHC this is a big challenge, as many proton–proton interactions can happen during a single bunch crossing. In CMS we developed a method to isolate such collisions and reveal rare photon–photon events:
In our study of the anomalous magnetic moment of the τ lepton where we significantly improved a 20-year-old result, moving closer to determining the τ g−2 we developed a robust methodology to study these processes at the LHC (CMS closes in on tau g−2).
See more about our results!
When light turns into weak heavy bosons
CMS explores photon–photon collisions producing a pair of W bosons.
Detecting the creation of top quarks out of light
Unveiling rare processes where photons produce top-quark pairs.
Protons do not break at the LHC
Studying collisions where protons stay intact after photon exchange.
Disclosing quantum corrections to electromagnetic interactions of τ leptons
New insights from CMS into τ g−2 via photon-photon collisions.