Lawrence R. Sulak
· Professor (David M. Myers Distinguished Professor)Boston University · Physics
Active 1974–2023
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About
Lawrence R. Sulak is the David M. Myers Distinguished Professor of Physics at Boston University. His research focuses on the unification of particles and forces of nature using novel calorimetric detectors. He designed and built the first massive liquid scintillator calorimeter and large area drift chambers, and performed the analysis that discovered neutral weak currents using neutrino beams in 1974, demonstrating that the weak and electromagnetic forces are unified. Sulak also designed and prototyped a Cherenkov detector to search for proton decay and neutrino oscillations, leading to the discovery of neutrino oscillations. Applying Cherenkov detection techniques to quartz fibers, he and his collaborators developed the forward calorimeter for the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, which was instrumental in the discovery of the Higgs boson. Throughout his career, Sulak has contributed significantly to neutrino physics, including the first observation of ν-nucleon elastic scattering, evidence for a unified electroweak force, and the detection of neutrinos from supernovae. He has been involved in building multiple large-scale detectors worldwide to study neutrinos from various sources, and has received numerous awards such as the Panofsky Prize, the APS Instrumentation Award, the Rossi Prize, and the Physics Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Sulak studied CP violation under renowned physicists and has held faculty positions at Boston University, where he also…
Research topics
- Nuclear physics
- Physics
- Particle physics
- Computer Science
- Quantum mechanics
Selected publications
Extraction and validation of a new set of CMS pythia8 tunes from underlying-event measurements
The European Physical Journal C · 2020 · 407 citations
New sets of CMS underlying-event parameters ("tunes") are presented for the pythia8 event generator. These tunes use the NNPDF3.1 parton distribution functions (PDFs) at leading (LO), next-to-leading (NLO), or next-to-next-to-leading (NNLO) orders in perturbative quantum chromodynamics, and the strong coupling evolution at LO or NLO. Measurements of charged-particle multiplicity and transverse momentum densities at various hadron collision energies are fit simultaneously to determine the paramet…
Performance of the CMS Level-1 trigger in proton-proton collisions at √<i>s</i> = 13 TeV
Journal of Instrumentation · 2020 · 302 citations
At the start of Run 2 in 2015, the LHC delivered proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. During Run~2 (years 2015--2018) the LHC eventually reached a luminosity of 2.1 $\times$ 10$^{34}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, almost three times that reached during Run 1 (2009-2013) and a factor of two larger than the LHC design value, leading to events with up to a mean of about 50 simultaneous inelastic proton-proton collisions per bunch crossing (pileup). The CMS Level-1 trigger was upgrad…
A measurement of the Higgs boson mass in the diphoton decay channel
Physics Letters B · 2020 · 165 citations
A measurement of the mass of the Higgs boson in the diphoton decay channel is presented. This analysis is based on 35.9 fb -1 of proton-proton collision data collected during the 2016 LHC running period, with the CMS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. A refined detector calibration and new analysis techniques have been used to improve the precision of this measurement. The Higgs boson mass is measured to be m H = 125.78 0.26 GeV. This is combined with a measurement of m H already per…
The European Physical Journal C · 2020 · 92 citations
Abstract Normalised multi-differential cross sections for top quark pair ( $$\hbox {t}{\bar{\hbox {t}}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>t</mml:mtext><mml:mover><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>t</mml:mtext></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mo>¯</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:mover></mml:mrow></mml:math> ) production are measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 $$\,{\text {TeV}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow…
Journal of High Energy Physics · 2020 · 81 citations
A bstract A search is presented for additional scalar (H) or pseudoscalar (A) Higgs bosons decaying to a top quark pair in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data set analyzed corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb − 1 collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Final states with one or two charged leptons are considered. The invariant mass of the reconstructed top quark pair system and variables that are sensitive to the spin of the particles decaying…
Frequent coauthors
- 1841 shared
M. Lethuillier
Institute of Nuclear Physics of Lyon
- 1727 shared
V. Sordini
Institute of Nuclear Physics of Lyon
- 1725 shared
S. Perriès
Institute of Nuclear Physics of Lyon
- 1697 shared
E. Conte
Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
- 1682 shared
D. Blöch
Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
- 1676 shared
J. Andreä
Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
- 1660 shared
C. Collard
Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
- 1643 shared
M. Titov
Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers
Awards & honors
- Panofsky Prize, American Physical Society (2017)
- Instrumentation Award, American Physical Society, Division o…
- Physics Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2015)
- Most Distinguished Alumnus Award, Carnegie Mellon University…
- ASAHI Prize, 'Discovery of the Finite Mass of Neutrinos' (19…
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