Experimental Particle Physics

Experimental particle physics explores the fundamental particles and forces that govern the universe. Researchers test the Standard Model through high-energy collisions, precision measurements, rare processes, and neutrino experiments, while searching for new phenomena such as dark matter, new particles and forces, and new sources of matter-antimatter asymmetry.

At Boston University, this work spans the energy and intensity frontiers, combining advanced detector development, electronics, computing, and data analysis.

What we study at BU

• CMS at the Large Hadron Collider — BU is an institutional member of the
  CMS experiment at CERN, with research spanning Higgs physics, dark matter and dark-sector searches, and searches for new particles and interactions. BU groups also play major roles in preparing CMS for the High-Luminosity LHC through detector and electronics development, triggering and data acquisition, and advanced computing.
• Mu2e — The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab searches for the conversion of a muon directly into an electron, a process so strongly suppressed in the Standard Model that its observation would be unambiguous evidence for new physics. BU researchers contribute to the experiment’s instrumentation, commissioning, simulation, and physics analysis.
• Super-Kamiokande, T2K, and Hyper-Kamiokande — BU researchers study neutrino oscillations, CP violation, neutrino mass ordering, proton decay, and astrophysical neutrinos using Super-Kamiokande and the T2K experiment. BU is also participating in Hyper-Kamiokande, the next-generation water Cherenkov experiment now under construction in Japan.
• Neutrino properties and neutrinoless double-beta decay — BU researchers investigate fundamental properties of neutrinos, including whether neutrinos are their own antiparticles, through experiments such as KamLAND-Zen, SNO+, and CUPID. The group also develops next-generation neutrino detection techniques through reactor-neutrino experiments and detector R&D including PROSPECT, WATCHMAN, THEIA, and NuDot.
• Dark-sector searches and new experimental techniques — BU researchers develop new ways to search for light and weakly coupled particles, including the DarkQuest experiment at FNAL and the milliQan experiment at CERN. These approaches extend sensitivity to particles and signatures that conventional collider searches can miss.

Faculty

Robert Carey | Precision muon physics and charged-lepton flavor violation | Mu2e, Muon g-2

Zeynep Demiragli |  Dark matter, searches for new physics, detector readout and reconstruction | CMS at the LHC

Frank Golf | Higgs and di-Higgs physics, silicon particle detectors | CMS at the LHC, milliQan

Christopher Grant | Neutrino properties, neutrinoless double-beta decay, and advanced neutrino detectors | KamLAND-Zen, SNO+, CUPID, PROSPECT, WATCHMAN, and THEIA

Ed Kearns |  Neutrino oscillations, proton decay, and particle astrophysics | Super-Kamiokande, T2K, and Hyper-Kamiokande

James Miller | Rare muon processes and physics beyond the Standard Model | Mu2e, Muon g-2

Lee Roberts |  Precision measurements of fundamental muon properties | Mu2e, Muon g-2

James Rohlf |  Collider physicss, detector instrumentation | CMS at the LHC

David Sperka |  Dark-sector searches, trigger systems, and high-speed reconstruction | CMS at the LHC, DarkQuest

Indara Suarez |  Searches for new particles, detector electronics, triggering, and machine learning | CMS at the LHC

Lawrence Sulak |  Novel particle detectors, neutrino physics, and calorimetry | Super-Kamiokande; CMS at the LHC

Affiliated Faculty

Tiziano Camporesi | Standard Model physics and detector development | CMS at the LHC

Chiara Mariotti | Higgs boson physics and precision measurements | CMS at the LHC

Recent highlights

• 2026 — Lee Roberts and the Muon g-2 Collaboration received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for multi-decade advances in precision measurements of the muon’s anomalous magnetic moment. BU faculty Rob Carey, Jim Miller, and Lawrence Sulak, along with generations of BU students and researchers, also contributed to the program.
• 2025 — BU members of the CMS Collaboration received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics as part of the LHC collaborations honored for precision studies of the Higgs boson, discoveries of new strongly interacting particles, rare-process measurements, and searches for new physics.
• 2023, 2021 & 2018 — Three BU experimental particle physicists have received the American Physical Society’s prestigious W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics: Lee Roberts in 2023 for leadership and technical ingenuity in precision muon physics; Ed Kearns in 2021 for pioneering contributions to neutrino oscillation measurements and searches for baryon-number violation; and Lawrence Sulak in 2018 for pioneering massive water Cherenkov detector techniques that enabled major advances in neutrino physics and searches for nucleon decay.

Seminars and community

The High Energy Experiment Seminarbrings visiting researchers and members of the BU community together to discuss current developments in particle physics, neutrino physics, detector technology, and related fields. Upcoming seminars, colloquia, and other activities are listed on the BU Physics events calendar.