Sarah Heim

Sarah Heim
heimsara@msu.edu
Graduate Student
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Mi, 48824, USA
Personal Information
– Date of birth: January 15 1985
– Nationality: German
Education
– Doctor of Philosophy (anticipated graduation 2012)
– Summer 2007 – present
– Thesis topic: “Search for new physics in single top quark production, s­channel”
– Advisor: Professor Reinhard Schwienhorst, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, USA
– “Vordiplom Physik” (2006, ~ B.S.)
– Summer 2004 – Summer 2007
– Undergraduate studies (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Universität
Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany)
Research interests
I have fulfilled all course and examination requirements towards obtaining a PhD from
Michigan State University, which allows me to be based at CERN for the next years. I am
interested in Trigger and Data Acquisition, especially the implementation and monitoring
of the dataflow. I also work on physics analysis, more specifically single top quark
phenomenology, high pt electrons and trigger studies and I am looking forward to
analyze real data.
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Professional Experience
– High pt electrons and search for Z'
– January 2010 – present
– Research Assistantship (MSU ATLAS group, CERN, Geneva)
– We are trying to optimize the identification of electrons with high transverse
momentum from electron candidates (clusters in the electromagnetic calorimeter).
– Single top quark trigger studies, development of software release test tool
– May 2009 – December 2009
– Research Assistantship (MSU ATLAS group, CERN, Geneva)
– I have determined single top quark trigger efficiencies based on the “Tag and
Probe” method, using the InsituEGammaPerformance package within the ATLAS
Athena computing framework. Together with MSU assistant professor Reiner
Hauser, I tested using the DQM framework for comparing new ATLAS TDAQ
configurations (e.g. releases, menus) against the current configuration at Point 1.
We took events from the SFIs via the monitoring framework and processed them
with the new setup. Their DQM results were then checked against the original
results in the ATLAS partition. Furthermore I have started taking DAQ/HLT
shifts in the ATLAS control room.
– Teaching experience
– January 2009 – May 2009
– Teaching Assistantship (MSU, East Lansing)
– I supervised a lab (PHY 252, Electronics and Optics) and graded the lab reports. I
also helped students with lab preparations and answered their questions during
office hours.
– Single top quark Next­to­Leading Order (NLO) studies for the LHC
– September 2008 – December 2008
– Research Assistantship (MSU, East Lansing)
– I produced NLO parton level simulation samples with the ONETOP generator,
which includes the Born level and hadronic NLO corrections. I analyzed effects of
the NLO corrections on the single top quark production cross section and various
kinematic distributions of the interacting particles and compared them to similar
studies for the Tevatron.
– ATLAS trigger data flow cross check
– July 2008 – August 2008
– Research Assistantship (MSU ATLAS group, CERN, Geneva)
– I wrote a C++ algorithm to compare the number of accepted and rejected events in
the three trigger levels of the ATLAS detector. For this I had to access monitoring
information from the different trigger levels and check them for consistency. I ran
a simulated data flow as well as the graphical user interface that is used by the
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TDAQ group in the ATLAS control room. I designed a C++ interface class for
integration with the ATLAS TDAQ framework.
– Single top quark polarization studies
– September 2007 – June 2008
– Research Assistantship (MSU, East Lansing)
– I used the MadEvent parton level generator to simulate single top quark events at
the LHC. I studied correlations between the final state particles, and compared
them to events generated with the AcerMC generator.
– Gamma detection
– March 2007
– Undergraduate Research Experience (Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics,
Heidelberg)
– I used a Germanium detector to identify radioactive elements for “The IAEA­
CU­2006­03 world wide open proficiency test on the determination of gammaemitting
radionuclides”. With the help of a Monte Carlo framework, I found the
detector efficiency for each detected gamma line. Then I calculated the activities
of the isotopes at the reference date and compared them to the (already released)
reference values.
Publication
– S.Heim, Q.­H. Cao, R. Schwienhorst and C.­P. Yuan, Phys. Rev. D81, 034005
(2010) “Next­to­leading order QCD corrections to s­channel single top quark
production and decay at the LHC”
Talk
– American Physical Society April Meeting, 2010 “Next­to­leading order QCD
corrections to s­channel single top quark production and decay at the LHC”
Awards
– NSF US LHC Graduate Student Support Award
– September 2009 – September 2010
– Financial support for a year of doing research at CERN, Geneva.
– “Study abroad” stipend by the German National Academic Foundation
(Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)
– September 2008 – September 2009
– Financial support for a year of studying abroad.
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– Stipend by the German National Academic Foundation
– September 2004 – May 2009
– Competitive scholarship based on grades, presentations and interviews; grants
financial support depending on family income.
Memberships
– American Physical Society (October 2009 – present)
– Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physical Society, September 2004 –
present)
Conferences/Schools
– ATLAS Overview Week (July 2008)
– ATLAS Overview Week (October 2009)
– International School for Trigger and Data Acquisition (February 2010)
– American Physical Society April Meeting (February 2010)
Skills
– fluent in German (native language) and English
– basic knowledge of French and Spanish
– C++ programming
– basic Python programming
– ROOT data analysis tool
– basic ATLAS Athena software knowledge
Reference
Professor Reinhard Schwienhorst
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
schwier@pa.msu.edu
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