Curriculum Vitae for Conor Henderson
July 2007 - present: Senior Post-Doctoral Research Associate
July 2005 - June 2007: Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Laboratory for Nuclear Science,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Mentor: Prof Bruce Knuteson
Sept 1999 - July 2005
PhD, Relativistic Heavy-Ion Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Thesis: Identified Particle Transverse Momentum Distributions from Au+Au Collisions at 62.4 GeV per Nucleon Pair
Advisor: Prof Gunther M Roland
Sept 1995 - June 1999
MSci, Physics and Applied Mathematics,
Queen's University, Belfast, N Ireland.
Research
As a member of the CDF collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron (2005 - present):
- Analysis of high-pT data from proton-antiproton collisions, for a model-independent search for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics (with Prof Bruce Knuteson). Unlike conventional new-physics searches, which focus on specific signatures of a particular models, this novel approach is the first attempt to make a global analysis of the CDF high-pT data, searching for any significant discrepancy with the Standard Model prediction.
- Co-convener of the CDF Working Group on Very Exotic Phenomena, since Septemeber 2007. Responsible for facilitating and reviewing CDF analyses investigating Standard Model extensions other than supersymmetry
- Project Leader (SPL) for the CDF Event-Builder and Level 3 Trigger Hardware systems, the final stages in the CDF trigger and data acquisition system. Oversaw the final stages of the RunIIb Level3 upgrade, which expanded the computer network from 200 to 400 machines, for a total 2.4THz processing power. Also lead the conversion of the computing farm to the Scientific Linux operating system. Ongoing efforts to increase data-taking efficiency through improved operating procedures and error-handling. Responsible for providing and coordinating on-call support and expertise.
- Served as member of internal review committee ('Godparent') for the analysis 'Search for new particles decaying to Z + jets', Phys Rev D.
- Member of CDF Speakers Committee, which coordinates conference talks within the collaboration.
- Linux system administrator for the MIT CDF computer cluster: 37 machines used for offline physics analysis and general workstation purposes.
As a member of the PHOBOS collaboration at the Brookhaven Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (1999 - 2005):
- Analysis of pion, kaon and proton transverse momentum spectra from heavy-ion collisions at RHIC: studying the energy, centrality and system dependence of these spectra in order to probe thermodynamic models of heavy-ion collisions and mechanisms for baryon stopping. This analysis uses both Time-of-Flight and silicon dE/dx particle identification techniques. Also contributed extensively to the analysis of unidentified charged hadron high-$p_T$ spectra and to measurements of antiparticle/particle ratios.
- Development and maintenance of algorithms for finding particle tracks in the PHOBOS sixteen-layer silicon spectrometer; development of software for combining PHOBOS spectrometer tracks and Time-of-Flight information.
- Design and implementation of a high-level trigger system for selecting high-momentum tracks; VHDL programming for electronic logic devices; experience with NIM electronics for triggering.
- Extensive experience with C++ programming and the ROOT object-oriented software framework for high-energy physics; general linux experience including PERL and unix shell-scripting languages.
Professional Honors
1999-2000 John F Kennedy Memorial Scholar at MIT
Awarded by the Kennedy Memorial Trust, London
1999 John Geddes Prize for best Queen's University undergraduate physics research project
('Characterisation of an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source')
1999 Irish Physics Students Association Conference, Chairman and chief organizer
1998 Physics Society President, Queen's University, Belfast
Seminars
Results of a Global Search for New Physics at CDF
Fermilab Wine and Cheese Seminar, 30 May 2008.
Results of a Global Search for New Physics at CDF
HEP Seminar at MIT, 13 May 2008.
Results of a Global Search for New Physics at CDF
HEP Seminar at Harvard University, 30 April 2008.
Results of a Global Search for New Physics at CDF
HEP Seminar at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 14 April 2008.
Results of a Global Search for New Physics at CDF
HEP Seminar at Argonne National Lab, 5 December 2007.
Global Search for New Physics at CDF
HEP Seminar at University of Pennsylvania, 13 November 2007, Philadelphia, PA.
Results of a Global Search for New Physics at the Tevatron
HEP seminar at Duke University, 30 October 2007, Durham, NC.
Results of a Global Search for New Physics at CDF
HEP Seminar at University of Wisconsin, 22 October 2007, Madison, WI.
Vista and Sleuth: Searching for New Physics at the Tevatron
HEP Seminar at Penn State University,
15 November 2006, State College, PA.
Conference Talks
Global Search for New Physics at CDF
Plenary talk at Moriond QCD 2008,
8-15 March 2008, La Thuile, Italy.
Sleuth: Results of a Quasi-Model-Independent Search for New Physics in 1 fb-1 at CDF
Parallel talk at PHENO 2007,
7 May 2007, Madison, WI.
Vista: A New Method for an Inclusive Search of Tevatron RunII Data
Parallel talk at PHENO 2006,
15 May 2006, Madison, WI.
Charged Hadron p_T Spectra from Au+Au Collisions at 62.4 GeV
Parallel talk at APS Division of Nuclear Physics Meeting,
29 October 2004, Chicago, IL.
Charged Hadron pT Spectra from PHOBOS
Participant presentation at the 16th Summer School in Nuclear Physics,
13-25 June 2004, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME.
Strangeness Production in PHOBOS
Plenary talk at RHIC/AGS Users' Meeting 'Workshop on Strangeness and Exotica at RHIC',
14 May 2004, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NY.
Charged Hadron Transverse Momentum Distributions at High pT in Au+Au Collisions at 200 GeV
Parallel talk at APS Division of Nuclear Physics Meeting,
10 October 2002, Lansing, MI.
Measurement of Charged Antiparticle to Particle Ratios by the PHOBOS Detector
Parallel talk at American Physical Society April Meeting,
30 April 2001, Washington DC.
Conference Posters
A High-p_T Spectrometer Trigger for PHOBOS
Poster at Quark Matter 2004,
12-17 January 2004, Oakland, CA.
A High-p_T Spectrometer Trigger for PHOBOS
Poster at RHIC/AGS Users Meeting,
15-16 May 2003, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NY.
Summer Schools
Hadron Collider Physics Summer School, 9-18 August 2006, Fermilab, IL.
16th Summer School in Nuclear Physics, 13-25 June 2004, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME.
Selected Publications
Global Search for New Physics with 2.0/fb at CDF
T. Aaltonen et al (CDF Collaboration),
arXiv:0809.3781,
accepted for publication in Physical Review D Rapid Communications
Results Of A Model-Independent Global Search For New Physics At CDF
Conor Henderson for the CDF Collaboration,
arXiv:0805.0742, proceedings of the XLIIIth Rencontres de Moriond: QCD and High-Energy Interactions 2008.
Model-Independent and Quasi-Model-Independent Search for New Physics at CDF
T. Aaltonen et al (CDF Collaboration),
Phys. Rev. D 78, 012002 (2008) (arXiv:0712.1311)
Model-Independent Global Search for New High-pT Physics at CDF
T. Aaltonen et al (CDF Collaboration),
arXiv:0712.2534, submitted to Physical Review Letters
Identified hadron transverse momentum spectra in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)= 62.4 GeV
BB Back et al (PHOBOS Collaboration), Phys. Rev. C 75, 024910 (2007)
Centrality dependence of charged hadron transverse momentum spectra in Au+Au collisions from sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 to 200 GeV
BB Back et al (PHOBOS Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 082304 (2005)
Centrality Dependence of the Charged Hadron Transverse Momentum Spectra in d+Au Collisions at sqrt(sNN)=200 GeV
BB Back et al (PHOBOS Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 072302 (2003)
Charged hadron transverse momentum distributions in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV
BB Back et al (PHOBOS Collaboration), Phys. Lett. B578, 297 (2004)
Ratios of charged particles to antiparticles near mid-rapidity in {Au+Au} collisions at sqrt(s_NN)= 130 GeV
BB Back et al (PHOBOS Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 102301 (2001)
"Putting the Fizz Back Into Physics"
Conor Henderson, Physics World, Sept 1998.
Author on all publications by the PHOBOS collaboration since 2000.
Author on all publications by the CDF collaboration since July 2006.