John Alison

Assistant Professor in High Energy Physics

About Me

I am an assistant professor in the High Energy Physics group at Carnegie Mellon University. I work on the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Previously, I was postdoc at the University of Chicago and I received my PhD from the University of Pennsylvania .

Public Talks

Searches for Di-Boson and Di-Lepton Resonances at the LHC (La Thuile, Winter 2018)
Compton Lectures: How and why to go Beyond the Higgs Discovery (Spring 2017)
Di-Higgs Production at the LHC: Current Status and Future Prospectives (Seminar Fall 2016)
Physics at the LHC: How and Why to go Beyond the Higgs Discovery (Colloquium Spring 2017)
Searches for New Physics at the LHC (Pheno 2016: Spring 2016, Pittsburgh)
Searches for New Physics at the Energy Frontier (APS: Division of Particles and Fields: Summer 2015, Ann Arbor)
Real-Time Flavor Tagging in ATLAS (APS: Division of Particles and Fields: Summer 2015, Ann Arbor)
New Trigger Capabilities with FTK (Higgs Exotic Decay Working Group: Spring 2015, fermilab)
Fast Track Finding at the LHC: How and Why. (Seminar Spring 2015: Chicago / UPenn / Pittsburgh )
Introduction to Run-2. (Chicago-land workshop for ATLAS Run-2 physics.)
Experimental Studies of di-higgs. (Summary for ATLAS+CMS, Higgs Couplings 2014.)
Higgs Physics Post-Discovery: What We Know and Where We Are Going. (UChicago HEP Seminar, Fall 2013.)
1st Hww results with full Run I LHC Data set. (cds) (Apsen HEP Higgs Quo Vadis, March 2013)
Hww with ATLAS. (General Physics/HEP Audiance, UC HEP Lunch Seminar January 14th.)
Thesis Defense: Hww and the Discovery of the Higgs Boson. (General Physics Audiance)
Particle Physics and the Higgs. (High School Kids, Quark Net at Penn. 1 July, 2012)
Particle Physics for Little Kids. (3rd Graders at Greenfield Elementary. May, 2012)
H->WW Search and WW Cross Section Measurement with ATLAS (HEP Seminar at Berkeley (LBNL RPM). 12 January 2012)
H->WW in 5 minutes! (Funding agencies, USLUO lighting round)
Standard Model Measurements at ATLAS (HEP Physicist, Moriond EW March 2011)
Atlas ID Alignment (HEP Physicist, APS May 2009)
Alignment of the ATLAS Inner Detector (HEP Physicist ACAT, November 2008)


Selected Publications


Search for pair production of Higgs bosons in the 4b final state at 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector




Updated di-Higgs search with major improvements
   targeting low-mass
Strongest limits on non- resonant HH production

Submitted to JHEP

(Resolved Support Note)
(Boosted Support Note)

Search for resonances in the mass distribution of jet pairs with one or two jets identified as b-jets at 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector




Search for b-jet resonances at both high-mass (> 1 TeV) and
low-mass (< 1 TeV) using b-jet triggers.

Submitted to PRD

(Conference Note)
(Support Note)

Performance of the ATLAS Trigger System in 2015


Documents the performance of ATLAS triggers in
  Run-2 data taking.

Eur. Phys. J. C 77 (2017) 317

Searches for low-mass di-jet resonances



Searches for low-mass di-jets resonances motivited by
simple models consistent with the observed Dark Matter
relic abundance .


Large-R jet + ISR   (Support)

di-jet + ISR (ICHEP)   (Support)

di-jet + ISR (LHCP)   (Support)

Search for pair production of Higgs bosons in the 4b final state using p-p collisions at 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector




1st di-Higgs publication at 13 TeV, extended
 sensitivity for low and high-mass HH resonances.

Phys. Rev. D 94 (2016) 052002

(CONF Note)
(Support Note)

Search for strong gravity in multi-jet final states produced in pp collisions at 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector




One of the first searches for new physics at 13 TeV.
Dramatic extension in sensitivity over Run-1.


JHEP 03 (2016) 026


Conference Note
(Support)
(CONF Support)

Search for New Phenomena in Dijet Mass and Angular Distributions with the ATLAS Detector at 13 TeV,




First search for new physics at 13 TeV.
Large increase in reach with higher energy.


Physics Letters B 754 (2016) 302-322

Conference Note
(Support)
(CONF Support)

Fast TracKer (FTK) Technical Design Report




Documents expected performance and technical
details of hardware-based track-trigger upgrade.


ATLAS-TDR-021


Searches for Higgs boson pair production in the HH → bbττ, γγWW, γγbb, bbbb channels with the ATLAS detector




Run-1 legacy HH combination.


Phys. Rev. D 92, 092004 (2015)

Search for Higgs boson pair production in the 4b final state at 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector,

1st HH publication in 4b final state.


Eur. Phys. J. C 75 (2015) 412

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector




Combination of Higgs coupling measurements to
vector bosons with the Run-1 data-set.


Phys. Lett. B 726 (2013)


Observation and measurement of Higgs boson decays to WW with the ATLAS detector




Run-1 legacy H → WW paper
Most precise Run-1 Higgs signal strength measurement.


Phys. Rev. D 92, 012006 (2015)


Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector.




Discovery of the Higgs boson.


Phys. Lett. B 716 (2012)
Booklet


Measurement of the WW cross section at 7 TeV and limits on anomalous gauge couplings




First constraints on anomalous gauge couplings in the WW channel.


Phys. Lett. B712 (2012)


Electron reconstruction and identification efficiency measurements with the ATLAS detector,




Documents electron identification algorithms default
in Run-1 analyses.


Eur. Phys. J. C (2014)


Measurement of the W and Z cross sections at 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector




First electro-weak measurements from ATLAS.


JHEP 12 (2010) 060


The ATLAS Inner Detector commissioning and calibration




Documents commission and performance of the
Inner Detector before LHC turn on.


Eur. Phys. J. C 70 (2010)

Getting in touch

Post

Department of Physics
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Email

johnalison@cmu.edu

Phone

US: +1 412-657-1060

Skype

johndalison

Office

7420 Wean