Keegan Downham

Biography

Keegan received his BS in Physics and Applied Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Spring of 2020. His research at Wisconsin, under the supervision of Professor Matthew Herndon, was focused on the analysis of rare standard model (SM) processes involving the production of multiple massive vector bosons at the CMS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Prior to joining the Physics Department at Wisconsin, Keegan attended Michigan Technological University (MTU) for three semesters. At MTU, Keegan performed research in the Environmental Optics Laboratory under the supervision of Professor Claudio Mazzoleni, developing an instrument to measure light absorption and scattering of atmospheric particles via photoacoustic and nephelometric spectroscopy.

Research

The standard model of particle physics is the most complete description of nature to date, yet it is still incomplete. As a member of the CMS collaboration at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, I perform measurements for rare phenomena predicted by the SM and also exotic phenomena that would provide evidence for new physics. Additionally, I work on detector performance at CMS by measuring timing calibration information for the muon endcap subdetector (Cathode Strip Chambers), which is used in data reconstruction. Outside of work on CMS I have also contributed to the construction and operation of the MilliQan detector, an experiment sensitive to the production of fractionally-charged particles predicted by simple dark matter models.