About
Professor Neal is currently conducting his research at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, in experimental high energy physics, where his research group is part of the ATLAS Experiment. Neal also participates in the DZERO collaboration that in 1995 announced the discovery of the top quark. Within the early phase of DZERO the Michigan group had particular responsibility for designing, implementing, and analyzing data from the Intercryostat Detector that was built by the team at University of Michigan. His technical research expertise includes the design of particle detectors, particle event reconstruction and analysis, large-scale database management and particle physics phenomenology. He has led many experiments that have elucidated the nature of spin effects in high energy particle interactions, including proton-proton elastic scattering, electron-positron scattering and in various inclusive hadronic reactions.
In the ATLAS experiment, Professor Neal is involved in developing the computing infrastructure required to carry out the planned physics analysis. This includes work on high speed networking between CERN and the U.S., quality of service protocols, and the development of collaborative tools. He is also involved with the U-M effort to construct muon chambers for the ATLAS forward muon spectrometer. In the DZERO experiment, he is involved with the development of the database for the calibration of various subsystem detectors. This work will permit the event reconstruction programs to have direct access to the relevant phased calibration data recorded in the experiment.
Professor Neal is also engaged in an ongoing study of spin effects in high energy collisions. Recent papers in Physics Letters claim success in explaining the exceptionally large polarization and spin correlation effects observed in high energy p-p elastic scattering. This work is based on a quark-quark scattering model developed by Neal and Holger Nielsen at the Niels Bohr Institute. This work continues, with the current focus being the exploration of spin effects in inclusive lambda production in the hundred GeV range.
Professor Neal is Director of the UM-ATLAS Project, the Samuel A. Goudsmit Professor of Physics, Interim President Emeritus, Vice President Emeritus for Research at the University of Michigan, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. From 1987 to 1993 he was Chair of the University of Michigan Physics Department.
Selected Publications
Explanation of the Structure of the Spin Correlation Parameter Ann in p-p Elastic Scattering at Multi-GeV Energies, (Homer A. Neal, Holger B. Nielsen), Phys. Letters B 508, 251-258 (2001).
Studies of Elastic p-p Polarization and Differential Cross Section in a Simple Parton Scattering Model, (Homer A. Neal, Joseph Boon Kuah, and Holger B. Nielsen), Phys. Letters B 439, 407-414 (1998).
Measurement of the W Boson Mass, (D0 Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Letters 77, 3309 (1996).
Observation of the Top Quark, (D0 Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Letters 74, 2632 (1995).
The Study of Inclusive Ë Production in e+ e- Annihilations at 29 GeV, (HRS Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 45, 3949 (1992).
