Postdoc Atanu Modak Receives 2021 CMS Detector Award

Atanu Modak, K-State postdoctoral researcher in high energy physics, has received the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) 2021 detector award for his efforts that enabled significant improvements in the configuration time of the pixel detector on the CMS at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland.

The pixel detector tracks the paths of particles emerging from the collision with extreme accuracy. It is the closest detector to the beam pipe, thus it is vital in reconstructing the tracks of short-lived particles. It can unravel and reconstruct the tracks left behind over the 10-year experiment.

Knowing which pixels are touched will allow researchers to determine the particle's trajectory and will result in the creation of a three-dimensional picture.

The CMS collaboration award honors individuals that have made outstanding and exceptional contributions to the CMS experiment.