Oliver Stelzer
Senior Research Scientist + Department Head, Particle Physics
Dr. Oliver Stelzer’s current physics emphasis are searches for new particles beyond the Standard Model and studying the Higgs boson. With its discovery at the LHC, there are many questions we are trying to answer with more measurements: Have we observed the Higgs that is predicted in the Standard Model, or are the results pointing towards new physics that goes beyond the Standard Model?
We have studied the Higgs boson in various ways, including the consistency with the spin-0 hypothesis following the discovery. We continued our studies by finding evidence for the order of magnitude suppressed vector boson fusion production mode in Higgs decays to WW which allows the most precise determination of the Higgs to vector boson coupling. We are expanding this measurement by including the associated Higgs boson production with a vector boson. We contributed to the observation of the Higgs boson in association with top quarks that is suppressed by another order of magnitude. This allowed for the first time a direct measurement of the Higgs-top Yukawa coupling. We are also intensely searching for other new particles which appear in many theories that go beyond the Standard Model.
As part of the ATLAS-TRIUMF team, Stelzer has made major contributions to the ATLAS New Small Wheel upgrade. Stelzer was the ATLAS Exotics convenor from 2019 to 2021.