Well-defined operators which are capable of describing measurements made at future null infinity in collider experiments are naturally of phenomenological interest, but they are also of great formal interest. Here we discuss the properties of these so called asymptotic detector operators, including both their formal construction in terms of light-ray operators in a conformal field theory, as well as their utility in jet substructure phenomenology. We show how one can formulate detector operators which are sensitive to a variety of quantum numbers and study their renormalization in perturbation theory. Furthermore, we study insertions of multiple detectors and the contact terms that appear in the limit where detectors are collinear. We discuss how this allows one to perturbatively check formal quantities such as the light-ray operator product expansion, while also gaining insights into non-perturbative quantities which are relevant for QCD phenomenology. Finally, we highlight recent experimental efforts with close connections to these operators, as well as future plans related to my thesis work.
Advisor: Ian Moult
Host: Jiaxiang Wang