PPGP Capital Equipment Call
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
This proposal aims to improve the capacity of the Birmingham particle physics group to produce new detector components as part of the upgrades to Large Hadron Collider and other experiments, enabling them to cope with future increased collision rates. Specifically, it enhances our capacity to build detectors made from semiconductor devices, fast timing devices and the electronics which are used to trigger the most interesting events. It also contains a request to increase our computer disk capacity to allow more efficient analysis of the expected large future data sets.
Planned Impact
The group's work generates high impact to society in general, to the physics community and through our knowledge transfer activities. Our silicon laboratory is particularly relevant in the latter case, having been involved in recent collaborations with local industry, developing high temperature-tolerant electronics and hybrids with partners Aero Engine Controls and also with other academics in departments ranging from Electronic Engineering to Neuroscience.
The group is internationally leading in its outreach work, introducing particle physics to wide audiences of both the general public and school students. For the general public, the impact is at a cultural level: people are ever more curious to understand the basic building blocks of nature and their imagination is captured by the LHC more than by any previous scientific endeavour. Our work with schools helps to engage students in science in exciting ways. As is by now well documented for example by the IOP, the effects of the high profile developed through particle physics outreach work has a measurable effect on numbers of students applying to study physics at University.
The group is internationally leading in its outreach work, introducing particle physics to wide audiences of both the general public and school students. For the general public, the impact is at a cultural level: people are ever more curious to understand the basic building blocks of nature and their imagination is captured by the LHC more than by any previous scientific endeavour. Our work with schools helps to engage students in science in exciting ways. As is by now well documented for example by the IOP, the effects of the high profile developed through particle physics outreach work has a measurable effect on numbers of students applying to study physics at University.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Paul Newman (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Aad G
(2014)
Measurement of the production cross section of prompt J/? mesons in association with a W ± boson in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2013)
Search for pair-produced massive coloured scalars in four-jet final states with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7\ \mbox{TeV}$
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2014)
Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s $$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2015)
Evidence of W?? Production in pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=8 TeV and Limits on Anomalous Quartic Gauge Couplings with the ATLAS Detector.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2014)
Search for top quark decays t ? qH with H ? ?? using the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2015)
Search for production of vector-like quark pairs and of four top quarks in the lepton-plus-jets final state in pp collisions at s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2014)
Search for high-mass dilepton resonances in p p collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2013)
Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{\mathrm{s}}=7\ \mathrm{TeV}$
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2015)
Search for Higgs boson pair production in the [Formula: see text] final state from pp collisions at [Formula: see text] TeVwith the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
| Description | AIDA |
| Amount | £73,538 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AIDA-2020 (H2020-INFRAIA-2014-2015 call) |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 01/2015 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| Description | Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships (Watson) |
| Amount | £402,603 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2010 |
| End | 09/2016 |
| Description | ERC Starting Grant (Goudzovski) |
| Amount | € 1,600,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 09/2013 |
| End | 09/2018 |
| Description | FP7 |
| Amount | £506,292 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | GA 268062 |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 08/2011 |
| End | 08/2016 |
| Description | FP_MC_IEF |
| Amount | £154,883 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | PIEF-GA-2010-271987 |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 03/2011 |
| End | 03/2013 |
| Description | IPPP Associateship (Nikolopoulos) |
| Amount | £3,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Department | Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2014 |
| End | 09/2015 |
| Description | Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (Nikolopoulos) |
| Amount | € 100,000 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 334034 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 03/2013 |
| End | 03/2017 |
| Description | Marie Curie Fellowships |
| Amount | € 78,125 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG-334034 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 01/2013 |
| End | 03/2017 |
| Description | Outreach awards |
| Amount | £41,559 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 283487 |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 08/2011 |
| End | 08/2013 |
| Description | Royal Society Partnership (Lazzeroni) |
| Amount | £3,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2014 |
| End | 08/2015 |
| Description | UKIERI Joint Projects |
| Amount | £19,425 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | UKUTP2001100159 |
| Organisation | UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2012 |
| End | 02/2014 |
| Description | University Research Fellowships (Goudzovski) |
| Amount | £525,769 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | UF100308 |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2012 |
| End | 12/2016 |
| Description | ATLAS |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | ATLAS Collaboration |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | - Large role in construction, operation and upgrade planning of first level calorimeter trigger - Role in construction, operation and upgrade planning of Semiconductor tracker - Major contributions to data analysis and paper preparation in Higgs boson searches and discovery, top, beauty and charm quark physics and diffraction / minimum bias physics - Leadership (e.g. Prof Dave Charlton is the current spokesperson) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Large international collaboration |
| Impact | See elsewhere |
| Description | H1 |
| Organisation | Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Leadership, data analysis and paper preparation |
| Collaborator Contribution | Large International Caollaboration |
| Impact | See elsewhere (particularly publications) |
| Description | ILC |
| Organisation | International Linear Collider |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Digital calorimeter design and radiation hardness tests. Physics analysis and motivation development ... particularly through involvement in the CALICE and SPIDER projects ... |
| Collaborator Contribution | Large international collaboration. |
| Impact | See elsewhere |
| Description | LHCb |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | Large Hadron Collider Beauty Experiment (LHCb) |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Development of detector simulation Support for distributed computing Data analysis and paper preparation in the area of rare beauty baryon decays |
| Collaborator Contribution | Large international collaboration |
| Impact | See elsewhere |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | LHeC |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | LHeC Future Deep Inelastic Scattering Experiment |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Evaluation of low x physics case Various leadership and steering roles Conference talk and web page coordination |
| Collaborator Contribution | Large international study group |
| Impact | See elsewhere (in particular Conceptual Design Report) |
| Start Year | 2006 |
| Description | NA62 |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | NA62 Rare Kaon-Decay Experiment |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Large role in design and construction of detector, in particular the electronics and readout for the CEDAR Cherenkov detector. Leadership in preparations for data analysis, particularly in the area of searches for charged lepton flavour violation. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Large international collaboration |
| Impact | See elsewhere |
| Description | Amateur scientific societies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 10 presentations of recent results from the LHC at scientific societies and similar bodies since October 2012. Impact on the enhanced enthusiasm, engagement and understanding of STFC science among members of the public with a strong scientific interest |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014 |
| Description | Big Bang Fair 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Poster Presentation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Version of the `Understanding the Higgs Boson' stand used at the 2014 Big Bang Fair at the NEC, aimed at schools and general public aged mostly between 9 and 16. Reached an estimated 5000 visitors |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Big Bang Fair 2015 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Reuse of 'Beyond the Higgs Boson Exhibition, first shown at 2014 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Discover the Cosmos teachers' workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Dedicated workshop for science school-teachers in which LHC and other particle physics is illustrated using the MINERVA software package, built in Birmingham and derived from the ATLAS event display. About 50 attended. Improved quality and enthusiasm in teaching of particle physics and other STFC science in schools. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013 |
| Description | Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Type Of Presentation | Poster Presentation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Coordination of successful bid by multiple UK particle physics groups and preparations to provide an `Understanding the Higgs Boson' stand at the 2013 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition (to be held in July 2013). This reached a large volume and cross section of the UK public, including opinion formers, politicians and eminent scientists, increasing their knowledge, understanding and enthusiasm for the Higgs boson discovery and other aspects of STFC science |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013 |
| URL | http://www.understanding-the-higgs-boson.org |
| Description | Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Leadership of UK universities consortium in preparations for a `Higgs Boson and Beyond' stand at the 2014 RS Summer Science Exhibition, following on from the successful 2013 version. Similar audience to 2013 version |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://sse.royalsociety.org/2014/higgs-boson/ |
| Description | Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2015 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 'Cosmic Ray Detectives' stand at RS summer science exhibition. Estimated audience ~20000 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://sse.royalsociety.org/2015/cosmic-ray-detectives/ |
| Description | School visits (approximately 20) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 20 visits to schools were made since October 2012. The usual format is a seminar-style presentation of particle physics and the latest results from the LHC, combined with demonstrations of spark chamber and cloud chamber detectors built at Birmingham University for this purpose. Impact on the enthusiasm and awareness of STFC science to the next generation of researchers, administrators and taxpayers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014 |