Search for Rare Charm decays at LHCb

LHCb is the world-leading experiment in the field of heavy flavour physics. The aim of Chris' initial project is to analyse data from this experiment to search for rare decays of the form D+ (s) -> hll, where 'h' is a charged pion or kaon and 'l' is an electron or muon. There are 28 different decay channels of this form. The aim of the project is to investigate the possibility of being able to observe or place world-best limits on all channels.

In addition Chris will work on the alignment of the LHCb experiment, particularly on the development of the alignment procedure for the vertex detector (VELO) of the next generation upgraded LHCb experiment. This work is performed in the context of a European Union funded project (AIDA) on developing common tools for paticle physics experiments. Chris will also support the alignment needs of prototype detectors tested in testbems.