Experimental High Energy Particle Physics Research at UCL
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Experimental particle physics is about looking at extremely small sizes, or equivalently extremely high energies. It teaches us about the underlying nature of the physical universe, and the forces and laws that govern its development, from the first moments of the big bang, through to the present day, and far into the future. Particle physics has led to many revolutionary ideas, which have had a profound impact upon the way we think about ourselves and the world. One reason for the power of these ideas is that they are grounded in and tested by actual scientific observations of the world around us - that is, experiment. Without experiment, science is dead. Experiments capable of reaching these extremes of energy and size are very technically challenging. The challenges include devising precision detectors which can operate in hostile environments, particle accelerators which can achieve high energy collisions, super-sensitive detectors capable of identifying very rare decays with very small 'background noise', high-speed electronics which can read out millions of pieces of information per second, and robust, flexible software which can analyse the data in a distributed computing system all over the world. Thus another consequence of an active particle physics activity is a stimulation of technological developments and the training of people skilled in the development and use of high technology. This is a 'rolling grant', which means that it covers a broad variety of particle physics experiments. The rolling grant underpins the base of highly skilled research and technical staff which makes UCL able to be a leader in experimental physics at the very highest levels. It provides a measure of career security, as well as travel and equipment money. This also allows the group to function effectively in the training of PhD students, and we are in fact bidding to fund several PhD students on this grant. The science this grant will support includes: - Analysis of electron-proton collisions using the ZEUS detector at the HERA collider in Hamburg, which is telling us more and more about the internal structure of the proton and the photon, and about the strong nuclear force which holds the proton together. - Analysis of proton-antiproton collisions with the CDF detector at the Tevatron collider in Chicago, where precision measurements of the W boson (which carries the weak nuclear force), studies of the super-heavy top quark, and a search for the Higgs boson are underway. - Analysis of neutrino oscillations from the MINOS experiment in Chicago. The mysterious neutrino was once thought to be massless but is now known to have mass - MINOS will make the most precise measurement of the mixing between the different 'flavours' of neutrino. - Commisioning of the ATLAS detector at CERN, and analysis of the first date from the LHC. The LHC is the first collider to operate above the 'energy horizon' above which the weak and electromagentic forces are unified. As well as the Higgs, the LHC may find supersymmetry, extra spatial dimensions, or other exotica we have not even imagined. - Analysis of data from the NEMO-III experiment, a super-sensitive detector under a mountain in France searching for 'neutrinoless double beta decay'. If found, this rare process would not only provide the best measurement by far of the neutrino's mass, but would also prove that unlike all other particles, the neutrino is its own antiparticle. If true, this would give a big clue to physics at the 'grand unification' scale, where all forces are (perhaps!) unified. We also have other neutrino projects, work on the proposed international linear collider, and some theoretical activities, all largely funded on other grants. These projects benefit greatly from being co-sited with the rolling grant. All these projects contribute to the intellectually exciting environment that is UCL high energy physics.
Publications
Aarons, Gerald And Others
(2007)
International Linear Collider Reference Design Report Volume 2: PHYSICS AT THE ILC
Abazov V
(2009)
Search for charged Higgs bosons in decays of top quarks
in Physical Review D
Abazov VM
(2008)
Search for large extra dimensions via single photon plus missing energy final states at sqrt s = 1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abramowicz H
(2012)
Angular correlations in three-jet events in e p collisions at HERA
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Top quark mass measurement from dilepton events at CDF II with the matrix-element method
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the b jet cross section in events with a Z boson in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Direct search for Dirac magnetic monopoles in pp collisions at square root s = 1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Search for heavy long-lived particles that decay to photons at CDF II.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Observation of B(s)0-->K+ K- and measurements of branching fractions of charmless two-body decays of B0 and B(s)0 mesons in pp collisions at square root of s = 1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Measurement of the B + production cross section in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1960 GeV
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Search for a Neutral Higgs Boson Decaying to a W Boson Pair in p p ¯ Collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review Letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Search for exotic S = - 2 baryons in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Search for charged Higgs bosons from top quark decays in pp collisions at square root s=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Search for neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model decaying to tau pairs in pp collisions at square root of s = 1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the inclusive jet cross section using the kT algorithm in pp collisions at (square root s)=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Observation of exclusive electron-positron production in hadron-hadron collisions.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Top quark mass measurement using the template method in the lepton + jets channel at CDF II
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2008)
Cross section measurements of high- p T dilepton final-state processes using a global fitting method
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Search for second-generation scalar leptoquarks in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Observation of B(0)(s)-->Psi(2S)Phi and measurement of the ratio of branching fractions Beta(B(0)(s)-->Psi(2S)Phi)/Beta(B(0)(s)-->J/PsiPhi).
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Polarizations of J/psi and psi(2S) mesons produced in pp collisions at square root s = 1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions B(B0s --> Ds- pi+ pi+ pi-)/B(B0-->D- pi+ pi+ pi-) and B(B0s --> Ds- pi+)/B(B0-->D- pi+).
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Search for excited and exotic muons in the mugamma decay channel in p-p collisions at sqrt s =1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Search for scalar bottom quarks from gluino decays in collisions at.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the Bc+ meson lifetime using the decay mode Bc+ --> J/Psie+nue.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the tt production cross section in pp collisions at square root of s = 1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Measurement of sigma chi c2 B(chi c2-->J/psi gamma)/sigma chi c1 B(chi c1 -->J/psi gamma) in pp collisions at square root s=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Measurement of the inclusive jet cross section using the k T algorithm in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV with the CDF II detector
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the top quark mass using template methods on dilepton events in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2007)
Precision measurement of the top-quark mass from dilepton events at CDF II
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the t t ¯ production cross section in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV in the all hadronic decay mode
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the Bs0-Bs0 oscillation frequency.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the tt production cross section in pp collisions at square root s = 1.96 TeV using missing E(T) + jets events with secondary vertex b tagging.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Measurement of the helicity fractions of W bosons from top quark decays using fully reconstructed t t ¯ events with CDF II
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2007)
Search for V+A current in top-quark decays in pp collisions at sqrts=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
A search for t ? t ? q in t t ¯ production
in Physics Letters B
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the helicity of W bosons in top-quark decays
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of mass and width of the excited charmed meson states D 1 0 and D 2 * 0 at CDF
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2007)
Search for W ' boson decaying to electron-neutrino pairs in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2006)
Observation of Bs(0)-Bs(0) oscillations.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Search for anomalous production of multilepton events in pp collisions at sqrt s=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Observation of WZ production.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions and.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Inclusive search for new physics with like-sign dilepton events in pp collisions at square root of s =1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Measurement of sigma Lambda b0/sigma B0 x B(Lambda b0-->Lambda c+pi-)/B(B0-->D+pi-) in pp collisions at square root s=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions B ( D 0 ? K + p - ) / B ( D 0 ? K - p + ) using the CDF II detector
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2007)
Measurement of s ( p p ¯ ? Z ) · B ( Z ? t t ) in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abulencia A
(2007)
First measurement of the ratio of central-electron to forward-electron W partial cross sections in pp[over] collisions at (square root)s =1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2006)
Search for high-mass resonances decaying to emu in pp collisions at square root = 1.69 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abulencia A
(2007)
Measurement of the top quark mass in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV using the decay length technique
in Physical Review D
| Description | CERN/ATLANTIS |
| Amount | £24,945 (GBP) |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | ATLAS Collaboration |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Start | 04/2007 |
| End | 11/2007 |
| Description | CERN/MCNet |
| Amount | £271,986 (GBP) |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Start | 01/2007 |
| End | 12/2010 |
| Description | CERN/RTT |
| Amount | £45,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | ATLAS Collaboration |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Start | 03/2007 |
| End | 03/2008 |
| Description | DESY/Guest Scientist |
| Amount | £34,930 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Germany |
| Start | 06/2007 |
| End | 06/2009 |
| Description | DESY/ZEUS Studentship |
| Amount | £41,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Germany |
| Start | 09/2005 |
| End | 09/2008 |
| Description | DSTL/ACORNE Studentship |
| Amount | £12,930 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2006 |
| End | 03/2009 |
| Description | EPSRC/ESLEA |
| Amount | £134,810 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2005 |
| End | 01/2007 |
| Description | EU/ARTEMIS |
| Amount | £228,960 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 42051 |
| Organisation | Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Spain |
| Start | 09/2006 |
| End | 09/2010 |
| Description | EU/EUDET |
| Amount | £194,229 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 26126 |
| Organisation | Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Spain |
| Start | 01/2006 |
| End | 12/2009 |
| Description | Humboldt/Research Fellowship |
| Amount | £19,687 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Alexander von Humboldt Foundation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Germany |
| Start | 02/2008 |
| End | 01/2009 |
| Description | Nuffield/Precise determination of beam energies at an ILC |
| Amount | £5,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Nuffield Foundation |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2005 |
| End | 04/2007 |
| Description | RS URF/Higgs Physics at ATLAS |
| Amount | £244,218 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2008 |
| End | 09/2013 |
| Description | RS URF/QCD Phenomenology |
| Amount | £30,171 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2006 |
| End | 05/2008 |
| Description | RS/UHE Neutrinos |
| Amount | £121,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2007 |
| End | 05/2009 |
| Description | ARTEMIS |
| Organisation | Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Training |
| Collaborator Contribution | Training |
| Impact | PhDs |
| Start Year | 2006 |
| Title | Scintillators |
| Description | High resolution scintillators developed with ELJEN for SuperNEMO Scintillators |
| Type Of Technology | Detection Devices |
| Year Produced | 2008 |
| Impact | Has potential application in precise energy measurement for proton cancer therapy. |
| Description | Articles in National Press |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Again too numerous too itemize: articles/quotes etc for Times, Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, Scotsman, Evening Standard, THES etc . |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |
| Description | IoP Physics in Perspective |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Three talks each with other 250 school students . |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007,2009,2011 |
| Description | Podcasts |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Again several of these for several organisations. . |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |
| Description | SET Parliament Session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Poster Presentation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | MPs attended . |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006 |
| Description | School Visits / Schoolchildren mentoring |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | These ate too numerous to create individual entries for. Our activities have ranged from talks in lessons, assemblies, career days, lab sessions. . |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |
| Description | Short Films: Colliding Particles |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Series of short films about the background to Higgs discovery Online films |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2009,2010,2011,2012 |
| Description | TV/Radio appearances |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Too numerous to list individually but we have made appearances on BBC1,BBC2, ITV, C4, Al Jazeera, Sky News, GMTV, News-24, Classic FM, Capital Radio, BBC R4. . |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |