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
Chekanov S
(2007)
Search for stop production in R-parity-violating supersymmetry at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2007)
Diffractive photoproduction of D*±(2010) at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2006)
Measurement of neutral current cross sections at high Bjorken-x with the ZEUS detector at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2008)
Diffractive photoproduction of dijets in ep collisions at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2006)
Measurement of prompt photons with associated jets in photoproduction at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2007)
Measurement of K0 S, ? and ?¯ production at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2009)
Production of excited charm and charm-strange mesons at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2009)
Measurement of charged current deep inelastic scattering cross sections with a longitudinally polarised electron beam at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurement of lepton differential distributions and the top quark mass in $$t\bar{t}$$ t t ¯ production in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=8$$ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaltonen T
(2009)
Search for narrow resonances lighter than ? mesons
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2007)
Measurement of open beauty production at HERA in the D*µ final state
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2007)
Forward-jet production in deep inelastic ep scattering at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Chekanov S
(2007)
Measurement of azimuthal asymmetries in neutral current deep inelastic scattering at HERA
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for heavy resonances decaying into WW in the e ? µ ? final state in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for heavy ZZ resonances in the l + l - l + l - and l + l - ? ? ¯ final states using proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Fiducial, total and differential cross-section measurements of t-channel single top-quark production in pp collisions at 8 TeV using data collected by the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for new phenomena in high-mass final states with a photon and a jet from pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Measurement of t polarisation in Z / ? * ? t t decays in proton-proton collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurement of W W / W Z ? l ? q q ' production with the hadronically decaying boson reconstructed as one or two jets in pp collisions at s = 8 TeV with ATLAS, and constraints on anomalous gauge couplings.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurements of electroweak [Formula: see text] production and constraints on anomalous gauge couplings with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for doubly charged Higgs boson production in multi-lepton final states with the ATLAS detector using proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurements of the production cross section of a [Formula: see text] boson in association with jets in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Measurement of differential cross-sections of a single top quark produced in association with a W boson at s = 13 TeV with ATLAS.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Search for direct top squark pair production in final states with two leptons in s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Measurement of longitudinal flow decorrelations in Pb+Pb collisions at s NN = 2.76 and 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Determination of the strong coupling constant a s from transverse energy-energy correlations in multijet events at s = 8 TeV using the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurement of detector-corrected observables sensitive to the anomalous production of events with jets and large missing transverse momentum in p p collisions at s = 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Search for dark matter at [Formula: see text] in final states containing an energetic photon and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Performance of the ATLAS track reconstruction algorithms in dense environments in LHC Run 2.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Measurement of quarkonium production in proton-lead and proton-proton collisions at 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Jet reconstruction and performance using particle flow with the ATLAS Detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Study of W W ? and W Z ? production in p p collisions at s = 8 TeV and search for anomalous quartic gauge couplings with the ATLAS experiment.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurement of jet fragmentation in Pb+Pb and pp collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Identification and rejection of pile-up jets at high pseudorapidity with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Direct top-quark decay width measurement in the t t ¯ lepton+jets channel at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Measurement of the W-boson mass in pp collisions at s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurement of multi-particle azimuthal correlations in pp, p + Pb and low-multiplicity Pb + Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with tau leptons in s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aarons, Gerald And Others
(2007)
International Linear Collider Reference Design Report Volume 2: PHYSICS AT THE ILC
Behnke, Ties, (Ed.) And Others
(2007)
ILC Reference Design Report Volume 4 - Detectors
Brau, James, (Ed.) And Others
(2007)
ILC Reference Design Report: ILC Global Design Effort and World Wide Study
Aad, G. And Others
(2009)
Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics
| Description | CERN/ATLANTIS |
| Amount | £24,945 (GBP) |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | ATLAS Collaboration |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Start | 05/2007 |
| 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 | 04/2007 |
| End | 03/2008 |
| Description | DESY/Guest Scientist |
| Amount | £34,930 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Germany |
| Start | 07/2007 |
| End | 06/2009 |
| Description | DESY/ZEUS Studentship |
| Amount | £41,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Germany |
| Start | 10/2005 |
| End | 09/2008 |
| Description | DSTL/ACORNE Studentship |
| Amount | £12,930 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2006 |
| 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 | 10/2006 |
| 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 | 05/2005 |
| 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 | 10/2008 |
| End | 09/2013 |
| Description | RS URF/QCD Phenomenology |
| Amount | £30,171 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2006 |
| End | 05/2008 |
| Description | RS/UHE Neutrinos |
| Amount | £121,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2007 |
| 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 |