2012 Consolidated Grant for Sussex Experimental Particle Physics (EPP)

The Sussex Experimental Particle Physics group is involved in three strands of Particle Physics: the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider; the SNO+ neutrino experiment at SNOLAB in Canada; and the nEDM experiment at ILL in Grenoble, France. All three experiments probe some of the most fundamental properties of Nature and seek to find evidence for new physics phenomena.

Sussex makes leading contributions to the analysis of ATLAS data, searching for evidence of supersymmetry in proton-proton interactions where electrons, muons or taus are produced in the final state. The discovery of supersymmetry would provide evidence for new physics as well as possibly a link between particle physics and cosmology, by uncovering the nature of the elusive Dark Matter in our universe. Sussex also makes important contribution to the ATLAS trigger system (which acts like the experiment's "brain") -- through participation in trigger operations and in the development and maintenance core software for the trigger system. The group is also involved in preparations for future upgrades of the ATLAS trigger system.

Sussex provides substantial intellectual leadership in the ongoing search for an electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron. Finding an EDM would represent unambiguous evidence for physics beyond the SM; conversely, the absence of any EDM, at the sensitivity for which we are aiming, would provide extremely severe constraints on models of new physics. This work also provides a link to cosmology, since the size of any neutron EDM is determined by the same CP-violating mechanism that underlies the dominance of matter over antimatter in the Universe.

Sussex plays a crucial role in the SNO+ experiment, where it leads the calibration and the dataflow activities. The group is also becoming involved in the crucial neutrinoless double-beta decay analysis, which could both determine the mass of the neutrino and answer the long-standing question of whether the neutrino is its own antiparticle.

Group members are also becoming involved, at a smaller level, in new experiments for direct Dark Matter searches.

Sussex EPP has been historically involved in fundamental research and therefore, by nature, the group has developed an "impact agenda" that centres on the engagement with the general public and the training of highly numerate science graduates, rather than on direct collaboration with industry. Therefore the group's "Pathways to Impact" revolves around a case based on outreach activities and on the furthering of the Government's agenda to develop a science-savvy, highly skilled graduate workforce.

With support of Sussex's Outreach Officer, also funded by the South-East Physics Network (SEPnet), the group is involved in a variety of Outreach activities aimed at the general public, including but not limited to secondary school pupils and their teachers. In 2011, about 6000 members of the general public (among which about 200 schoolteachers and approximately 3000 pupils) visited Sussex to participate in Outreach events run also with support from Sussex EPP. Indirect evidence for positive impact of the group's outreach strategy is seen in the exceptional growth in Sussex undergraduate applications, which for 2012 entry has gone up by over 100% since 2011, to be compared to an 8.3% increase nationally for Physics degrees.

Knowledge exchange and economic impact from the group mainly stem from the training of highly skilled undergraduate and PhD students, PDRAs and technical staff - some of whom are likely to leave academia at some point in their career. EPP activities require specialist knowledge of sophisticated detector technologies as well as of cutting-edge computing and numerical techniques, all of which are in high demand in the private sector. Strong links with industry and regional employers are maintained at Sussex through the SEPnet Employer Engagement programme, whose Director is Sussex-based. The University also pursues other mechanisms to support knowledge exchange. For example, the Sussex Research & Enterprise Division, which also handles intellectual property rights and exploitation, is equipped to provide support for emerging academic ideas that may merit commercialization in the future.

The Sussex EPP group is committed to the Impact agenda through continued development of its Outreach programme and through the training of a highly skilled graduate workforce, so crucial in a knowledge-based economy. While mainly engaged in fundamental research, the group also remains open to the possibility to export technologies and techniques to industry in future, should the opportunity arise to do so.