The study of elementary particles and their interactions
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
This grant is to continue the groups programme of investigation into the properties of elementary particles and the fundamental forces of nature. One of the main objectives of this grant will be to support the exploitation of three new experiments which will start taking data during the period of this grant. The CMS experiment will break new ground in studying the constituents of matter and their interactions, hoping to observe the Higgs particle and understand the origins of mass, as well as searching for new phenomena, such as finding evidence of potential dark matter candidates. The LHCb experiment will offer complementary tests of the Standard Model with the ability to look for extremely rare decays in flavour physics which are sensitive to contributions from new physics, as well as measuring CP violation in the decays of B mesons. Both these experiments will make extensive use of Grid computing which the group will continue to develop and exploit. The T2K experiment will allow us to expand our understanding of the masses and mixings in the neutrino sector, and should provide a key measurement which will guide us as to whether we ultimately could see evidence of CP violation in the neutrino sector. Follow on experiments looking to measure CP violation in neutrinos would require a dedicate neutrino factory, and the group is heavily involved in understanding the issues in preparing an accelerator for such a facility. One of the other missing pieces of the neutrino puzzle is whether the neutrino is its own anti-particle. This grant will support preparation of a future experiment to attempt to determine if the neutrino is a Majorana particle. The universe may be largely composed of Dark Matter which until now remains un-detected. The group will continue is activity in searching for direct evidence of a dark matter candidate. Accelerators which are used in particle physics also have potential applications for energy, and healthcare, and the group will continue its research into how to apply techniques which have benefit for future research accelerators as well as applied use of accelerators. The group will also be active in preparing the next generation of detectors for future facilities, both at the high luminosity upgrade of the LHC, as well as for other future colliders.
Organisations
- Imperial College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- Fermilab - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Collaboration)
- Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (Collaboration)
- European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) (Collaboration)
Publications
Davies Gavin
(2008)
Higgs searches at the Tevatron
in ACTA PHYSICA POLONICA B
DAVIES, Gavin J
(1996)
FURTHER REDUCTION IN DARK MATTER LIMITS FROM SODIUM IODIDE EXPERIMENTS
DAVIES, Gavin J
(1996)
NEW LIMITS TO INTERACTION RATES FROM THE UK DARK MATTER EXPERIMENT
DAVIES, Gavin J
(1994)
LATEST LIMITS ON COLD DARK MATTER INTERACTION RATES FROM THE UK UNDERGROUND NAI DETECTOR
DAVIES, Gavin J
(1994)
DEVELOPMENT OF SCINTILLATOR DARK MATTER DETECTORS
DAVIES, Gavin J
(1996)
PROBING FOR WIMP INTERACTION RATES BELOW 10/KG/DAY AT BOULBY MINE
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
Observation of new resonances decaying to D p and D * p in inclusive e + e - collisions near s = 10.58 GeV
in Physical Review D
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
Exclusive production of D s + D s - , D s * + D s - , and D s * + D s * - via e + e - annihilation with initial-state radiation
in Physical Review D
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
B -meson decays to ? ' ? , ? ' f 0 , and ? ' K *
in Physical Review D
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
Measurement of C P observables in B ± ? D C P K ± decays and constraints on the CKM angle ?
in Physical Review D
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
Observation of the ? ( 1 3 D J ) bottomonium state through decays to p + p - ? ( 1 S )
in Physical Review D
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
Measurement of D0-D0 mixing parameters using D0 ? K(S)(0)p+ p- and D0 ? K(S)(0)K+ K- decays.
in Physical review letters
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
Observation of the rare decay B 0 ? K S 0 K ± p ±
in Physical Review D
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
Evidence for the decay X ( 3872 ) ? J / ? ?
in Physical Review D
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
Evidence for direct CP violation in the measurement of the Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angle ? with B± ? D(*)K(*)± decays.
in Physical review letters
Del Amo Sanchez P
(2010)
Measurement of the absolute branching fractions for D s - ? l - ? ¯ l and extraction of the decay constant f D s
in Physical Review D
Edmonds A
(2022)
Measurement of proton, deuteron, triton, and a particle emission after nuclear muon capture on Al, Si, and Ti with the AlCap experiment
in Physical Review C
Egede U
(2010)
On the new physics reach of the decay mode $ {\bar{B}_d} \to {\bar{K}^{*0}}{\ell^{+} }{\ell^{-} } $
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Egede U
(2008)
New observables in the decay mode B¯ d ? K¯ *0 l + l -
in Journal of High Energy Physics
EGEDE, Ulrik
(2006)
GANGA - A GRID user interface
Ferretti L
(2008)
O'Raifeartaigh models with spontaneous R-symmetry breaking
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Gabor C
(2010)
Diagnostic experiments at a 3 MeV test stand at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (United Kingdom).
in The Review of scientific instruments
Gligorov V
(2013)
Efficient, reliable and fast high-level triggering using a bonsai boosted decision tree
in Journal of Instrumentation
Group T
(2010)
Radiation hardness qualification of PbWO 4 scintillation crystals for the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter
in Journal of Instrumentation
Group T
(2009)
Accelerator design concept for future neutrino facilities
in Journal of Instrumentation
Group T
(2009)
International Scoping Study (ISS) for a future neutrino factory and Super-Beam facility. Detectors and flux instrumentation for future neutrino facilities
in Journal of Instrumentation
Hagiwara K
(2019)
Search for Astronomical Neutrinos from Blazar TXS 0506+056 in Super-Kamiokande
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Hagiwara K.
(2019)
Search for astronomical neutrino from blazar TXS0506+056 in super-kamiokande
in Proceedings of Science
Hisano J
(2007)
Non-perturbative effect on thermal relic abundance of dark matter
in Physics Letters B
Hisano J
(2006)
New two-loop contributions to hadronic EDMs in the MSSM
in Physics Letters B
Jiang M
(2019)
Atmospheric neutrino oscillation analysis with improved event reconstruction in Super-Kamiokande IV
in Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics
Kachulis C
(2018)
Search for Boosted Dark Matter Interacting with Electrons in Super-Kamiokande.
in Physical review letters
Khachatryan V
(2010)
Measurement of the charge ratio of atmospheric muons with the CMS detector
in Physics Letters B
Khachatryan V
(2010)
Observation of long-range, near-side angular correlations in proton-proton collisions at the LHC
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Khachatryan V
(2010)
CMS tracking performance results from early LHC operation
in The European Physical Journal C
Khachatryan V
(2010)
First measurement of the underlying event activity at the LHC with $\sqrt{s} = 0.9$ TeV
in The European Physical Journal C
Khachatryan V
(2010)
First measurement of Bose-Einstein correlations in proton-proton collisions at vs=0.9 and 2.36 TeV at the LHC.
in Physical review letters
Khachatryan V
(2011)
Charged particle multiplicities in pp interactions at $ \sqrt {s} = 0.9 $ , 2.36, and 7 TeV
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Kurup A
(2019)
Simulation of a radiobiology facility for the Centre for the Clinical Application of Particles.
in Physica medica : PM : an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology : official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB)
Lawrie SR
(2010)
Plasma meniscus and extraction electrode studies of the ISIS H- ion source.
in The Review of scientific instruments
Lees J
(2010)
Measurement of the ? ? * ? ? c transition form factor
in Physical Review D
Lees J
(2010)
Measurement of the ? ? * ? ? c transition form factor
in Physical Review D
Lees J
(2010)
Limits on t lepton-flavor violating decays into three charged leptons
in Physical Review D
Long K
(2018)
Neutrinos from Stored Muons
Lu X
(2016)
Measurement of nuclear effects in neutrino interactions with minimal dependence on neutrino energy
in Physical Review C
Description | Large number of measurements and discoveries as evidenced in the publications. |
Exploitation Route | Yes in providing constraints on future fundamental physics measurements |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
Description | Public Engagement, impact on other academic disciplines. |
First Year Of Impact | 2009 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | EU FP7 |
Amount | £200,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | European Commission |
Department | Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 03/2008 |
End | 04/2011 |
Description | CMS |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | Physics Department |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The group's programme is dominated by preparation for the start of data taking for the LHC experiments and, in particular, CMS. The Imperial group is one of the largest and most influential in CMS. T. Virdee is the Spokesperson for CMS and G. Hall is the UK PI and the Tracker Upgrade coordinator. J. Nash is the CMS Upgrade Project coordinator, O. Buchmuller is a newly appointed lecturer who coordinates the SUSY search group, C. Seez coordinates the e/gamma reconstruction group, D. Futyan leads the alignment activity for CMS, and C. Foudas is the leader of the Global Calorimeter Trigger project and the Trigger Project Upgrade coordinator. |
Collaborator Contribution | We collaborate with over 2500 other scientists - who bring a very large number of contributions to our research |
Impact | Technology development and publications listed elsewhere |
Description | D0 |
Organisation | Fermilab - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory |
Country | United States |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | This is longer than was originally planned, however we intend to remain committed to DØ which is now producing excellent results and still has discovery potential before the LHC will obtain significant luminosity. As much as possible, the DØ team will be kept at current strength over the next two years, but we have already started the transition of the members of the team to our other activities. |
Collaborator Contribution | Many |
Impact | publications listed elsewhere |
Description | LHCb |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | Physics Department |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Within LHCb, D. Websdale has now retired, but has remained active in the completion of the construction and commissioning of RICH1 at College. The RICH counters are the critical feature of LHCb, and justify this dedicated LHC CP violation experiment. T. Savidge is the project engineer for RICH1. The timescale for RICH1 was very challenging following redesign of the detector to reduce material and increase the upstream field for the trigger; it necessitated major changes and much improved shielding for the photon detectors. The group worked to an extremely tight schedule to design, manufacture, and install the RICH1 in time for first beam at the LHC. We were pleased to be able to hire a new chair in particle physics to work on LHCb, and appointed A. Golutvin in April 2008. He has now taken over as Spokesperson of LHCb. U. Egede handles our physics analysis plans and software development. He serves as co-convenor of the LHCb Rare Decays group and is also the UK LHCb Physics coordinator. He also manages the Ganga system. As the Standard Model (SM) has proved so successful in describing the CP violation measurements, rare decays are now especially important for searches for beyond SM (BSM) physics and they are emphasised in our physics planning. |
Collaborator Contribution | many |
Impact | Technology and publications listed elsewhere |
Description | T2K |
Organisation | Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex |
Country | Japan |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | The Imperial T2K team is now very influential in the collaboration. D. Wark was elected as international spokesperson in 2007. In addition, two lecturers, Y. Ushida and M. Wascko, form the nucleus of the Imperial T2K team. The Imperial group has been active in the preparation of the electronics for the calorimeter and the software for the experiment, and is busy preparing for first beams in the coming year. |
Collaborator Contribution | Many |
Impact | Technology and publications listed elsewhere |
Description | gridpp |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | IT Department |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Grid activities under the supervision of D. Colling have continued to grow and are now a significant part of the group's operations. This is principally in the context of the GridPP2 project. The investment is now paying dividends with the London Tier-2 centre forming an important part of the group's and experiments' analysis strategies and capabilities. |
Collaborator Contribution | many |
Impact | many |
Description | gridpp |
Organisation | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Grid activities under the supervision of D. Colling have continued to grow and are now a significant part of the group's operations. This is principally in the context of the GridPP2 project. The investment is now paying dividends with the London Tier-2 centre forming an important part of the group's and experiments' analysis strategies and capabilities. |
Collaborator Contribution | many |
Impact | many |
Description | neutrino factory |
Organisation | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The ultimate precision measurements of the MNS mixing matrix, including the phase which would result in leptonic CP violation, cannot be achieved by a conventional superbeam. The preferred technique is a neutrino factory based on a muon storage ring. Activity on neutrino factory research began at Imperial in 2000 with the award of an Opportunities RA position to K. Long. This has blossomed, first into the MICE experiment which, over the last two years, has been under construction. MICE tests ionisation cooling for muons, which is critical for the realisation of a high intensity muon storage ring. K. Long leads the UK effort on MICE. Involvement with MICE led to a general desire to improve accelerator science within the group and, spurred on by the PPARC initiative in this area, we have had considerable support from College. With College support, a joint lectureship with STFC/RAL in accelerator science was established and J. Pozimski was appointed in January 2005. The immediate work is on the Front End Test Stand with ISIS division at RAL and this brings a new dimension to our activities. Additional STFC support for the UK Neutrino Factory Collaboration, which is led by K. Long, has further increased the viability of our operations. As a consequence there was expansion with a second joint lectureship with STFC/RAL taken up by J. Pasternak in October 2008, and two joint Fellowships with FNAL. |
Collaborator Contribution | Many |
Impact | publications and technology listed elsewhere |
Description | supernemo |
Organisation | University College London |
Department | Department of Physics & Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The group has joined supernemo, and is now leading simulation development for the detector. |
Collaborator Contribution | exchange of technology/software development |
Impact | publications elsewhere |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Schools |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | The HEP Masterclass held each year, in conjunction with the HEP group of the Institute of Physics, has been organised by P. Koppenberg and involves most of the group, and has a very high approval rating from the approximately 100 sixth-form attendees. Last year the format of the Masterclass was revised to include both an extended discussion period and increased time for individual discussion with members of staff. The feedback on the new format was extremely positive, and will continue to be developed in the coming years. Continued high attendance at Masterclass |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010 |
Description | Televsion |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The group has a strong commitment to contributing to the public understanding of science. Members of the group regularly give talks at schools. The group also maintains good contacts with the media, and the startup of the LHC has provided an excellent opportunity for members of the group to be visible promoting science, with many Imperial group members involved in media presentations. T. Virdee, C. Timlin, T. Whyntie, J. Nash, G. Hall, J. Marrouche and others have appeared in the media discussing the LHC. These appearances include: BBC TV, radio, and web, ITN TV and radio, CNN TV and cnn.com, Channel 5 News, Sky News, Al Jazeera TV (English language), Slovenian radio, Newsweek, Evening Standard and Daily Telegraph. TS Virdee selected as one of 100 most influential scientists. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010 |