Capital Equipment: Computing Cluster Upgrade and Neutrino Detector Laboratory Upgrade
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
The scope of the proposed research lies in five distinct areas: Higgs studies and new phenomena searches at ATLAS; the physics of particles containing the beauty quark at LHCb; the physics of neutrinos with T2K, SuperNEMO and LBNE; accelerator research and development for new high intensity proton, muon and neutrino beams; detector R&D. It also includes Outreach and Knowledge Exchange programmes. In more detail:
o The ATLAS experiment at CERN is a general purpose detector operating at the LHC. Our participation in the experiment is growing with the recent appointment of a new professor in the area, as well as two new postdoctoral fellows. Our proposed effort will be to support the experiment by contributing to its ability to identify interesting events rapidly for recording and further analysis. We will also continue our detailed studies of the properties of the recently discovered Higgs boson, thought to be the particle which couples to all matter, giving it mass. We will do this by helping to optimise the search for its decays to pairs of tau leptons, heavy relatives of the electron.
o We aim to further our research into matter/anti-matter asymmetry (CP Violation) in the decays of Beauty mesons at the LHCb experiment. This is important, because we have shown in past experiments that the leading source of CP violation at the weak scale is consistent with the Standard Model mechanism of CP violation. However, cosmological considerations indicate that there should be other sources of CP violation in Nature, so we aim to make further sensitive tests with beauty mesons, in order to see if any evidence for additional sources of CP violation or other new physics in Nature may appear in such decays.
o The elucidation of the properties of neutrinos. These are very light, neutral particles which are emitted, for example, by the sun, and in radioactive beta decay. These mysterious particles are known to oscillate, ie. transmute from one type to another, while they propagate. We built part of the T2K experiment which studies these phenomena in Japan. Analyses of data taken at the experiment gave early hints of the previously unobserved oscillations of muon to electron type neutrinos, and more recent observations have confirmed this. We aim to continue running this experiment, to study these effects in greater detail. The largeness of the effect offers the chance to go on to look for asymmetries between the oscillations of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos. We further plan to contribute to the SuperNEMO experiment, which aims to determine the nature of the neutrino as so called Dirac or Majorana particle. The former has distinct anti-particles, while the latter is its own antiparticle. This question may be resolved by searching for double beta decay accompanied by no neutrinos. We will contribute to the analysis of data obtained by a "demonstrator module" attempting to observe such decays.
o We propose to continue our research and development of high power accelerators for the generation of proton, muon and neutrino beams. We have in mind future neutrino factories, although other machines could benefit from our research. Such neutrino factories, if built, would continue to develop the theme of research into neutrino oscillations and matter-antimatter asymmetry of neutrinos outlined above. Such machines could also bring many benefits to medicine and industry.
o We propose to continue our research and development of position- and energy-sensitive detectors for applications in neutrino experiments and with potential spin-off applications in industry. A particular focus of this effort is the LBNE neutrino oscillation experiment.
o We will continue to develop our outreach programme which includes activities for local schools and articles in popular science publications.
o Supported by a strong University strategy and ethos in KE, we will continue to pursue all avenues for possible knowledge exchange.
o The ATLAS experiment at CERN is a general purpose detector operating at the LHC. Our participation in the experiment is growing with the recent appointment of a new professor in the area, as well as two new postdoctoral fellows. Our proposed effort will be to support the experiment by contributing to its ability to identify interesting events rapidly for recording and further analysis. We will also continue our detailed studies of the properties of the recently discovered Higgs boson, thought to be the particle which couples to all matter, giving it mass. We will do this by helping to optimise the search for its decays to pairs of tau leptons, heavy relatives of the electron.
o We aim to further our research into matter/anti-matter asymmetry (CP Violation) in the decays of Beauty mesons at the LHCb experiment. This is important, because we have shown in past experiments that the leading source of CP violation at the weak scale is consistent with the Standard Model mechanism of CP violation. However, cosmological considerations indicate that there should be other sources of CP violation in Nature, so we aim to make further sensitive tests with beauty mesons, in order to see if any evidence for additional sources of CP violation or other new physics in Nature may appear in such decays.
o The elucidation of the properties of neutrinos. These are very light, neutral particles which are emitted, for example, by the sun, and in radioactive beta decay. These mysterious particles are known to oscillate, ie. transmute from one type to another, while they propagate. We built part of the T2K experiment which studies these phenomena in Japan. Analyses of data taken at the experiment gave early hints of the previously unobserved oscillations of muon to electron type neutrinos, and more recent observations have confirmed this. We aim to continue running this experiment, to study these effects in greater detail. The largeness of the effect offers the chance to go on to look for asymmetries between the oscillations of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos. We further plan to contribute to the SuperNEMO experiment, which aims to determine the nature of the neutrino as so called Dirac or Majorana particle. The former has distinct anti-particles, while the latter is its own antiparticle. This question may be resolved by searching for double beta decay accompanied by no neutrinos. We will contribute to the analysis of data obtained by a "demonstrator module" attempting to observe such decays.
o We propose to continue our research and development of high power accelerators for the generation of proton, muon and neutrino beams. We have in mind future neutrino factories, although other machines could benefit from our research. Such neutrino factories, if built, would continue to develop the theme of research into neutrino oscillations and matter-antimatter asymmetry of neutrinos outlined above. Such machines could also bring many benefits to medicine and industry.
o We propose to continue our research and development of position- and energy-sensitive detectors for applications in neutrino experiments and with potential spin-off applications in industry. A particular focus of this effort is the LBNE neutrino oscillation experiment.
o We will continue to develop our outreach programme which includes activities for local schools and articles in popular science publications.
o Supported by a strong University strategy and ethos in KE, we will continue to pursue all avenues for possible knowledge exchange.
Planned Impact
Beneficiaries of the proposed research will include:
o UK industry and academic partners from outside particle physics may benefit from the possibility of technological spin-off from hardware and/or software which we will develop as part of the research programme, especially in respect of the neutrino detector development laboratory. As a by-product of our research on future neutrino detectors, we plan to continue our spin-off R&D in the area of photo-voltaic technology. Another commercial opportunity more directly aimed at UK industry might soon be realised for another development from the detector R&D group, enabling very cost-effective large area or volume radiation sensors. These initiatives will all be supervised by Warwick Ventures - the university's professional subsidiary for commercial advancement and support. Furthermore, our planned work in developing innovative reconstruction methods for large-scale neutrino detectors has potential beneficiaries in a range of subjects, including computer science, biological and medical science. Local contacts with the Warwick Computer Science Department exist as well as a collaboration with the Statistics Department in Durham.
o Local school children and the general public through our outreach programme will learn about cutting-edge research carried out on the building blocks of matter and their fundamental interactions, using state-of the art instrumentation. One of the most effective means of engagement in terms of audience size comes through media coverage. For results of our planned research which we feel the public could particularly engage with, we will work with the University's Communications Office to issue press releases. This has in the past been successful in generating some rather high profile news coverage e.g. BBC Midlands Today coverage, BBC website items, local radio exposure, as well as university video content organised by the Communications Office. Members of our group will continue to regularly publicise our science through such activities and via engagements such as public lectures and talks to local clubs and societies. We will also continue to foster and develop close ties with local schools through: our annual Masterclass initiative, hosting local students as part of the Aimhigher initiative, supervising students for summer holiday placements (e.g. as part of the Gold Crest scheme).
o We will continue to develop schools liaison, with more emphasis on interactions with teachers, and supported by our Ogden Teaching Fellow in the Warwick Physics Department. Last year, we were part of a successful bid to STFC for a Science in Society Small Award to purchase a mobile dome, which is being be used as a resource to publicise our research. We will work to develop particle physics content for the dome for use on public occasions such as university open days, but also to expand our outreach activities e.g. into primary schools. Additionally, the requested scintillator paddles will be used (when they can be spared from the detector development lab) to upgrade the MULE (Muon Lifetime Experiment) display which we use at Departmental open days. Always a favourite with school students and parents alike, this real-time demonstration of muon lifetime measurements on cosmic rays in situ in the Physics Department will continue to amaze our visitors for the foreseeable future.
o Our post-graduate students currently enjoy access to a diverse range of key-skills training courses given within the University. We propose to further exploit the existing opportunities for joint studentships with industrial partners, where the results of research would find an immediate commercial application and would provide students with first-hand industrial/commercial experience. This will benefit industry, giving them access to well-trained people who can help them with tasks such as data mining and modelling, which are of increasing importance.
o UK industry and academic partners from outside particle physics may benefit from the possibility of technological spin-off from hardware and/or software which we will develop as part of the research programme, especially in respect of the neutrino detector development laboratory. As a by-product of our research on future neutrino detectors, we plan to continue our spin-off R&D in the area of photo-voltaic technology. Another commercial opportunity more directly aimed at UK industry might soon be realised for another development from the detector R&D group, enabling very cost-effective large area or volume radiation sensors. These initiatives will all be supervised by Warwick Ventures - the university's professional subsidiary for commercial advancement and support. Furthermore, our planned work in developing innovative reconstruction methods for large-scale neutrino detectors has potential beneficiaries in a range of subjects, including computer science, biological and medical science. Local contacts with the Warwick Computer Science Department exist as well as a collaboration with the Statistics Department in Durham.
o Local school children and the general public through our outreach programme will learn about cutting-edge research carried out on the building blocks of matter and their fundamental interactions, using state-of the art instrumentation. One of the most effective means of engagement in terms of audience size comes through media coverage. For results of our planned research which we feel the public could particularly engage with, we will work with the University's Communications Office to issue press releases. This has in the past been successful in generating some rather high profile news coverage e.g. BBC Midlands Today coverage, BBC website items, local radio exposure, as well as university video content organised by the Communications Office. Members of our group will continue to regularly publicise our science through such activities and via engagements such as public lectures and talks to local clubs and societies. We will also continue to foster and develop close ties with local schools through: our annual Masterclass initiative, hosting local students as part of the Aimhigher initiative, supervising students for summer holiday placements (e.g. as part of the Gold Crest scheme).
o We will continue to develop schools liaison, with more emphasis on interactions with teachers, and supported by our Ogden Teaching Fellow in the Warwick Physics Department. Last year, we were part of a successful bid to STFC for a Science in Society Small Award to purchase a mobile dome, which is being be used as a resource to publicise our research. We will work to develop particle physics content for the dome for use on public occasions such as university open days, but also to expand our outreach activities e.g. into primary schools. Additionally, the requested scintillator paddles will be used (when they can be spared from the detector development lab) to upgrade the MULE (Muon Lifetime Experiment) display which we use at Departmental open days. Always a favourite with school students and parents alike, this real-time demonstration of muon lifetime measurements on cosmic rays in situ in the Physics Department will continue to amaze our visitors for the foreseeable future.
o Our post-graduate students currently enjoy access to a diverse range of key-skills training courses given within the University. We propose to further exploit the existing opportunities for joint studentships with industrial partners, where the results of research would find an immediate commercial application and would provide students with first-hand industrial/commercial experience. This will benefit industry, giving them access to well-trained people who can help them with tasks such as data mining and modelling, which are of increasing importance.
Organisations
Publications
Aaltonen T
(2015)
Tevatron constraints on models of the Higgs boson with exotic spin and parity using decays to bottom-antibottom quark pairs.
in Physical review letters
Aaltonen T
(2014)
Study of top quark production and decays involving a tau lepton at CDF and limits on a charged Higgs boson contribution
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2014)
Measurement of the Z Z production cross section using the full CDF II data set
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2015)
Measurement of differential production cross sections for Z / ? * bosons in association with jets in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2014)
Measurement of the top-quark mass in the all-hadronic channel using the full CDF data set
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2014)
Measurement of indirect C P -violating asymmetries in D 0 ? K + K - and D 0 ? p + p - decays at CDF
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2015)
Tevatron Combination of Single-Top-Quark Cross Sections and Determination of the Magnitude of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa Matrix Element V_{tb}.
in Physical review letters
Aaltonen T
(2014)
Evidence for s-channel single-top-quark production in events with one charged lepton and two jets at CDF.
in Physical review letters
Aaltonen T
(2015)
Measurement of central exclusive p + p - production in p p ¯ collisions at s = 0.9 and 1.96 TeV at CDF
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2015)
First measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in bottom-quark pair production at high mass
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2016)
Measurement of the B c ± production cross section in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2015)
Measurement of the top-quark mass in the t t ¯ dilepton channel using the full CDF Run II data set
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2014)
Measurement of the inclusive leptonic asymmetry in top-quark pairs that decay to two charged leptons at CDF.
in Physical review letters
Abdesselam A
(2015)
First Observation of CP Violation in B[over ¯]^{0}?D_{CP}^{(*)}h^{0} Decays by a Combined Time-Dependent Analysis of BABAR and Belle Data.
in Physical review letters
Abe K
(2014)
Precise measurement of the neutrino mixing parameter ?23 from muon neutrino disappearance in an off-axis beam.
in Physical review letters
Abe K
(2015)
Measurement of the ? µ charged current quasielastic cross section on carbon with the T2K on-axis neutrino beam
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2014)
Measurement of the inclusive ? µ charged current cross section on iron and hydrocarbon in the T2K on-axis neutrino beam
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2016)
Upper bound on neutrino mass based on T2K neutrino timing measurements
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2014)
Measurement of the intrinsic electron neutrino component in the T2K neutrino beam with the ND280 detector
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2015)
Measurements of neutrino oscillation in appearance and disappearance channels by the T2K experiment with 6.6 × 1 0 20 protons on target
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2014)
Measurement of the neutrino-oxygen neutral-current interaction cross section by observing nuclear deexcitation ? rays
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2013)
Measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters from muon neutrino disappearance with an off-axis beam.
in Physical review letters
Abe K
(2014)
Measurement of the Inclusive Electron Neutrino Charged Current Cross Section on Carbon with the T2K Near Detector
in Physical Review Letters
Abe K
(2015)
Measurement of the electron neutrino charged-current interaction rate on water with the T2K ND280 p 0 detector
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2014)
Observation of electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam.
in Physical review letters
Abe K
(2013)
Publisher's Note: T2K neutrino flux prediction [Phys. Rev. D 87 , 012001 (2013)]
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2013)
T2K neutrino flux prediction
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2013)
Measurement of the inclusive ? µ charged current cross section on carbon in the near detector of the T2K experiment
in Physical Review D
Abe K
(2013)
Evidence of electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam
in Physical Review D
Adams D
(2015)
Electron-muon ranger: performance in the MICE muon beam
in Journal of Instrumentation
Adams D
(2013)
Characterisation of the muon beams for the Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment
in The European Physical Journal C
Adams D
(2016)
Pion contamination in the MICE muon beam
in Journal of Instrumentation
Allan D
(2013)
The electromagnetic calorimeter for the T2K near detector ND280
in Journal of Instrumentation
Arnold R
(2014)
Search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of Mo 100 with the NEMO-3 detector
in Physical Review D
Arnold R
(2014)
Investigation of double beta decay of 100Mo to excited states of 100Ru
in Nuclear Physics A
Arnold R
(2015)
Results of the search for neutrinoless double- ß decay in Mo 100 with the NEMO-3 experiment
in Physical Review D
ATLAS Collaboration
(2013)
Multi-channel search for squarks and gluinos in [Formula: see text]pp collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2014)
Muon reconstruction efficiency and momentum resolution of the ATLAS experiment in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV in 2010.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2015)
Search for metastable heavy charged particles with large ionisation energy loss in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV using the ATLAS experiment.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2014)
Measurement of the muon reconstruction performance of the ATLAS detector using 2011 and 2012 LHC proton-proton collision data.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Atlas Collaboration
(2016)
Measurement of the charge asymmetry in top-quark pair production in the lepton-plus-jets final state in pp collision data at [Formula: see text] with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2014)
Measurement of the centrality and pseudorapidity dependence of the integrated elliptic flow in lead-lead collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2014)
A measurement of the ratio of the production cross sections for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] bosons in association with jets with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2014)
Electron reconstruction and identification efficiency measurements with the ATLAS detector using the 2011 LHC proton-proton collision data.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2014)
Measurements of jet vetoes and azimuthal decorrelations in dijet events produced in [Formula: see text] collisions at [Formula: see text] using the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2013)
Jet energy resolution in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] recorded in 2010 with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2013)
Measurement of jet shapes in top-quark pair events at [Formula: see text] using the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
ATLAS Collaboration
(2015)
Constraints on the off-shell Higgs boson signal strength in the high-mass ZZ and WW final states with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Title | Review of Particle Properties |
Description | This is a globally-accessible database of all particle physics results. Many results of this research have entered into this database and several members of my team have directly contributed to this database. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2009 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This database is the research Bible for particle physics. It is universally used and accepted within the particle physics community and is without peer. |
URL | http://pdg.lbl.gov |
Title | LAURA++ Package |
Description | C++ Package for Dalitz plot generation and fitting |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2013 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Use in other particle physics experiments |
URL | https://laura.hepforge.org |