Bristol Particle Physics Consolidated Grant 2015-19
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
The Bristol particle physics group will search for evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model, and work to understand the properties of new phenomena. We will carry out this study using a range of approaches and experiments.
At the CERN CMS experiment at the LHC, we will search for signatures of the production of dark matter and supersymmetric particles, using events with 'missing energy'. In the absence of a discovery, we will combine statistical information from our observations with results from cosmology and direct dark matter searches, to rule out potential theories of new physics. We will also use the very large datasets produced at the LHC to study the production and properties of the top quark, a standard model particle with unique properties.
We will use a complementary approach to search for new physics at the CERN LHCb experiment, looking for subtle signatures of new physics that manifest themselves in the decays of mesons containing heavy quarks. We will use similar approaches to test current ideas about the nature of fundamental quantum symmetries.
A number of new experiments are being prepared, and will be ready for use within or shortly after the grant period. The NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS will study the decays of kaons to look for signs of new physics. The SOLID experiment at the BR2 reactor will study neutrino oscillations on an ultra-short baseline of 5-10m. The SHiP experiment at the CERN SPS will use a very high intensity beam to search for 'dark particles' that are signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model. Finally, we have begun to make preparations for the detailed design and optimisation of detectors for a future linear collider.
We will continue our programme of particle detector R&D, contributing to the upgrade of CMS and LHCb, to the design and construction of new experiments, and to the development of new sensors and technologies. An important part of this programme will be collaboration with industry and other academic disciplines, in order to generate impact from our work.
At the CERN CMS experiment at the LHC, we will search for signatures of the production of dark matter and supersymmetric particles, using events with 'missing energy'. In the absence of a discovery, we will combine statistical information from our observations with results from cosmology and direct dark matter searches, to rule out potential theories of new physics. We will also use the very large datasets produced at the LHC to study the production and properties of the top quark, a standard model particle with unique properties.
We will use a complementary approach to search for new physics at the CERN LHCb experiment, looking for subtle signatures of new physics that manifest themselves in the decays of mesons containing heavy quarks. We will use similar approaches to test current ideas about the nature of fundamental quantum symmetries.
A number of new experiments are being prepared, and will be ready for use within or shortly after the grant period. The NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS will study the decays of kaons to look for signs of new physics. The SOLID experiment at the BR2 reactor will study neutrino oscillations on an ultra-short baseline of 5-10m. The SHiP experiment at the CERN SPS will use a very high intensity beam to search for 'dark particles' that are signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model. Finally, we have begun to make preparations for the detailed design and optimisation of detectors for a future linear collider.
We will continue our programme of particle detector R&D, contributing to the upgrade of CMS and LHCb, to the design and construction of new experiments, and to the development of new sensors and technologies. An important part of this programme will be collaboration with industry and other academic disciplines, in order to generate impact from our work.
Planned Impact
- There will be a societal impact amongst the general public as we publicise the results of our research through outreach.
- We will engage with school age students and teachers to convey the excitement of fundamental research, motivating more students to study STEM subjects at post-16 and HE levels.
- Engagement with UK industry through contracts and joint projects, and through the provision of well-trained physicists as employees, will result in economic impact
- Other academic disciplines will benefit from our skills, knowledge and capabilities, addressing a number of important problems across a range of fields
Full details are given in our Case for Support and Pathways to Impact document
- We will engage with school age students and teachers to convey the excitement of fundamental research, motivating more students to study STEM subjects at post-16 and HE levels.
- Engagement with UK industry through contracts and joint projects, and through the provision of well-trained physicists as employees, will result in economic impact
- Other academic disciplines will benefit from our skills, knowledge and capabilities, addressing a number of important problems across a range of fields
Full details are given in our Case for Support and Pathways to Impact document
Publications
Aaij R
(2015)
Observation of the decay B ? s 0 ? ? ( 2 S ) K + p -
in Physics Letters B
Aaij R
(2015)
Study of W boson production in association with beauty and charm
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2015)
Measurement of forward J/? production cross-sections in pp collisions at s = 13 $$ \sqrt{s}=13 $$ TeV
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aaij R
(2021)
Observation of a new ? b 0 state
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2017)
Search for massive long-lived particles decaying semileptonically in the LHCb detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaij R
(2019)
Search for CP Violation in D_{s}^{+}?K_{S}^{0}p^{+}, D^{+}?K_{S}^{0}K^{+}, and D^{+}??p^{+} Decays.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2016)
Model-independent measurement of the CKM angle ? using B0 ? DK*0 decays with D ? K S 0 p + p - and K S 0 K+K-
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aaij R
(2021)
Search for the doubly heavy baryons and decaying to and *
in Chinese Physics C
Aaij R
(2017)
Erratum to: Measurements of the S-wave fraction in B 0 ? K + p - µ + µ - decays and the B 0 ? K *(892)0 µ + µ - differential branching fraction
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aaij R
(2015)
Measurement of CP violation parameters and polarisation fractions in B s 0 ? J / ? K ¯ * 0 $$ {\mathrm{B}}_{\mathrm{s}}^0\to \mathrm{J}/\psi {\overline{\mathrm{K}}}^{\ast 0} $$ decays
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Description | Resources from this award funded our knowledge exchange programme, developing new detectors that are finding uses in medicine (radiotherapy), security and industrial applications. Findings have been discussed in outreach events, inspiring new generations and generating public interest. |
First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Education,Energy,Healthcare,Security and Diplomacy |
Impact Types | Societal Economic |
Description | DUNE UK Production Project |
Amount | £689,382 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/S00355X/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2024 |
Title | "Data" of "First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment" |
Description | Data points used in analysis in log_10(S2)-S1 space |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://www.hepdata.net/record/145093 |
Title | "Efficiency" of "First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment" |
Description | Data selection efficiency as a function of nuclear recoil energy |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://www.hepdata.net/record/145092 |
Title | "SDn cross section" of "First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment" |
Description | 90% CL WIMP SDn cross sections, including sensitivities and nuclear structure uncertainties |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://www.hepdata.net/record/145090 |
Title | "SDp cross section" of "First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment" |
Description | 90% CL WIMP SDp cross sections, including sensitivities and nuclear structure uncertainties |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://www.hepdata.net/record/145091 |
Title | "SI cross section" of "First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment" |
Description | 90% CL WIMP SI cross sections, including sensitivities |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://www.hepdata.net/record/145089 |
Description | Graphcore's IPUs |
Organisation | Graphcore |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Evaluating Graphcore's novel IPU processors, and, for the first time, implementing Particle Physics relevant software on them. Of particular interest not only to us, but also the community interested in these novel processors, is that we did not only use IPUs for machine learning (although we did that, too), but also non ML applications (Kalman Filter). Our work was also beneficial to our industrial partner in optimising and debugging their API. This work continued and led to IPUs being considered as an option for the real time analysis of LHCb events in LHCb Upgrade II. We have implement the highly complex reconstruction of the TORCH time of flight detector on IPUs and seen impressive speed gains compared to previous implementations using CPUs. |
Collaborator Contribution | Cloud Access to IPUs and technical support. |
Impact | Paper: https://inspirehep.net/literature/1812756 (accepted for publication) |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Antimatter Matters |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | LHCb-UK and Alpha-UK organised a joint stand at the Royal Society summer exhibition 2016. The Bristol Particle Physics group participated in the organisation (printing T-shirts, stickers) and the presentation of the exhibits during the event. Antimatter Matters has its own website and has been presented at several other events throughout the UK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.antimatter-matters.org/ |
Description | Bristol Bright Night 2014 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Various STFC and ERC funded members of the university of Bristol gave public talks to audiences of various sizes (ranging from "pitch talks" of 5 min, to particle physicists contributing to a planetarium demonstration), we had a stall with particle physics-related activities and engaged with members of the public. Feedback was excellent. Positive audience feedback. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/public-engagement/events/2014/bristol-bright-night.html |
Description | Colloquium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Public colloquium at the school of physics. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Cosmic 100 project at Bristol Balloon Fiesta |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Lots of discussions with the public at the LHC exhibit. Media coverage of balloon flight with particle detector. Don't know how to answer this. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2012/8694.html |
Description | Pint of Science |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A talk and discussion on the theme of antimatter to a general audience in a pub (including a demonstration with a spark chamber through which muons and anti-muons passed), part of the "Pint of Science" series of events. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://pintofscience.co.uk/about/ |
Description | Women in STEMM |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Event engaging year 8/9 students in science activities, with an emphasis on female role models. The Bristol particle physics group had a stand with hands-on activities, spark chamber, and a video presentation introducing famous female particle physicists. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.bristol.ac.uk/biochemistry/public/events/2017/event---women-in-stemm.html |