STFC CG 2015
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
The QMUL Particle Physics Research Centre (PPRC) has an exciting set of particle physics experiments at the forefront of the field. Members of the Group have been working on the commissioning and analysis of data from the ATLAS detector at the CERN LHC which has just finished its Run 1 from which over 200 papers have been published. The ATLAS Group will continue to expand the study of the Higgs boson(s), the study of the top quark, started at the CDF experiment, and the study of proton structure at the highest possible energies. The QMUL Group is also involved in upgrades to the ATLAS detector for the higher luminosity by participating in the ATLAS Tracker Upgrade and Level One Calorimeter Trigger upgrade programmes. At the other end of the mass scale the neutrino group is exploiting data from the T2K long baseline neutrino experiment in Japan which will continue taking data towards indications of CP violation, and perform high precision cross section measurements. The Group is very engaged in the rich programme at the SNO+ detector in Canada that will be taking data during the period of the grant. In addition the Group is working on the next generation long baseline experiment Hyper-Kamiokande, and very high energy atmospheric neutrinos with IceCube-PINGU, Finally, the Group is exploring new possibilities at the FCC/LHeC and ILC.
Planned Impact
The QMUL Particle Physics group focuses its research primarily on experimental particle physics aimed at understanding the fundamental constituents of the universe and the forces through which they interact. This research centres on: the ATLAS experiment and its upgrade at the CERN Large Hadron Collider - searching for new high energy phenomena and an understanding of the Higgs boson; the T2K experiment in Japan and its upgrade Hyper-Kamiokande which studies neutrino interactions with the aim of understanding the matter-antimatter imbalance in the universe and SNO+ that studies the neutrino nature. The direct outcomes of this research advance our knowledge of the nature of the universe.
Many of the problems and challenges that need to be addressed to achieve these research outcomes involve the development of skills and technologies that can lead to positive societal and economic impact. Members of the group are working on a number of projects to realise this impact:
Data processing and analysis techniques from the LHC are being applied to increasingly large samples of data generated in studying the quantities of proteins in complex biological samples. These techniques aim to reduce the size of data sets, and speed up processing time. This will enable more sophisticated and optimised analysis techniques to be used, that were otherwise too resource intensive and expensive. In the first instance this will benefit researchers across the private, public and third sector, working in areas as diverse as virology and cancer treatment. But ultimately, by identifying protein targets for disease monitoring, diagnosis and personalised treatment this could lead to important improvements in the the health and well-being of society.
Pattern recognition techniques used to make sense of the billions of signals coming from the ATLAS detector are being applied to identifying structural tissues in functional magnetic resonance imaging of the heart. This aims to provide a deeper more quantified understanding of the imaging in order to provide better evidence for making treatment decisions. This will provide clear benefits to doctors and cardiac patients in enhancing the diagnosis and treatment of angina.
The silicon detectors in the ATLAS detector have small deformations that can have an impact on the performance of the detector. These deformations can be measured and software based corrections can be used to account for the effects. These software algorithms can be used to correct for surface deformation in precision engineering applications. This could be used to overcome existing limitations on precision and uniformity in manufacturing and measurement systems. A demonstration project is underway to apply these corrections to existing machines at QMUL. This will ultimately benefit manufacturers of milling and metrology machines.
The group has a number of public engagement activities, targeting schools and the general public. This includes a strong contribution to the CERN@school program. This well established public engagement program enhances physics teaching and offers teachers and students authentic research opportunities. A pilot programme at Dulwich Academy is working with students, conducting measurements with a scintillating muon detector. This will be expanding over the next year to bring in four further schools. The group run an annual Particle Physics Masterclass, that continues to enjoy success with huge interest from local schools. The group is also involved in producing popular science articles, public conferences, media events and social networking. These activities help enhance science education, and bring a deeper understanding of our research activities to the general public.
The group has a diverse program of outreach and impact activites arising from our research that will benefit others ranging from the general public to school children and from researchers in other disciplines to business and industry.
Many of the problems and challenges that need to be addressed to achieve these research outcomes involve the development of skills and technologies that can lead to positive societal and economic impact. Members of the group are working on a number of projects to realise this impact:
Data processing and analysis techniques from the LHC are being applied to increasingly large samples of data generated in studying the quantities of proteins in complex biological samples. These techniques aim to reduce the size of data sets, and speed up processing time. This will enable more sophisticated and optimised analysis techniques to be used, that were otherwise too resource intensive and expensive. In the first instance this will benefit researchers across the private, public and third sector, working in areas as diverse as virology and cancer treatment. But ultimately, by identifying protein targets for disease monitoring, diagnosis and personalised treatment this could lead to important improvements in the the health and well-being of society.
Pattern recognition techniques used to make sense of the billions of signals coming from the ATLAS detector are being applied to identifying structural tissues in functional magnetic resonance imaging of the heart. This aims to provide a deeper more quantified understanding of the imaging in order to provide better evidence for making treatment decisions. This will provide clear benefits to doctors and cardiac patients in enhancing the diagnosis and treatment of angina.
The silicon detectors in the ATLAS detector have small deformations that can have an impact on the performance of the detector. These deformations can be measured and software based corrections can be used to account for the effects. These software algorithms can be used to correct for surface deformation in precision engineering applications. This could be used to overcome existing limitations on precision and uniformity in manufacturing and measurement systems. A demonstration project is underway to apply these corrections to existing machines at QMUL. This will ultimately benefit manufacturers of milling and metrology machines.
The group has a number of public engagement activities, targeting schools and the general public. This includes a strong contribution to the CERN@school program. This well established public engagement program enhances physics teaching and offers teachers and students authentic research opportunities. A pilot programme at Dulwich Academy is working with students, conducting measurements with a scintillating muon detector. This will be expanding over the next year to bring in four further schools. The group run an annual Particle Physics Masterclass, that continues to enjoy success with huge interest from local schools. The group is also involved in producing popular science articles, public conferences, media events and social networking. These activities help enhance science education, and bring a deeper understanding of our research activities to the general public.
The group has a diverse program of outreach and impact activites arising from our research that will benefit others ranging from the general public to school children and from researchers in other disciplines to business and industry.
Organisations
- Queen Mary University of London (Lead Research Organisation)
- QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON (Collaboration)
- European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) (Collaboration)
- UTFit Collaboration (Collaboration)
- GridPP Collaboration (Collaboration)
- Atomic Weapons Establishment (Collaboration)
- Fermilab - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Collaboration)
- Micron Semiconductor (Collaboration)
- European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) (Collaboration)
Publications
Aaboud M
(2016)
A measurement of material in the ATLAS tracker using secondary hadronic interactions in 7 TeV pp collisions
in Journal of Instrumentation
Aaboud M
(2021)
Measurement of the relative B c ± / B ± production cross section with the ATLAS detector at s = 8 TeV
in Physical Review D
Aaboud M
(2016)
Study of hard double-parton scattering in four-jet events in pp collisions at s = 7 $$ \sqrt{s}=7 $$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aaboud M
(2018)
Measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles produced in s NN = 5.02 TeV Pb+Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2019)
Cross-section measurements of the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of t -leptons in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurement of W ± W ± vector-boson scattering and limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for pair production of Higgsinos in final states with at least three b -tagged jets in s = 13 TeV p p collisions using the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aaboud M
(2018)
Measurement of the inclusive and fiducial t t ¯ production cross-sections in the lepton+jets channel in pp collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2017)
Search for new phenomena in events containing a same-flavour opposite-sign dilepton pair, jets, and large missing transverse momentum in [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] collisions with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Measurement of jet fragmentation in 5.02 TeV proton-lead and proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector
in Nuclear Physics A
Aaboud M
(2018)
Prompt and non-prompt $$J/\psi $$ J / ? elliptic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{_\text {NN}}} = 5.02$$ s NN = 5.02 Tev with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaboud M
(2016)
Measurement of jet activity in top quark events using the eµ final state with two b-tagged jets in pp collisions at s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurement of the inclusive cross-sections of single top-quark and top-antiquark t-channel production in pp collisions at s = 13 $$ \sqrt{s}=13 $$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aaboud M
(2016)
Search for TeV-scale gravity signatures in high-mass final states with leptons and jets with the ATLAS detector at s = 13 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Aaboud M
(2018)
Constraints on off-shell Higgs boson production and the Higgs boson total width in ZZ ? 4l and ZZ ? 2l2? final states with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aaboud M
(2020)
Fluctuations of anisotropic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at $$ \sqrt{ {\mathrm{s}}_{\mathrm{NN}}} $$ = 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aaboud M
(2016)
Search for bottom squark pair production in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2019)
Search for pairs of highly collimated photon-jets in p p collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aaboud M
(2018)
Evidence for the associated production of the Higgs boson and a top quark pair with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aaboud M
(2016)
Search for supersymmetry in a final state containing two photons and missing transverse momentum in [Formula: see text] = 13 TeV [Formula: see text] collisions at the LHC using the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for lepton-flavor violation in different-flavor, high-mass final states in p p collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
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
(2019)
Measurement of $$W^{\pm }Z$$ production cross sections and gauge boson polarisation in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13~\text {TeV}$$ with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaboud M
(2017)
Measurement of W boson angular distributions in events with high transverse momentum jets at s = 8 TeV using the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aaboud M
(2018)
Observation of Centrality-Dependent Acoplanarity for Muon Pairs Produced via Two-Photon Scattering in Pb+Pb Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV with the ATLAS Detector.
in Physical review letters
Aaboud M
(2017)
Reconstruction of primary vertices at the ATLAS experiment in Run 1 proton-proton collisions at the LHC.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for dark matter and other new phenomena in events with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum using the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aaboud M
(2019)
Electron reconstruction and identification in the ATLAS experiment using the 2015 and 2016 LHC proton-proton collision data at $$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ $$\text {TeV}$$
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaboud M
(2018)
Search for heavy resonances decaying to a photon and a hadronically decaying Z / W / H boson in p p collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aaboud M
(2018)
Observation of Higgs boson production in association with a top quark pair at the LHC with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aaboud M
(2017)
High-ET isolated-photon plus jets production in pp collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Nuclear Physics B
Description | The leading key findings of this research are the observation of the higgs boson decaying to fermions, resulting in both a H->bb and H->tautau measurement that is consistent with the Standard Model. We completed tests of Lorentz violation using neutrinos using novel methods that were developed in house. We invented a new type of organic semiconductor radiation detector, with patent application in process. We developed new workflows for proteomics, radically improving the analysis options for that field of bioinformatics. |
Exploitation Route | Further the field of particle physics, and related areas including the nuclear industry and bioinformatics. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Education Energy Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology Security and Diplomacy |
Description | ATLAS upgrade oversight committee |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | Consolidated Grant 2019 |
Amount | £2,135,046 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/S00095X/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2025 |
Description | Infrastructure Funding (PAR) |
Amount | £161,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2016 |
End | 07/2017 |
Description | Innovation Fund |
Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2016 |
End | 01/2017 |
Description | Organic Sensors for Radiation Detection |
Amount | £179,238 (GBP) |
Funding ID | P/O No 30406548 |
Organisation | Atomic Weapons Establishment |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 03/2020 |
Description | PhD applications of organic sensors for radiation detection |
Amount | £48,267 (GBP) |
Funding ID | P/O No 30469473 |
Organisation | Atomic Weapons Establishment |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 03/2023 |
Description | ATLAS |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | CERN LHC ATLAS |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Tracking R&D and construction, software, distributed computing systems, detector operations, trigger performance and design, Standard Model, B-physics, Onium, Higgs, Top and SUSY studies; ran UK software and computing |
Collaborator Contribution | Detector operations, computing operations, software, shared physics tools |
Impact | currently O(200) papers in press (Feb 2013) |
Description | ATLAS Collaboration |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The ATLAS Collaboration at CERN, including R&D toward upgrades of the CERN LHC Facility |
Collaborator Contribution | International laboratory hosting an experiment |
Impact | These include the discovery of the Higgs boson, many publications and preliminary results, machine learning technology integrated into teaching resources for undergraduate and graduate students. |
Description | ATLAS ITK |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | CERN LHC ATLAS |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Chair of the Institute Board with 100 international members |
Collaborator Contribution | International programme on Tracker Upgrade with 100 institutes from 22 countries working towards the 120MCHF (equipment costs only does not include salaries) main upgrade programme of ATLAS for the HL-LHC |
Impact | Particle Physics |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | ATLAS Upgrade |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | CERN LHC ATLAS |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | 2011-2015 ATLAS Upgrade Coordinator 2011-2015 Member ATLAS Executive Board |
Collaborator Contribution | ATLAS consists of 3000 physicists from 177 institutes in 35 countries |
Impact | CERN-LHCC-2011-012, CERN-LHCC-2012-022, CERN-LHCC-2013-006, CERN-LHCC-2013-007, CERN-LHCC-2013-017, CERN-LHCC-2013-018, CERN-LHCC-2015-009, ECFA-15-289 and ECFA-13-284. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | AWE Ltd |
Organisation | Atomic Weapons Establishment |
Department | National Nuclear Security Programme |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Working on the development of a novel neutron detector. |
Collaborator Contribution | Partners have funded the development of device readout and simulation. This underpins technology refinements that have accelerated technology development. |
Impact | Outputs are being finalised in terms of publications and IP protection. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | CCMMP |
Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
Department | Condensed Matter and Material Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working with a CMMP PhD student on studies on novel radiation detector devices. |
Collaborator Contribution | PhD student and labs |
Impact | Studying prototype for novel radiation detector devices. It may bring impact. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | DUNE Collaboration |
Organisation | Fermilab - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory |
Department | DUNE |
Country | United States |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We have recently joined this experimental collaboration and are making contributions to the design of the near detector gas TPC data acquisition system. |
Collaborator Contribution | We are collaborating closely with Imperial College and Royal Holloway as part of the UK consortium for this experiment. Our work fits into the broader international picutre where our international partners have contributed to the design of a world leading mega science project, with a neutrino production source via the Fermi Lab National Accelerator Laboratory accelerator system, and a two-stage detector system; a near detector at that laboratory's site and a far detector at the SURF facility in South Dakota, USA. |
Impact | It is too early to have generated outcomes from this work so far. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | GridPP |
Organisation | European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Middleware, hardware, operations; ATLAS Member of the PMB, formerly Applications Co-ordinator, Deputy Chair of Users Board. Provide Deployment Team member. |
Collaborator Contribution | Middleware, operations, co-ordination |
Impact | some papers, enabled many physics papers. |
Description | GridPP |
Organisation | GridPP Collaboration |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Learned Society |
PI Contribution | Operation of a Grid cluster with significant resources to support the LHC computing requirements |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided computing resource that underpins many of the analysis results listed under the publications for this award. |
Impact | See publications |
Description | GridPP |
Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
Department | GRIDPP3 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Middleware, hardware, operations; ATLAS Member of the PMB, formerly Applications Co-ordinator, Deputy Chair of Users Board. Provide Deployment Team member. |
Collaborator Contribution | Middleware, operations, co-ordination |
Impact | some papers, enabled many physics papers. |
Description | MSL thin silicon development work |
Organisation | Micron Semiconductor |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Worked with MSL to obtain thin silicon detectors for generic R&D as a follow on/parallel line to the ATLAS detector development work. |
Collaborator Contribution | Partners worked on modifying their production process to adapt a product line for our requiremetns for a new R&D line in thin devices. This required an in-kind contribution from the partner company. |
Impact | work is ongoing. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Micron Semiconductor Ltd (CVD Diamond) |
Organisation | Micron Semiconductor |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Our team has developed technology for our organic neutron detector work with the AWE Ltd. that has the potential for us to merge Micron's CVD diamond to make a new type of neutron detector. We have partnered with MSL to explore ways to realise this new type of neutron detector. |
Collaborator Contribution | Our collaboration partner has so far provided an in kind contribution through provision of commercial (market) and technical information on products and applications. This has led to us being able to seek funding, where MSL has pledged a 100k in-kind contribution, AWE a 45k in kind contribution to go toward a product development programme. The outcome of that application will be known in June 2020. |
Impact | It is too early to report outputs from this new collaboration. We will record outputs under our next consolidated grant. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | MoEDAL |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We lead the machine learning effort on this international experiment and have contributed to searching for new particles. Participation in this collaboration provides us access to valuable and unique data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration partners have contributed indirectly via providing a group of world leading scientists to network with, and work closely with on instrument development and algorithm development. |
Impact | none |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | UTFit |
Organisation | UTFit Collaboration |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Performing averages. |
Collaborator Contribution | Thereotical code |
Impact | papers and conference talks: http://www.utfit.org/UTfit/References The fit is consistently used by the experimental collaborations and theorists. |
Description | Talks at Open Days |
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 | Engaging school students to study physics at the univerdity |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
Description | Talks at School |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Engaging students in physics |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
Description | Talks in science festivals |
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 | Talks given to general audience to make physics more understandable to general public |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |