ALICE Upgrade 2 (Silicon Physicist post)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Quantum-ChromoDynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong force and understanding its properties has been the focus of
intense World-wide research over the past half century. QCD forms a major part of the Standard Model and its
understanding is crucial in producing an overall theory to describe the properties of matter and the fundamental forces of
nature including a grand unification theory to explain how the Universe evolved from the Big Bang.
The principal purpose of our research is to use ultra-relativistic heavy-ion interactions to study QCD at extreme energy
densities. Theoretical models predict that under very extreme conditions of high energy densities the quarks, which are
confined in normal nuclear matter, will be freed and nuclear matter will undergo a phase transition into a hot, dense plasma
of free quarks and gluons known as a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). It is thought that such a state of matter would have
existed until about 10^-5 seconds after the Big Bang, after which time the Universe would have cooled sufficiently for
protons and neutrons to form.
The physics aim of this research is to study the strong force under these extreme conditions and, in particular, explore the
properties of this exotic state of matter. By studying the QGP, we hope to address the fundamental questions of quark
confinement and how quarks gain a large effective mass in hadrons due to the strong force (accounting for 99% of atomic
mass).
In order to create the conditions required to produce a QGP we must collide heavy nuclei together at the highest possible
energies, creating tiny hot (~10^13K) and dense fireballs. As the resulting QGP will only last for about 10-22 seconds,
before condensing in to thousands of elementary particles, we must also use the most sophisticated detectors to analyse
these collisions.
The LHC collides lead ions at centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in ALICE. We also collide protons together as this forms
an excellent reference data set. Moreover, the excellent particle identification and tracking make ALICE an ideal detector
to study the global aspects of proton-proton collisions in their own right.
This field of research employs about two thousand physicists around the world and ALICE is the most sophisticated
experiment ever built in the field, studying heavy-ion collisions at centre-of-mass energies over an order of magnitude
greater than its nearest rival. It hence represents the pinnacle of research in this field.
The ALICE collaboration is now preparing for the second LHC Upgrade scheduled to start in 2018. These upgrades are
required to cope with the anticipated increase in lead beam luminosity which will increase beam intensities by an order of
magnitude. The main motivation for the luminosity upgrade is to achieve a precise, quantitative understand of the
properties of the QGP by focusing on rare probes both at low and high transverse momenta as well as on multidimensional
analysis of such probes with respect to centrality, event plane, multi-particle correlations, etc.
intense World-wide research over the past half century. QCD forms a major part of the Standard Model and its
understanding is crucial in producing an overall theory to describe the properties of matter and the fundamental forces of
nature including a grand unification theory to explain how the Universe evolved from the Big Bang.
The principal purpose of our research is to use ultra-relativistic heavy-ion interactions to study QCD at extreme energy
densities. Theoretical models predict that under very extreme conditions of high energy densities the quarks, which are
confined in normal nuclear matter, will be freed and nuclear matter will undergo a phase transition into a hot, dense plasma
of free quarks and gluons known as a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). It is thought that such a state of matter would have
existed until about 10^-5 seconds after the Big Bang, after which time the Universe would have cooled sufficiently for
protons and neutrons to form.
The physics aim of this research is to study the strong force under these extreme conditions and, in particular, explore the
properties of this exotic state of matter. By studying the QGP, we hope to address the fundamental questions of quark
confinement and how quarks gain a large effective mass in hadrons due to the strong force (accounting for 99% of atomic
mass).
In order to create the conditions required to produce a QGP we must collide heavy nuclei together at the highest possible
energies, creating tiny hot (~10^13K) and dense fireballs. As the resulting QGP will only last for about 10-22 seconds,
before condensing in to thousands of elementary particles, we must also use the most sophisticated detectors to analyse
these collisions.
The LHC collides lead ions at centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in ALICE. We also collide protons together as this forms
an excellent reference data set. Moreover, the excellent particle identification and tracking make ALICE an ideal detector
to study the global aspects of proton-proton collisions in their own right.
This field of research employs about two thousand physicists around the world and ALICE is the most sophisticated
experiment ever built in the field, studying heavy-ion collisions at centre-of-mass energies over an order of magnitude
greater than its nearest rival. It hence represents the pinnacle of research in this field.
The ALICE collaboration is now preparing for the second LHC Upgrade scheduled to start in 2018. These upgrades are
required to cope with the anticipated increase in lead beam luminosity which will increase beam intensities by an order of
magnitude. The main motivation for the luminosity upgrade is to achieve a precise, quantitative understand of the
properties of the QGP by focusing on rare probes both at low and high transverse momenta as well as on multidimensional
analysis of such probes with respect to centrality, event plane, multi-particle correlations, etc.
Planned Impact
The main beneficiaries of this upgrade will be experimentalists and theorists working in the field of hot Quantum
Chromodynamics. They will directly benefit from the new insights that will arise out of the research, made possible by this
Upgrade. The results of the subsequent research will be disseminated in high impact journals, through conference talks
and seminars so as to reach as wide an audience as possible. More broadly, both the technologies developed during the
Upgrade and the resulting research will also be of relevance to researchers in other fields, including other areas of nuclear
physics, particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Some of the hardware developments related to the Birmingham
design of the original ALICE trigger subsystem have already had impact, having been adopted by another experiment at
CERN. Future developments that are foreseen in this proposal will potentially have relevance to a new generation of
experiments planning to run in continuous data taking mode. The ITS Upgrade project will develop MAPS technologies, an
area where the UK is already considered to be a world leader. Such technologies will not only have applications for other
particle detectors but are likely to have applications in the areas of medicine and security.
Another strand revolves around the public understanding of science. The research that is related to this proposal has the
potential to capture the imagination and to inspire a new generation of scientists. The research programme which will arise
from this Upgrade is involved in studying matter as it would have existed a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. This
aspect is relevant to the evolution of the Early Universe and the possible existence of (strange) quark matter stars.
Members of the ALICE-UK collaboration have given over 70 public lectures over the past five years and been involved in
many other public outreach events to school children, teachers, and members of the general public.
Chromodynamics. They will directly benefit from the new insights that will arise out of the research, made possible by this
Upgrade. The results of the subsequent research will be disseminated in high impact journals, through conference talks
and seminars so as to reach as wide an audience as possible. More broadly, both the technologies developed during the
Upgrade and the resulting research will also be of relevance to researchers in other fields, including other areas of nuclear
physics, particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Some of the hardware developments related to the Birmingham
design of the original ALICE trigger subsystem have already had impact, having been adopted by another experiment at
CERN. Future developments that are foreseen in this proposal will potentially have relevance to a new generation of
experiments planning to run in continuous data taking mode. The ITS Upgrade project will develop MAPS technologies, an
area where the UK is already considered to be a world leader. Such technologies will not only have applications for other
particle detectors but are likely to have applications in the areas of medicine and security.
Another strand revolves around the public understanding of science. The research that is related to this proposal has the
potential to capture the imagination and to inspire a new generation of scientists. The research programme which will arise
from this Upgrade is involved in studying matter as it would have existed a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. This
aspect is relevant to the evolution of the Early Universe and the possible existence of (strange) quark matter stars.
Members of the ALICE-UK collaboration have given over 70 public lectures over the past five years and been involved in
many other public outreach events to school children, teachers, and members of the general public.
Publications
Zanoli H
(2019)
Open heavy-flavour production and elliptic flow in p-Pb collisions at the LHC with ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Varga-Kofarago M
(2019)
The evolution of the near-side peak in two-particle number and transverse momentum correlations in Pb-Pb collisions from ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Trzeciak B
(2019)
Measurements of heavy-flavour correlations and jets with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Trogolo S
(2019)
Addressing the hypertriton lifetime puzzle with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Tripathy S
(2019)
Energy dependence of ?(1020) production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Tarhini M
(2019)
Electroweak boson measurements in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at s NN = 5.02 TeV with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Singh R
(2019)
Spin alignment measurements using vector mesons with ALICE detector at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Singh B.
(2021)
Extending the ALICE strong-interaction studies to nuclei: measurement of proton-deuteron correlations in pp collisions at vs = 13 TeV
in Proceedings of Science
Siddhanta S
(2019)
Muon physics at forward rapidity with the ALICE detector upgrade
in Nuclear Physics A
Schneider A.
(2021)
Thin SI Sensors on Flexible Printed Circuits - Study of Two Bond Methods
in 2021 23rd European Microelectronics and Packaging Conference and Exhibition, EMPC 2021
Sas M
(2019)
Direct photon elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at s NN = 2.76 TeV
in Nuclear Physics A
Puccio M
(2019)
Light (anti-)nuclei production and elliptic flow at the LHC with ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Peng X
(2019)
Non-strange and strange D-meson and charm-baryon production in heavy-ion collisions measured with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Paul B
(2019)
Quarkonium production in p-Pb collisions with ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Pandey A
(2019)
Pion-kaon femtoscopy in Pb-Pb collisions at s NN = 2.76 TeV measured with ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Pan J
(2019)
Balance functions of (un)identified hadrons in Pb-Pb, p-Pb, and pp collisions at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Pacík V
(2019)
Elliptic flow of identified hadrons in small collisional systems measured with ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Ohlson A
(2019)
Investigating correlated fluctuations of conserved charges with net-? fluctuations in Pb-Pb collisions at ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Mohammadi N
(2019)
Non-linear flow modes of identified particles in Pb-Pb collisions at s NN = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector
in Nuclear Physics A
Margutti J
(2019)
Measurements of anisotropic flow and flow fluctuations in Xe-Xe and Pb-Pb collisions with ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Lorenzo A
(2019)
f0(980) resonance production in pp collisions with the ALICE detector at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Kim B
(2019)
ALICE results on system-size dependence of charged-particle multiplicity density in p-Pb, Pb-Pb and Xe-Xe collisions
in Nuclear Physics A
Hosokawa R
(2019)
Exploring jet profiles in Pb-Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector
in Nuclear Physics A
Haque M
(2019)
Measurements of the chiral magnetic effect in Pb-Pb collisions with ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Gasik P
(2019)
Upgrade of the ALICE central barrel tracking detectors: ITS and TPC
in Nuclear Physics A
Gajdošová K
(2019)
ALICE measurements of flow coefficients and their correlations in small (pp and p-Pb) and large (Xe-Xe and Pb-Pb) collision systems
in Nuclear Physics A
Dubla A
(2019)
Heavy-flavour hadron decay leptons in Pb-Pb and Xe-Xe collisions at the LHC with ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Dillenseger P
(2019)
Quarkonium measurements in nucleus-nucleus collisions with ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
De Filippo E
(2017)
The symmetry energy at suprasaturation density and the ASY-EOS experiment at GSI
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Dash A
(2019)
Multiplicity dependence of strangeness and hadronic resonance production in pp and p-Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Colocci M
(2019)
Constraining production models with light (anti-)nuclei measurements in small systems with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Bencédi G
(2019)
Event-shape- and multiplicity-dependent identified particle production in pp collisions at 13 TeV with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Behera N
(2019)
Higher moment fluctuations of identified particle distributions from ALICE
in Nuclear Physics A
Bailhache R
(2019)
Dielectron measurements in pp and Pb-Pb colllisions with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Andrews H
(2019)
Exploring the Phase Space of Jet Splittings at ALICE using Grooming and Recursive Techniques
in Nuclear Physics A
ALICE Collaboration
(2021)
Publisher Correction: Unveiling the strong interaction among hadrons at the LHC.
in Nature
ALICE Collaboration
(2020)
Unveiling the strong interaction among hadrons at the LHC.
in Nature
ALICE Collaboration
(2022)
Publisher Correction: Direct observation of the dead-cone effect in quantum chromodynamics.
in Nature
ALICE Collaboration
(2022)
Direct observation of the dead-cone effect in quantum chromodynamics.
in Nature
Albuquerque D
(2019)
Hadronic resonances, strange and multi-strange particle production in Xe-Xe and Pb-Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC
in Nuclear Physics A
Adamová D
(2018)
J/? production as a function of charged-particle pseudorapidity density in p-Pb collisions at s NN = 5.02 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Adamová D
(2017)
Production of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in p-Pb collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Adamová D
(2017)
Azimuthally Differential Pion Femtoscopy in Pb-Pb Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=2.76 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Adam J
(2017)
Charged-particle multiplicities in proton-proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 0.9$$ s = 0.9 to 8 TeV
in The European Physical Journal C
Adam J
(2017)
?-Meson production at forward rapidity in p-Pb collisions at s NN = 5.02 TeV and in pp collisions at s = 2.76 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Adam J
(2017)
Measurement of azimuthal correlations of D mesons with charged particles in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV and p-Pb collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Adam J
(2017)
K * ( 892 ) 0 and ? ( 1020 ) meson production at high transverse momentum in p p and Pb-Pb collisions at s NN = 2.76 TeV
in Physical Review C
Adam J
(2017)
J/? suppression at forward rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at s NN = 5.02 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Description | The ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC has created the highest temperatures and densities every produced in an experiment and re-created the primordial soup which would have existed up to 10 millionths of a second after the Big Bang. There are far too many key findings to list here but we have discovered this super hot and dense primordial soup behaves like a perfect liquid - the most perfect liquid every produced. |
Exploitation Route | This is an ongoing experiment, which will continue to upgrade and take data until at least 2030. |
Sectors | Education,Other |
Description | ALICE Collaboration |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | ALICE Collaboration |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Data analysis of LHC data from Run1 and Run2 (heavy-flavour physics working group). ITS upgrade project: Monte Carlo simulations, construction of modules and staves for the Outer Barrel. Supervision of UG and PhD student projects. Meetings of ALICE-UK research groups (Univ. of Birmingham, Univ. of Liverpool, STFC Daresbury). Presentations at conferences, meetings and workshops. |
Collaborator Contribution | Access to beam time, data, GRID and other CERN infrastructure and resources, ALICE collaboration international network etc. |
Impact | Publications. Training of UG and PhD students and research staff. Invitations to speak at meetings, workshops, conferences. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | International Women Day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Panel Q&A ans discussion around the screening of the film 'Picture a scientist' by Sharon Shattuck & Ian Cheney (https://www.pictureascientist.com/) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |