Particle Physics Consolidated Grant 2021
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
Particle physics seeks to understand the Universe, its birth, evolution, and fate in terms of elementary particles (quarks, leptons), the fundamental forces (strong, electromagnetic, weak forces, gravity) and the particles that mediate them (photons, W/Z, gluons, gravitons) and the Higgs particle that gives elementary particles mass. The Standard Model, a theoretical framework developed in the last fifty years, elucidates almost all particle-physics data. But the model is incomplete. It explains what we encounter on Earth, but studies of the cosmos suggest the presence of mysterious dark matter that holds galaxies together and more mysterious dark energy that is driving galaxies apart at an ever-increasing rate. Oxford's research will significantly advance our understanding of the "new-physics" theory that will emerge to replace the Standard Model by providing the data to guide the theoretical work to develop it.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) reproduces the conditions within a million millionth of a second of the Big Bang. Oxford plays a major role in ATLAS and LHCb. These experiments have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the Universe completely. In ATLAS, Oxford physicists participated in the exciting discovery of the "Higgs particle", which gives mass to elementary particles. The Higgs particle is like a curtain; now that we have found it, we can draw back the curtain to see a new world. Accordingly, we are studying it in great detail. We are also searching for new particles that would provide a solution to "dark-matter" that makes up about 80% of matter in the Universe.
Oxford physicists on LHCb strive for a better understanding of the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe by studying subtle differences in the behaviour of quarks & antiquarks - "CP-violation". This asymmetry permits us to exist. Over the next decade, the LHC will reach higher energies and intensities requiring detector improvements for ATLAS & LHCb. The upgraded detectors will take particle physics to an unprecedented level of sensitivity for the nearly inevitable new-physics observations. We use powerful computing resources and develop cutting-edge analysis tools necessary to extract essential discoveries from vast data volumes.
We participate in high-precision experiments complementary to the large experiments at the LHC. Mu3e searches for new physics mediated by very heavy particles that would not be visible at the LHC but are expected in many theoretical models, including SUSY. LZ addresses one of the most critical questions in particle physics & cosmology by searching for dark matter. LSST will measure how quickly the expansion of the Universe is speeding up due to the mysterious dark energy that represents 75% of all energy in the Universe and acts like anti-gravity pushing galaxies apart. Through T2K, SK, HK, DUNE, & future projects, Oxford aims to understand the elusive neutrino, its "oscillation" from one type to another, and whether there is a difference between neutrino and anti-neutrino properties - "CP-violation". SNO+ will measure other properties of the neutrino, e.g. whether or not it is its own antiparticle.
Quantum sensor technologies have the potential to change our approach to understanding the Universe radically. We are building the first large-scale atom interferometer in the UK to search for light dark matter particles and gravitational waves (AION). We are also part of MAGIS-100, a 100 m tall device under construction at Fermilab in the US.
We will continue to improve our instrumentation capabilities to retain the ability to construct the most sophisticated apparatus for our experiments. We will maintain our world-leading role for scientific excellence & major state-of-the-art detector construction in particle physics for the future. These are exciting times for particle physics, and Oxford is playing a major role.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) reproduces the conditions within a million millionth of a second of the Big Bang. Oxford plays a major role in ATLAS and LHCb. These experiments have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the Universe completely. In ATLAS, Oxford physicists participated in the exciting discovery of the "Higgs particle", which gives mass to elementary particles. The Higgs particle is like a curtain; now that we have found it, we can draw back the curtain to see a new world. Accordingly, we are studying it in great detail. We are also searching for new particles that would provide a solution to "dark-matter" that makes up about 80% of matter in the Universe.
Oxford physicists on LHCb strive for a better understanding of the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe by studying subtle differences in the behaviour of quarks & antiquarks - "CP-violation". This asymmetry permits us to exist. Over the next decade, the LHC will reach higher energies and intensities requiring detector improvements for ATLAS & LHCb. The upgraded detectors will take particle physics to an unprecedented level of sensitivity for the nearly inevitable new-physics observations. We use powerful computing resources and develop cutting-edge analysis tools necessary to extract essential discoveries from vast data volumes.
We participate in high-precision experiments complementary to the large experiments at the LHC. Mu3e searches for new physics mediated by very heavy particles that would not be visible at the LHC but are expected in many theoretical models, including SUSY. LZ addresses one of the most critical questions in particle physics & cosmology by searching for dark matter. LSST will measure how quickly the expansion of the Universe is speeding up due to the mysterious dark energy that represents 75% of all energy in the Universe and acts like anti-gravity pushing galaxies apart. Through T2K, SK, HK, DUNE, & future projects, Oxford aims to understand the elusive neutrino, its "oscillation" from one type to another, and whether there is a difference between neutrino and anti-neutrino properties - "CP-violation". SNO+ will measure other properties of the neutrino, e.g. whether or not it is its own antiparticle.
Quantum sensor technologies have the potential to change our approach to understanding the Universe radically. We are building the first large-scale atom interferometer in the UK to search for light dark matter particles and gravitational waves (AION). We are also part of MAGIS-100, a 100 m tall device under construction at Fermilab in the US.
We will continue to improve our instrumentation capabilities to retain the ability to construct the most sophisticated apparatus for our experiments. We will maintain our world-leading role for scientific excellence & major state-of-the-art detector construction in particle physics for the future. These are exciting times for particle physics, and Oxford is playing a major role.
Organisations
Publications
Allega A
(2022)
Improved search for invisible modes of nucleon decay in water with the SNO + detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2022)
Search for type-III seesaw heavy leptons in leptonic final states in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13~\text {TeV}$$ with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2022)
Measurements of azimuthal anisotropies of jet production in Pb + Pb collisions at s NN = 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review C
Aad G
(2022)
Search for long-lived charginos based on a disappearing-track signature using 136 fb$$^{-1}$$ of pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}$$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
CDF Collaboration†‡
(2022)
High-precision measurement of the W boson mass with the CDF II detector.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Aad G
(2022)
Search for flavour-changing neutral-current interactions of a top quark and a gluon in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2022)
Constraints on Higgs boson properties using $$WW^{*}(\rightarrow e\nu \mu \nu )jj$$ production in $$36.1\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$$ of $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2022)
Two-particle Bose-Einstein correlations in $${ pp }$$ collisions at $$\mathbf {\sqrt{s} = 13}$$ TeV measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2022)
Measurement of the energy asymmetry in $$t{\bar{t}}j$$ production at $$13\,$$TeV with the ATLAS experiment and interpretation in the SMEFT framework
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2022)
Search for new phenomena in three- or four-lepton events in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2022)
AtlFast3: The Next Generation of Fast Simulation in ATLAS
in Computing and Software for Big Science
Aad G
(2022)
Measurement of the c-jet mistagging efficiency in $$t\bar{t}$$ events using pp collision data at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ $$\text {TeV}$$ collected with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Akiba K
(2022)
Reconstruction of charged tracks with Timepix4 ASICs
De Aguiar Francisco O
(2022)
Microchannel cooling for the LHCb VELO Upgrade I
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Aad G
(2022)
Emulating the impact of additional proton-proton interactions in the ATLAS simulation by presampling sets of inelastic Monte Carlo events
in Computing and Software for Big Science
Aad G
(2022)
Direct constraint on the Higgs-charm coupling from a search for Higgs boson decays into charm quarks with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2022)
Determination of the parton distribution functions of the proton using diverse ATLAS data from pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 7$$, 8 and 13 TeV
in The European Physical Journal C