Experimental Particle Physics at the University of Edinburgh
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The Edinburgh Experimental Particle Physics group is currently working in three different running experiments and we are also working on several future projects.
The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC): ATLAS is one of two detectors able to study a wide variety of particles created from the collision of protons at the highest energies ever created, and it addresses fundamental questions. The most well known is that of the origin of mass. The beautiful symmetry which underlies our understanding of particle interactions inherently demands that all particles are massless. This cannot be the case, and the elegant solution put forward is now known as the Higgs mechanism. The discovery of the Higgs boson has verified this, and now we must measure its properties in great detail. Another area addressed by ATLAS is the search for new heavy particles such as new heavy Higgs like particles or supersymmetric particles, which are predicted in models trying to address shortcomings of the Standard Model (SM), such as why there is dark matter.
The LHCb experiment at the LHC. Prior to the 1960s, it had been thought that matter and anti-matter would behave in the same way. However, it was discovered that this symmetry was violated, and that matter does not behave in an identical way to anti-matter. This is embodied in the phenomenon of CP violation and is essential to the understanding of the early universe. Shortly after the big bang there were equal amounts of matter and anti-matter. During expansion and cooling, matter and anti-matter would have annihilated into photons to leave a universe full of radiation, but no stars and galaxies. It was shown in 1967 by Sakarov that if three conditions, including CP violation, were met, then it would be possible for a small imbalance of matter over anti-matter to accrue, which would be sufficient to explain the existence of the universe. LHCb measures differences (CP violation) in behaviour of particles and antiparticle with at least one b or anti-b quark and searches for very rare decays of these particles, which could be affected by heavy unobserved particles.
The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment, which is the world's most sensitive apparatus searching for dark matter. It is well known that some 27% of the Universe is comprised of Dark Matter - that is matter of some form which does not interact in a way that produces radiation, or other easy to observe signatures. There are many theoretical candidates and resolution of this mystery must include the direct detection of our own galactic dark matter. We lead the collaboration's efforts to detect particularly well-motivated possibilities including axions and dark phonons.
We have grown our neutrino physics activities in the recent years. One of the most interesting facts of nature is that there are only three species of neutrinos, which until recently were thought to be massless. It is important to measure precisely the "mixing" between the species and to search for CP violation in neutrinos. We have also joined the MicroBooNE and SBND experiments, which will search for new, sterile, neutrinos which interact only via gravity but not with any of the fundamental interactions of the SM.
The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC): ATLAS is one of two detectors able to study a wide variety of particles created from the collision of protons at the highest energies ever created, and it addresses fundamental questions. The most well known is that of the origin of mass. The beautiful symmetry which underlies our understanding of particle interactions inherently demands that all particles are massless. This cannot be the case, and the elegant solution put forward is now known as the Higgs mechanism. The discovery of the Higgs boson has verified this, and now we must measure its properties in great detail. Another area addressed by ATLAS is the search for new heavy particles such as new heavy Higgs like particles or supersymmetric particles, which are predicted in models trying to address shortcomings of the Standard Model (SM), such as why there is dark matter.
The LHCb experiment at the LHC. Prior to the 1960s, it had been thought that matter and anti-matter would behave in the same way. However, it was discovered that this symmetry was violated, and that matter does not behave in an identical way to anti-matter. This is embodied in the phenomenon of CP violation and is essential to the understanding of the early universe. Shortly after the big bang there were equal amounts of matter and anti-matter. During expansion and cooling, matter and anti-matter would have annihilated into photons to leave a universe full of radiation, but no stars and galaxies. It was shown in 1967 by Sakarov that if three conditions, including CP violation, were met, then it would be possible for a small imbalance of matter over anti-matter to accrue, which would be sufficient to explain the existence of the universe. LHCb measures differences (CP violation) in behaviour of particles and antiparticle with at least one b or anti-b quark and searches for very rare decays of these particles, which could be affected by heavy unobserved particles.
The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment, which is the world's most sensitive apparatus searching for dark matter. It is well known that some 27% of the Universe is comprised of Dark Matter - that is matter of some form which does not interact in a way that produces radiation, or other easy to observe signatures. There are many theoretical candidates and resolution of this mystery must include the direct detection of our own galactic dark matter. We lead the collaboration's efforts to detect particularly well-motivated possibilities including axions and dark phonons.
We have grown our neutrino physics activities in the recent years. One of the most interesting facts of nature is that there are only three species of neutrinos, which until recently were thought to be massless. It is important to measure precisely the "mixing" between the species and to search for CP violation in neutrinos. We have also joined the MicroBooNE and SBND experiments, which will search for new, sterile, neutrinos which interact only via gravity but not with any of the fundamental interactions of the SM.
Organisations
Publications
LHCb Collaboration
(2023)
Search for the rare decays and at LHCb
in Chinese Physics C
LHCb Collaboration
(2023)
Search for the doubly heavy baryon decaying to *
in Chinese Physics C
Aaij R
(2023)
Study of charmonium decays to K S 0 K p in the B ? ( K S 0 K p ) K channels
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Nuclear Modification Factor of Neutral Pions in the Forward and Backward Regions in p-Pb Collisions.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Amplitude analysis of the ? c + ? p K - p + decay and ? c + baryon polarization measurement in semileptonic beauty hadron decays
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Model-independent measurement of charm mixing parameters in B ¯ ? D 0 ( ? K S 0 p + p - ) µ - ? ¯ µ X decays
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Search for Rare Decays of D 0 Mesons into Two Muons
in Physical Review Letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Open charm production and asymmetry in pNe collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{\scriptscriptstyle {\textrm{NN}}}} = 68.5$$ $$\,\text {Ge\hspace{-1.00006pt}V}$$
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaij R
(2023)
Search for $$D^{*}(2007)^{0} \rightarrow \mu ^{+} \mu ^{-}$$ in $$B^{-}\rightarrow \pi ^{-} \mu ^{+} \mu ^{-}$$ decays
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaij R
(2023)
Search for direct C P violation in charged charmless B ? P V decays
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Test of lepton flavor universality using B 0 ? D * - t + ? t decays with hadronic t channels
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Measurement of the Prompt D 0 Nuclear Modification Factor in p - Pb Collisions at s N N = 8.16 TeV
in Physical Review Letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Charmonium production in pNe collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{\scriptscriptstyle \text {NN}}} =68.5$$ GeV
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaij R
(2024)
Measurement of CP Violation in B^{0}??(?l^{+}l^{-})K_{S}^{0}(?p^{+}p^{-}) Decays.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Observation of sizeable ? contribution to ? c 1 ( 3872 ) ? p + p - J / ? decays
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Search for K S ( L ) 0 ? µ + µ - µ + µ - decays at LHCb
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Precision Measurement of C P Violation in the Penguin-Mediated Decay B s 0 ? ? ?
in Physical Review Letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Observation of a Resonant Structure near the D_{s}^{+}D_{s}^{-} Threshold in the B^{+}?D_{s}^{+}D_{s}^{-}K^{+} Decay.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Measurement of the Branching Fractions B ( B 0 ? p p ¯ p p ¯ ) and B ( B s 0 ? p p ¯ p p ¯ )
in Physical Review Letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Search for the baryon- and lepton-number violating decays B 0 ? p µ - and B s 0 ? p µ -
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Direct C P violation in charmless three-body decays of B ± mesons
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Evidence of a J/?K_{S}^{0} Structure in B^{0}?J/??K_{S}^{0} Decays.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Measurement of the ? b 0 ? ? ( 1520 ) µ + µ - Differential Branching Fraction
in Physical Review Letters
Aaij R
(2023)
First observation of the B + ? D s + D s - K + decay
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Measurement of the Time-Integrated CP Asymmetry in D^{0}?K^{-}K^{+} Decays.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Measurement of antiproton production from antihyperon decays in $${p} \textrm{He}$$ collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{\scriptscriptstyle \mathrm NN}} =110$$ $$\,\text {Ge\hspace{-1.00006pt}V}$$
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaij R
(2023)
Search for the rare hadronic decay B s 0 ? p p ¯
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Search for C P violation using T ^ -odd correlations in B 0 ? p p ¯ K + p - decays
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Measurement of the mass difference and relative production rate of the O b - and ? b - baryons
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Measurement of lepton universality parameters in B + ? K + l + l - and B 0 ? K * 0 l + l - decays
in Physical Review D
Aaij R
(2023)
Observation of a J/?? Resonance Consistent with a Strange Pentaquark Candidate in B^{-}?J/??p[over ¯] Decays.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Observation of New Baryons in the ? b - p + p - and ? b 0 p + p - Systems
in Physical Review Letters
Aaij R
(2023)
$${ {J}/\psi }$$ and $${ {D}} ^0$$ production in $$\sqrt{s_{\scriptscriptstyle \text {NN}}} =68.5\,\text {GeV} $$ PbNe collisions
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaij R
(2023)
Observation of New O_{c}^{0} States Decaying to the ?_{c}^{+}K^{-} Final State.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Test of Lepton Universality in b?sl^{+}l^{-} Decays.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2023)
Measurement of $$\tau _\text {L}$$ using the $${B} _s^0 \rightarrow J/\psi \eta $$ decay mode
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaij R
(2023)
A study of $$C\!P$$ violation in the decays $${ {B} ^\pm } \rightarrow [{ {K} ^+} { {K} ^-} { {\uppi } ^+} { {\uppi } ^-} ]_{D} h^{\pm }$$ ($$h = K, \pi $$) and $${ {B} ^\pm } \rightarrow [{ {\uppi } ^+} { {\uppi } ^-} { {\uppi } ^+} { {\uppi } ^-} ]_{D} h^{\pm }$$
in The European Physical Journal C
Aaij R
(2023)
Amplitude analysis of B 0 ? D ¯ 0 D s + p - and B + ? D - D s + p + decays
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2023)
Measurement of the Higgs boson mass with H ? ?? decays in 140 fb-1 of s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2023)
Performance of the reconstruction of large impact parameter tracks in the inner detector of ATLAS
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2023)
Constraints on spin-0 dark matter mediators and invisible Higgs decays using ATLAS 13 TeV pp collision data with two top quarks and missing transverse momentum in the final state
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2023)
Production of ? ( n S ) mesons in Pb + Pb and p p collisions at 5.02 TeV
in Physical Review C
Aad G
(2023)
Measurements of the suppression and correlations of dijets in Xe+Xe collisions at s N N = 5.44 TeV
in Physical Review C
Aad G
(2023)
Measurement of the CP properties of Higgs boson interactions with $$\tau $$-leptons with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2023)
Search for pair production of third-generation leptoquarks decaying into a bottom quark and a $$\tau $$-lepton with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2023)
Measurement of $$Z\gamma \gamma $$ production in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}= 13$$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2023)
Search for a new pseudoscalar decaying into a pair of muons in events with a top-quark pair at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2023)
New techniques for jet calibration with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C