Searches for new physics with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider

The doctoral student will perform searches for new physics in events with leptons and missing transverse momentum. Such searches are sensitive to models of new physics such as supersymmetry. Many such models contain long-lived invisible particles with masses in the 100s GeV range to which the analysis will be sensitive. The research therefore offers the potential to gain insight into the Dark Matter which appears to make up most of the matter content of the universe. The student will also undertake studies of the ATLAS high-level trigger algorithms with a view both to understanding features in the 2017-2018 data, and to improving the robustness of those algorithms against the additional "pileup" interactions which become increasingly numerous as LHC luminosity increases.