Testing of the ATLAS Trigger System and Development of Data Analysis Techniques for the Investigion of the properties of the Top Quark

The research that has to be completed in the context of the ATLAS experiment is twofold. On one part, I will have to get involved with the testing and optimization of ATLAS detector performance. In that context, I will contribute to the upgrade of the Level 1 Calorimeter Trigger system of the detector, by testing the new electronic modules responsible for the identification of electrons, photons and taus from information collected by the Liquid Argon sensors of the electromagnetic calorimeter, supplemented by information from the hadronic calorimeter as well. These new modules (called eFEX - electron Feature Extractors) are now being produced, and are going to be tested by dedicated Testing Modules (FTM) which will feed signals to the eFEX's, and measure their response. The FTM's have to be tested separately, having in mind the enormous volume of information (order of 12 Gigabit/s) that they will to have to handle.

One the second part of my PhD research, I will have to contribute to the exploration of a High Energy Physics topic, in my case the Top Quark Physics sector. The properties that are currently under investigation by the University of Birmingham are primarily the so called Charge Asymmetry and Spin Correlation in the production of top quark and antiquark pairs from proton-proton collisions in ATLAS. These quantities are important in the search of new physics in the LHC. There are several models that predict the existence of heavy coloured resonances decaying to top quarks in the TeV energy range. The production of such resonances might generate a sizable charge asymmetry of top versus antitop quarks. I am going to contribute to the development of Data Analysis techniques, in order to identify if significant deviation from the Standard Model predictions, indicative of new physics, exists in the Top Quark properties.