Search for charming Pentaquarks with LHCb

The LHCb collaboration recently found evidence for 5 quark states decaying to J/psi p. It has been suggested that these states are Sigma_c D(*) molecules. If this is the case they should also be seen in open charm hadron decays to these final states. My PhD project will analyse the full Run II data from the LHC in order to search for pentaquarks open charm decays. If a signal is found it will support the molecule interpretation and elucidate the nature of these states. To pick out these states from the combinatorial background will require me to become familiar with advanced data analysis techniques such as machine learning.

LHCb is currently being upgraded to run at a higher luminosity and I will also contribute to the commissioning of the new RICH detectors and study the potential of the upgraded detector to study pentaquarks.