Experimental Particle Physics Rolling Grant 2006-2011
Lead Research Organisation:
Lancaster University
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
This research is aimed at understanding the properties of the basic building blocks of the Universe (the elementary particles) and the nature of the fundamental forces which govern the interactions of these particles. In so doing, deep insights will be gained about the origin and evolution of the Universe, especially in the first moments after the Big Bang. The Lancaster research programme covers all the main types of accelerator facilities and is based on hadron collider physics with the Tevatron (Fermilab) and LHC (CERN) machines, the observation of long baseline neutrino oscillations in Japan and, in the longer term future, high energy electron-positron collisions at the International Linear Collider (ILC). All of this work will be underpinned by Lancaster's expertise in characterising and understanding the properties of heavily irradiated silicon particle detectors, in operating high performance computing facilities on the Grid and in writing offline event reconstruction software. The hadron collider physics is expected to reveal detailed properties of B hadrons (containing heavy b-quarks) including the mixing of neutral B mesons containing strange quarks, and CP violation which is related to the existence of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe. Searches for new physics at the LHC will focus on understanding the origin of mass (and the role of the Higgs boson), the existence of new symmetries of nature (e.g. supersymmetry) and extra spatial dimensions. The neutrino oscillations programme is expected to provide important information about the masses of and the amount of mixing amongst the three known species of neutrinos. If the appearance of electron neutrinos can be observed in a muon neutrino beam then it may be possible, in a further phase of the research, to establish the existence of CP violation in the neutrino sector of the Standard Model. This could have wide reaching implications for the understanding of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. The electron-positron collider (the ILC) will enable a continuation of some of the research performed at the LHC but with a facility of greater precision and versatility. It could be especially crucial for the elucidation of the properties of the Higgs boson and supersymmetry if they exist as well as being an abundant source of top quraks.
Organisations
Publications
Abazov V
(2012)
Combination of searches for anomalous top quark couplings with 5.4 fb - 1 of p p ¯ collisions
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2013)
Search for the rare decay B s 0 ? µ + µ -
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2009)
Search for the lightest scalar top quark in events with two leptons in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2009)
Search for pair production of first-generation leptoquarks in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2011)
Measurement of the Z Z production cross section in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2012)
Measurement of the C P -violating phase ? s J / ? ? using the flavor-tagged decay B s 0 ? J / ? ? in 8 fb - 1 of p p ¯ collisions
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2008)
A combined search for the standard model Higgs boson at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2014)
Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in the distribution of leptons in t t ¯ events in the lepton + jets channel
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2011)
Search for neutral Higgs bosons in the multi-b-jet topology in 5.2 fb - 1 of p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2014)
Improved b quark jet identification at the D0 experiment
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Abazov V
(2008)
Evidence for production of single top quarks
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2011)
Measurement of three-jet differential cross sections d s 3 jet / d M 3 jet in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2011)
Measurement of spin correlation in t t ¯ production using dilepton final states
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2013)
Search for Higgs boson production in oppositely charged dilepton and missing energy final states in 9.7 fb - 1 of p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2013)
Measurement of the asymmetry in angular distributions of leptons produced in dilepton t t ¯ final states in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2008)
Erratum to: "Measurement of the isolated photon cross section in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV " [Phys. Lett. B 639 (2006) 151]
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2011)
Azimuthal decorrelations and multiple parton interactions in ? + 2 jet and ? + 3 jet events in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2014)
Jet energy scale determination in the D0 experiment
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Abazov V
(2009)
Search for charged Higgs bosons in top quark decays
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2012)
Search for Z ? events with large missing transverse energy in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2013)
Search for charged massive long-lived particles at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2011)
Search for associated Higgs boson production using like charge dilepton events in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2012)
Measurement of the ? b 0 lifetime in the exclusive decay ? b 0 ? J / ? ? 0 in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2013)
Measurement of the Z Z production cross section and search for the standard model Higgs boson in the four lepton final state in p p ¯ collisions
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2011)
Measurement of color flow in t t ¯ events from p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D