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
(2008)
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
(2008)
Erratum: Measurement of the W W Production Cross Section in p p ¯ Collisions at s = 1.96 TeV [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 , 151801 (2005)]
in Physical Review Letters
Abazov V
(2010)
Search for flavor changing neutral currents via quark-gluon couplings in single top quark production using 2.3 fb-1 of p p ¯ collisions
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2014)
Electron and photon identification in the D0 experiment
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Abazov V
(2013)
Measurement of the ratio of differential cross sections s ( p p ¯ ? Z + b jet ) / s ( p p ¯ ? Z + jet ) in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2010)
Evidence for an anomalous like-sign dimuon charge asymmetry
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2010)
Double parton interactions in ? + 3 jet events in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2007)
Measurement of the p p ¯ ? W Z + X cross section at s = 1.96 TeV and limits on W W Z trilinear gauge couplings
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2009)
Search for associated production of charginos and neutralinos in the trilepton final state using 2.3 fb-1 of data
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2010)
Measurement of Z / ? * + jet + X angular distributions in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2010)
Dependence of the t t ¯ production cross section on the transverse momentum of the top quark
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2011)
Search for a heavy neutral gauge boson in the dielectron channel with 5.4 fb-1 of p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2008)
Search for supersymmetry in di-photon final states at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2006)
Measurement of B d mixing using opposite-side flavor tagging
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2010)
Measurement of the dijet invariant mass cross section in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2012)
Improved determination of the width of the top quark
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2007)
Search for single production of scalar leptoquarks in p p ¯ collisions decaying into muons and quarks with the D0 detector
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
(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)
Search for pair production of the scalar top quark in muon+tau final states
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2008)
Measurement of the differential cross section for the production of an isolated photon with associated jet in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2006)
Measurement of the t t ¯ production cross section in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV using secondary vertex b tagging
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2011)
Measurement of the W boson helicity in top quark decays using 5.4 fb - 1 of p p ¯ collision data
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2008)
Search for t t ¯ resonances in the lepton plus jets final state in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2009)
Search for charged Higgs bosons in top quark decays
in Physics Letters B