Experimental Particle Physics 2012-2016
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, and the observation of long baseline neutrino oscillations in Japan. 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 well measured 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 development of new particle accelerator technology for high energy particle physics and a broad range of alternaive applications is the mission of the Cockcroft Institute. The Lancaster group were co-founders of the Institute and remain commited to supporting its evolution.
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, and the observation of long baseline neutrino oscillations in Japan. 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 well measured 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 development of new particle accelerator technology for high energy particle physics and a broad range of alternaive applications is the mission of the Cockcroft Institute. The Lancaster group were co-founders of the Institute and remain commited to supporting its evolution.
Planned Impact
1. UK and overseas industry from the contracts that they could receive for construction of the ATLAS tracker upgrade, detectors for a future neutrino experiment and components (eg superconducting RF cavities) for particle accelerator projects. These projects have been stimulated by our current research at the LHC and with T2K in Japan.
2. UK and overseas industry from knowledge exchange resulting from our own basic research with heavily irradiated silicon particle detectors, for which we have a long and impressive track record. Manufacturers of solid state detectors designed to operate in high radiation environments will benefit from the knowledge and ideas that we are able to transmit, enabling them to optimise the design and performance of their own products.
We will ensure that industry is made aware of our research, and thereby benefit from it, through a broad programme of dissemination involving direct contacts with potential industrial partners and with indirect contacts, namely with refereed publications in high impact factor journals, conference & workshop talks and proceedings, university seminars, articles & interviews in the popular media (television, radio, newspapers & scientific magazines), web-casts and Twitter feeds. We believe that these standard forms of dissemination to the academic community also have the potential to reach industrial partners and are a significant supplement to direct contacts.
3. The UK general public, including schools, through outreach activities and the cultural impact of particle physics research.
We will ensure that these communities are made aware of our research, and thereby benefit from it, through a broad programme of dissemination involving articles & interviews in the popular media (television, radio, newspapers & scientific magazines), public lectures, web-casts and Twitter feeds. There is abundant evidence that a large fraction of the general public finds the conceptual ideas of particle physics and its associated technologies both fascinating and stimulating. The most obvious example of this is the extraordinary level of public interest in the LHC, resulting in the term 'Hadron Collider' becoming a phrase that the majority of the population recognize and know something about. Quite regular satirical reference to the machine is powerful evidence that this science has deeply penetrated into the popular culture. The profound questions about the origin of the Universe which particle physics addresses strike a very clear chord with the public, many of who want to understand more about the Universe's origins and hence their own origins. There is an almost insatiable thirst for knowledge about this subject in the general public. At Lancaster we have been involved with the LHC for twenty years and it always has been, and always will be, a great privilege and a pleasure to be able to share our progress and discoveries with members of the public.
In the case of schools, in addition to all of the above, we run a very successful and long established programme of outreach activities, involving particle physics masterclasses, A-level particle physics enrichment days, talks at schools, organised and hosted trips to CERN, and teacher training events. The students benefit from these activities by acquiring deeper understanding of physics, enabling them to perform better in examinations, and by becoming more enthused about the subject in general. The Department employs a part-time physics teacher, funded by the Ogden Trust, to organise most of our schools outreach activities and thanks to his efforts, our outreach programme has proven to be very popular and effective, with growing evidence that more students are being encouraged to apply to do a physics degree either at Lancaster or elsewhere. Many of them cite their interest in particle physics as being one of the key drivers behind their choice of degree. We expect this pattern to continue into the future.
2. UK and overseas industry from knowledge exchange resulting from our own basic research with heavily irradiated silicon particle detectors, for which we have a long and impressive track record. Manufacturers of solid state detectors designed to operate in high radiation environments will benefit from the knowledge and ideas that we are able to transmit, enabling them to optimise the design and performance of their own products.
We will ensure that industry is made aware of our research, and thereby benefit from it, through a broad programme of dissemination involving direct contacts with potential industrial partners and with indirect contacts, namely with refereed publications in high impact factor journals, conference & workshop talks and proceedings, university seminars, articles & interviews in the popular media (television, radio, newspapers & scientific magazines), web-casts and Twitter feeds. We believe that these standard forms of dissemination to the academic community also have the potential to reach industrial partners and are a significant supplement to direct contacts.
3. The UK general public, including schools, through outreach activities and the cultural impact of particle physics research.
We will ensure that these communities are made aware of our research, and thereby benefit from it, through a broad programme of dissemination involving articles & interviews in the popular media (television, radio, newspapers & scientific magazines), public lectures, web-casts and Twitter feeds. There is abundant evidence that a large fraction of the general public finds the conceptual ideas of particle physics and its associated technologies both fascinating and stimulating. The most obvious example of this is the extraordinary level of public interest in the LHC, resulting in the term 'Hadron Collider' becoming a phrase that the majority of the population recognize and know something about. Quite regular satirical reference to the machine is powerful evidence that this science has deeply penetrated into the popular culture. The profound questions about the origin of the Universe which particle physics addresses strike a very clear chord with the public, many of who want to understand more about the Universe's origins and hence their own origins. There is an almost insatiable thirst for knowledge about this subject in the general public. At Lancaster we have been involved with the LHC for twenty years and it always has been, and always will be, a great privilege and a pleasure to be able to share our progress and discoveries with members of the public.
In the case of schools, in addition to all of the above, we run a very successful and long established programme of outreach activities, involving particle physics masterclasses, A-level particle physics enrichment days, talks at schools, organised and hosted trips to CERN, and teacher training events. The students benefit from these activities by acquiring deeper understanding of physics, enabling them to perform better in examinations, and by becoming more enthused about the subject in general. The Department employs a part-time physics teacher, funded by the Ogden Trust, to organise most of our schools outreach activities and thanks to his efforts, our outreach programme has proven to be very popular and effective, with growing evidence that more students are being encouraged to apply to do a physics degree either at Lancaster or elsewhere. Many of them cite their interest in particle physics as being one of the key drivers behind their choice of degree. We expect this pattern to continue into the future.
Organisations
Publications
Aad G
(2014)
Measurements of four-lepton production at the Z resonance in pp collisions at sqrt[s] = 7 and 8 TeV with ATLAS.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2014)
Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections for Higgs boson production in the diphoton decay channel at s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV with ATLAS
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2012)
Search for resonant top quark plus jet production in t t ¯ + jets events with the ATLAS detector in p p collisions at s = 7 TeV
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2014)
Search for new resonances in W? and Z? final states in pp collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2013)
Measurement of Z boson production in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2015)
Search for a CP-odd Higgs boson decaying to Zh in pp collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2015)
Search for production of [Formula: see text] resonances decaying to a lepton, neutrino and jets in [Formula: see text] collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aad G
(2015)
Search for Higgs bosons decaying to a a in the µ µ t t final state in p p collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2015)
Search for production of vector-like quark pairs and of four top quarks in the lepton-plus-jets final state in pp collisions at s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2013)
Search for pair-produced massive coloured scalars in four-jet final states with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7\ \mbox{TeV}$
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2014)
Search for scalar diphoton resonances in the mass range 65-600 GeV with the ATLAS detector in pp collision data at vs=8 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2015)
Search for low-scale gravity signatures in multi-jet final states with the ATLAS detector at s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2015)
Search for charged Higgs bosons decaying via H ± ? t ± ? in fully hadronic final states using pp collision data at s $$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2014)
Search for dark matter in events with a Z boson and missing transverse momentum in p p collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2013)
Search for contact interactions and large extra dimensions in dilepton events from p p collisions at s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2015)
Search for pair-produced long-lived neutral particles decaying to jets in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter in pp collisions at s = 8 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2015)
Search for high-mass diboson resonances with boson-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2015)
Search for new phenomena in events with a photon and missing transverse momentum in p p collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2014)
Measurement of the underlying event in jet events from 7 $$\text {TeV}$$ TeV proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2013)
Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in sqrt[s(NN)]=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2012)
Search for supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least one tau lepton in 7 TeV proton-proton collision data with the ATLAS detector
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2014)
Measurement of differential production cross-sections for a Z boson in association with b-jets in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2014)
Electron and photon energy calibration with the ATLAS detector using LHC Run 1 data
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2014)
Search for dark matter in events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at vs=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2014)
Electron reconstruction and identification efficiency measurements with the ATLAS detector using the 2011 LHC proton-proton collision data
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2014)
Measurement of event-plane correlations in s NN = 2.76 TeV lead-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review C
Aad G
(2015)
Search for massive supersymmetric particles decaying to many jets using the ATLAS detector in p p collisions at s = 8 TeV
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2014)
Measurement of the total cross section from elastic scattering in pp collisions at s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Nuclear Physics B
Aad G
(2015)
Measurement of the production of neighbouring jets in lead-lead collisions at s NN = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2015)
Measurement of exclusive ? ? ? l + l - production in proton-proton collisions at s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2014)
Search for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS detector in final states with jets and missing transverse momentum using s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV proton-proton collision data
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2014)
Light-quark and gluon jet discrimination in [Formula: see text] collisions at [Formula: see text] with the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aad G
(2013)
Measurement of the high-mass Drell-Yan differential cross-section in pp collisions at s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2013)
Measurement of top quark polarization in top-antitop events from proton-proton collisions at vs=7 TeV using the ATLAS detector.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2014)
Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in $ \sqrt{s} $ = 8 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2015)
Summary of the searches for squarks and gluinos using s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2013)
Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{\mathrm{s}}=7\ \mathrm{TeV}$
in The European Physical Journal C
Aad G
(2015)
Search for a Heavy Neutral Particle Decaying to eµ, et, or µt in pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=8 TeV with the ATLAS Detector.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2015)
Measurement of spin correlation in top-antitop quark events and search for top squark pair production in pp collisions at vs=8 TeV using the ATLAS detector.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2015)
Measurements of the top quark branching ratios into channels with leptons and quarks with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2014)
Search for Invisible Decays of a Higgs Boson Produced in Association with a Z Boson in ATLAS
in Physical Review Letters
Description | The discovery of the Higgs boson at the LHC and the first observation of neutrinos of one type (muon neutrinos) changing into neutrinos of another type (electron neutrinos). |
Exploitation Route | The research is ongoing and will lead to deeper insights into nature and the properties of the fundamental particles and forces. |
Sectors | Education |
URL | http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/physics/research/experimental-particle-physics/ |
Description | Lancaster particle physics masterclasses |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Three days of masterclasses held at Lancaster with Y12/Y13 pupils. The event influences both pupils and teachers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/physics/outreach/masterclasses/ |
Description | WOMAD 2016 Physics Pavilion |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Curated the first phsycis pavilion at the WOMAD festival 2016 in Wiltshire. Totoal attendence over 40,000, through the tent 4000 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |