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
(2015)
Search for flavour-changing neutral current top quark decays t ? Hq in pp collisions at s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2013)
Measurement of upsilon production in 7 TeV p p collisions at ATLAS
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2014)
Search for top quark decays t ? qH with H ? ?? using the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2013)
Search for long-lived, multi-charged particles in pp collisions at s = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2015)
Observation and measurement of Higgs boson decays to W W * with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2013)
Search for displaced muonic lepton jets from light Higgs boson decay in proton-proton collisions at s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2014)
Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s $$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2014)
Search for quantum black hole production in high-invariant-mass lepton+jet final states using pp collisions at vs=8 TeV and the ATLAS detector.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2015)
Search for lepton-flavour-violating H ? µt decays of the Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2015)
Measurement of the inclusive jet cross-section in proton-proton collisions at s = 7 $$ \sqrt{s}=7 $$ TeV using 4.5 fb-1 of data with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2014)
Search for microscopic black holes and string balls in final states with leptons and jets with the ATLAS detector at s $$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 8 TeV
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2013)
Search for long-lived stopped R -hadrons decaying out of time with p p collisions using the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2015)
Measurement of differential J / ? production cross sections and forward-backward ratios in p + Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review C
Aad G
(2014)
Search for supersymmetry in events with four or more leptons in s = 8 TeV p p collisions with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2015)
Measurements of the Nuclear Modification Factor for Jets in Pb+Pb Collisions at v(s)NN]=2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
in Physical review letters
Aad G
(2014)
Search for the lepton flavor violating decay Z ? e µ in p p collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physical Review D
Aad G
(2013)
A search for high-mass resonances decaying to t + t - in pp collisions at s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Physics Letters B
Aad G
(2014)
Measurement of the production cross section of prompt J/? mesons in association with a W ± boson in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2015)
Search for anomalous production of prompt same-sign lepton pairs and pair-produced doubly charged Higgs bosons with s = 8 $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV pp collisions using the ATLAS detector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aad G
(2015)
Search for Higgs boson pair production in the [Formula: see text] final state from pp collisions at [Formula: see text] TeVwith the ATLAS detector.
in The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Aad G
(2013)
Search for a heavy narrow resonance decaying to eµ, et, or µt with the ATLAS detector in s = 7 TeV pp collisions at the LHC
in Physics Letters B
Aaltonen T
(2013)
Combination of CDF and D0 W -Boson mass measurements
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2012)
Combination of CDF and D0 measurements of the W boson helicity in top quark decays
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2012)
Combination of the top-quark mass measurements from the Tevatron collider
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2015)
Tevatron Combination of Single-Top-Quark Cross Sections and Determination of the Magnitude of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa Matrix Element V_{tb}.
in Physical review letters
Aaltonen T
(2012)
Evidence for a particle produced in association with weak bosons and decaying to a bottom-antibottom quark pair in higgs boson searches at the tevatron.
in Physical review letters
Aaltonen T
(2015)
Tevatron constraints on models of the Higgs boson with exotic spin and parity using decays to bottom-antibottom quark pairs.
in Physical review letters
Aaltonen T
(2014)
Combination of measurements of the top-quark pair production cross section from the Tevatron Collider
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2012)
Search for neutral Higgs bosons in events with multiple bottom quarks at the Tevatron
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2013)
Higgs boson studies at the Tevatron
in Physical Review D
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
(2012)
Combination of searches for anomalous top quark couplings with 5.4 fb - 1 of p p ¯ collisions
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2012)
Search for W H associated production in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2013)
Measurement of the differential cross section of photon plus jet production 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
(2014)
Muon reconstruction and identification with the Run II D0 detector
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Abazov V
(2014)
Search for the X ( 4140 ) state in B + ? J / ? ? K + decays with the D0 detector
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2012)
Search for a narrow t t ¯ resonance in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2015)
Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in ? b 0 and ? ¯ b 0 baryon production in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2012)
Measurement of the inclusive jet cross section in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2012)
Measurement of the semileptonic charge asymmetry in B 0 meson mixing with the D0 detector
in Physical Review D
Abazov V
(2012)
Search for Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
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 |