Download Proposal of a topic for the PhD schools in Particle Physics Name

Proposal of a topic for the PhD schools in Particle Physics
Name and degree of the supervisor(s):
Emmanuel Monnier, Directeur de recherche, Phd
József Tóth, C.Sc.
Title of the PhD topic:
Search with the ATLAS detector for Higgs boson and new physics in high energy proton-proton collisions at the
LHC, CERN, Genève.
Details of the task :
The existence of the Higgs boson is one of the corner stone of the Standard Model (SM) in particle physics not
yet confirmed but with already possible hint of its presence. Its observation will reinforce the basic assumptions
of the SM. On other hand its detailed features as well as the discovery of new type of particles may open the
door for new concept in the theory, eg. whether a new symmetry principle like supersymmetry is really needed to
understand the Nature / observation.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) built at the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN, Genève,
Switzerland) is the most powerful accelerator on earth. Started late 2009, it has already provided 7 TeV protonproton collisions with enough statistics to start to reveal hints interesting physics. In 2012, it will operate at 8 TeV
with much more statistics foreseen and ultimately will reach 14 TeV. This will be sufficient to produce Higgs
bosons as well as new type of particles in the coming years that will be recorded days and nights by the Atlas
detector. Those data will be registered, looked after and analyzed on the LHC computing grid, a gigantic
computer network interconnecting computing power and storage resources throughout the world. The candidate
is expected to contribute to the scientific work of the ATLAS experiment, one of two main general purpose
detectors at the LHC toward Higgs and new physics discovery. First he will contribute to the analysis of the data
collected and will contribute as well to their collection. Using grid technology and contributing to the development
of some of its tools, he will also participate to the validation of the recorded physics objects, and more
particularly electrons, jets and missing energy, then reconstruct more complex object such as Z and W bosons
and top quarks toward the tuning of the ATLAS detector performances. The CPPM Atlas group and the two
supervisors have a strong expertise in the calorimeter system which will be helpful for such studies. The
candidate will be expected to play a role in the related Atlas working groups, e-gamma and jet/missing
transverse energy. He is also expected to contribute to the development of the related software tools on the LHC
computing grid. Moreover, the student is expected to take part and contribute to the Higgs and new particle
searches, through multi-leptonic channels, in which the two supervisors as well as the scientific group have
strong expertize (Higgs searches, SUSY, SM physics….). The student will arrive on ATLAS at an important time
where major physics discoveries are foreseen, as well as leading computer technologies deployed on a large
scale. This will be a very enthusiastic time not to be missed that will provide the student a unique experience and
expertise in particle physics and related computing system.
This work will be done for 3 years shared between the RMI of the Wigner RCP (Budapest, Hungary) and CPPM
(Marseille, France) (roughly half time in each every year) under a co-PhD grant. Frequent travels to CERN are
expected to take part in the Atlas detector monitoring and data collection as well as in Atlas collaboration
working meetings.
Requirements for the candidate :
Strong motivation to work in a very competitive international environment. Good computing skills. Strong interest
in the field. Excellent university records, working knowledge of English (French is also good but not mandatory).
Accessibility of supervisor(s) :
József Tóth, tel.: +36 1 392 2222 ext. 1276, mobil : 06 20 3785662,E-mail: [email protected]
Emmanuel Monnier, tel.: +41 764 87 5126 (Cern mobile) E-mai: [email protected]
Name and address of the institute(s) where the work is to be performed:
Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, of the Wigner Research Centre for Physics,
1122 Budapest, Hungary, Konkoly-Thege M. u 29-33
Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille (CPPM),
Case 902, 163, avenue de Luminy - 13288 Marseille Cedex09, France
European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN), Genève, Switzerland