VH-NG-400
Top as Key to LHC Physics
Programmorientierte Förderung von DESY
Top as Key to LHC Physics
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Notkestraße 85
22607 Hamburg
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Institut für Physik
Newtonstraße 15
12489 Berlin
What is our world made of at the most fundamental level? This question, as old as mankind itself, will find new answers with the advent of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics. The LHC is a high-energy particle accelerator in which protons will be collided at unprecedented energies, seven times higher than currently available. The LHC will be a “discovery machine” for physics beyond the standard model of particle physics, the current theory of fundamental particles and their interactions. ATLAS is one of the four large particle physics experiments that will lead the quest for new physics at the LHC. The top quark, discovered at the Tevatron in 1995, will be key to the physics program of the LHC experiments. Its well measured mass and cross section and wide range of decay modes make the top quark a crucial tool for achieving peak detector performance during the startup phase of the LHC. Due to its large mass, the top quark plays an essential role in many theories beyond the standard model, rendering the top quark sector an interesting area to search for new physics. In addition, top signals are a major background to many signatures of new physics that may be discovered at the LHC.
The program of the Young Investigator Group with the title “Top as Key to LHC Physics” is focused on top quark physics with the ATLAS experiment. The group’s program will be carried out in close collaboration with groups at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and Humboldt University Berlin. During the LHC startup phase, the group will work on establishing first top signals and help transferring the vast Tevatron experience in data analysis techniques for top physics to the LHC. The Young Investigator Group will then build on the experience gained during the startup phase and perform measurements of top quark properties in the dilepton decay channel. These measurements will naturally lead to searches for new physics in the top sector.
The most important experimental tools for top quark physics at the LHC are silicon tracking detectors. The Young Investigator Group will complement its data analysis effort with work on silicon pixel detectors. The group will join the effort to commission and operate the ATLAS silicon pixel detector. The group will also participate in a research and development project for novel silicon pixel detectors suited for the planned upgrade of the LHC to Super-LHC.
Leader of the Young Investigators Group of Helmholtz:
Dr. Ulrich Husemann
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
Platanenallee 6
D-15738 Zeuthen
Telephone: +49-33762-7-7392
E-Mail: ulrich.husemann@desy.de
Host Scientist
Dr. Klaus Mönig
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
Platanenallee 6
D–15738 Zeuthen
Telephone: +49–33762–77271
E-Mail: klaus.moenig@desy.de
University Partner
Prof. Dr. Thomas Lohse
Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Newtonstraße 15
D–12489 Berlin
Telephone: +49–30–2093–7820
E-Mail: lohse@ifh.de
