Flavour physics describes the different types of matter particles (quarks and leptons) and flavour-changing interactions. We are striving to answer fundamental questions such as why particles have different masses and why the Universe is made of matter (or where is the anti-matter)? Lancaster investigates these questions through research involving both quarks and leptons. We also use particles containing heavy quark flavours to examine the nature of the strong interaction that binds quarks and antiquarks together to form hadrons and holds together protons and neutrons to form atomic nuclei.

We study the fundamental properties of neutrinos at the Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) experiment in Japan, the MicroBooNE and SBDN experiments at Fermilab, USA. By studying neutrinos from a wide range of sources, both natural and man-made, the transformation of one neutrino into another (oscillations) can be investigated. Such oscillations can be used to search for CP violation in the lepton sector, which may explain the observed dominance of matter in our universe. They also permit a search for physics that is not defined by the Standard Model. The T2K experiment has shown the first hints that this CP violation is non-zero through precise measurements of the appearance of electron neutrinos in a muon-neutrino beam.

We are also studying the matter anti-matter asymmetry using the ATLAS experiment via decays of particles containing bottom (b)-quarks. The primary process examined is the decay of the Bs or its antiparticle to a J/ψ and a φ particle. In our Standard Model of particle physics, this decay can behave differently for the particle and antiparticle. Our studies attempt to measure the difference and are an indirect way of searching for new particles 'beyond the Standard Model', which can enhance or reduce the difference through quantum mechanical effects. We also study the decays of other particles containing beauty quarks, looking both for expected and unexpected states.

Lancaster is also making precision measurements of the decay of the top quark to tau leptons.

Team

• Dr Andrew Blake
• Professor Guennadi Borissov
• Professor Roger Jones
• Professor Vakhtang Kartvelishvili
• Dr Laura Kormos
• Professor Jaroslaw Nowak
• Professor Helen O'Keeffe

The Standard Model of particle physics cannot wholly explain the observed Universe. For example, it cannot explain the existence of dark matter and dark energy. Lancaster is carrying out an extensive programme searching for phenomena that are not included in the Standard Model.

The NA62 experiment will search for new physics at energy scales up to 100 TeV by observing and studying the ultra-rare decay of a charged kaon (K±) to a charged pion (π±), a neutrino and an anti-neutrino (which only occurs in one in 1010 decays). NA62 is also searching for dark matter candidates such as heavy neutral leptons, dark photons and axion-like particles as well as looking for differences between matter and anti-matter.

The study of neutrino oscillations also enables searches for new physics. For example, the MicroBooNE experiment is searching for oscillations mediated by hypothesised 'sterile' neutrinos, which cannot be detected directly. Both T2K and MINOS+ (which has now completed its data-taking phase) are also conducting searches for sterile neutrinos.

On the ATLAS experiment, we are searching for new massive particles that decay to a pair of particles, for example, two quark jets, two Higgs or two J/ψ particles. In all of these analyses, we are searching for a resonance (peak) in a mass spectrum.

We are searching for:

• excited quarks
• quantum black holes and additional bosons that can decay to two jets
• gravitons that can decay to two Higgs particles
• hidden supersymmetric particles that can decay to two J/ψ particles (or other onia)

Team

• Dr James Ferrando
• Dr Andrew Blake
• Professor John Dainton
• Dr Harald Fox
• Professor Roger Jones
• Professor Vakhtang Kartvelishvili
• Professor Jaroslaw Nowak
• Professor Helen O'Keeffe
• Dr Karim Massri

We are investigating the properties of the recently-discovered Higgs boson. In particular, we measure the CP properties of the Higgs boson and the fraction of Higgs particles that decay to taus. When the LHC is running at High Luminosity, the measurement of the cross-section of two-Higgs events will be used to determine the shape of the Higgs potential. We are also working on the International Linear Collider, a Higgs factory that is planned to be built in Japan. The Higgs boson properties will be measured with high precision when this e+ e- collider is made.

We are searching for unusual or exotic combinations of quarks which can shed light on the strong interaction. During the few first years of LHC running, we were pleased to discover the first new particle seen at the LHC, the χb(3P). To study the strong interaction, we focus on particles called ‘onia’ that are made up of quark-antiquark pairs. Their production and various ways of decaying act as a very precise test of theories of the strong interaction. We also study the creation of pairs of onia and onia in association with other objects such as W and Z bosons. These can test essential processes such as double parton scattering, which is a necessary background to understand when searching for new particles and when studying the decays of the Higgs boson. Such studies can also reveal the unexpected; in the D0 experiment, we have observed a state, the X(5568), which we interpret as a combination of two quarks and two anti-quarks.

An understanding of how neutrinos interact with matter is essential for current and future neutrino oscillation experiments as well as for testing the Standard Model of particle physics. Because neutrinos only interact via the weak force, they are challenging to study, resulting in limitations to current neutrino interaction cross-section data and models. Using data and measurements from existing experiments such as MicroBooNE and T2K, neutrino interaction models can be investigated and improved. These experiments will lead to a better understanding of neutrinos and improved precision for future investigations. We measure neutrino interaction cross-sections as well as develop the Monte Carlo models that allow us to test our understanding.

Team

• Dr James Ferrando
• Dr Harald Fox
• Professor Roger Jones
• Professor Vakhtang Kartvelishvili
• Professor Jaroslaw Nowak
• Dr Laura Kormos
• Professor Helen O'Keeffe

Lancaster plays critical roles in the research and development for upcoming neutrino experiments DUNE and SBND in the USA, and Hyper-Kamiokande in Japan, as well as on upgrades for the ATLAS detector at the LHC at CERN. Using our extensive experience of and understanding from existing experiments, we are helping to shape the future of particle physics, keeping Lancaster at the forefront of the field for years to come. This work includes not only hands-on hardware development and construction, but also data simulations and sensitivity studies, detector design optimisation, quality assurance, data acquisition and triggering methods, and particle reconstruction algorithms.

Upgrades to the LHC accelerator are planned to increase the luminosity, which will enable the experiments to collect up to 3000 fb-1 of data. This will lead to severely increased occupancy and radiation damage of the tracking detectors.

The ATLAS experiment plans to introduce an all-silicon inner tracker to cope with the elevated luminosity. Lancaster is involved in several aspects of the construction of the new sub-detector. We will test all UK pixel endcap sensors before they are assembled and are developing expertise with FPGA-based readout systems to be able to test individual pixel modules and the detector during assembly – with up to 5 Gbit/s. We are also leading experts for bending the CO2 cooling pipes made from Titanium with only 100 µm wall thickness into the required shapes and will pressure-test them to make sure they are safe at up to 100 atmospheres.

One recurring challenge for future particle physics investigations is that the experiments are getting larger and larger. Instrumenting of larger and larger volumes with existing technology is very costly – therefore, new ideas for cost-efficient particle detectors have to be pursued, and we believe that the key to realising significant savings is to use industrially available technologies for our purposes. One example of industrially available technology is HV-CMOS processes that are typically used to produce ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) for the automotive industry. We found that they can also be used to create outstanding particle detectors. Lancaster is focusing on understanding the radiation damage to the silicon bulk of these sensors.

Another example is to assess whether thin-film technology – capable of producing square-meter-size panels for TFT-screens and solar cells at a little cost – could be used to create particle detectors. To this end, Lancaster has teamed up with collaborators in Mexico, the USA and Germany; our expertise is in exploring sensors based on GaAs and c-Si (single-crystalline silicon) thin films. We are also looking into the option to create cost-efficient scintillation detectors from a cheap, everyday plastic: PEN (Polyethylene naphtalate). In this project, we are collaborating with colleagues in Dortmund, Munich, Prague and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Team

• Dr Andrew Blake
• Dr Harald Fox
• Dr Laura Kormos
• Dr Daniel Muenstermann
• Professor Jaroslaw Nowak
• Professor Helen O'Keeffe

To do all of this exciting physics, advanced software and a global computing system are required. At Lancaster, we are developing tracking tools for the high luminosity future running of ATLAS, as well as the software frameworks to exploit new computing techniques and architectures. We also develop the job management software required to simulate, process and analyse LHC data in a comprehensive computing system. We provide one of the most extensive computing and data storage facilities for particle physics and participate in the management and operation of the distributed computing for particle physics and other physical sciences in the UK.

Team

• Professor Roger Jones

Supervisor

Dr Harald Fox

Description

The discovery of the Higgs Boson in 2012 showed us the principle way how the breaking of the electroweak symmetry is realised in nature. However, several aspects of that mechanism are still being investigated. Two examples are the matter – anti-matter symmetry (CP) of the new Higgs boson, and the existence of further bosons in addition to the Higgs. At Lancaster we are analysing ATLAS data collected at the LHC in the hadronic di-tau final state.

The di-tau final state is the most accessible final state where the Higgs boson couples to fermions directly. This signal allows us to measure the CP properties of the Higgs boson. The Standard Model predicts a CP-even scalar Higgs with no CP violation in the production or decay. On the other hand, we know that there is not enough CP violation in the quark sector of the Standard Model to explain the existence of the universe. Observation of a new source of CP violation is hence necessary. Measuring the Higgs couplings and its CP properties is hence an important test for the Standard Model.

While the existence of the Higgs boson confirms the electroweak phase transition via a symmetry breaking potential, the shape of the potential and the exact nature of the mechanism is not constrained by theory or measurements so far. We use the di-tau final state to search for additional scalars to test models of the phase transition.

Supervisor

Dr Ian Bailey

Description

In recent years there has been a growing interest in very low mass exotic particles which may form some or all of the dark matter in the Universe. Two well-motivated examples are ‘dark photons’ and ‘axions’. ‘Dark photons’ are hypothetical photon-like gauge bosons which don’t couple to electric charge, and hence do not interact directly with normal matter. ‘Axions’ are hypothetical scalar particles postulated in the 1970's as a solution to the “strong CP” problem – one of the unsolved puzzles in our understanding of particle physics.

If dark photons (also know as hidden-sector photons) exist then they could convert into photons through a process called kinetic mixing, allowing photons to produce dark photons and vice versa. Similarly, axions could be converted back and forth into photons in the presence of a strong electromagnetic field. Terrestrially, these phenomena can be used as the basis of 'light dark matter haloscopes' built to search for the existence of these exotic particles in the dark matter halo through which the Earth is moving.

The QSHS (Quantum Sensors for the Hidden Sector) collaboration in the UK is developing quantum technologies to boost the sensitivity of experiments looking for these phenomena, and is designing a future light dark matter haloscope which can use these technologies optimally.

The student on this project would be a member of the QSHS collaboration and would contribute to the search for light dark matter haloscopes by developing electromagnetic field simulations, analysing the data from prototypes, and assisting with the construction, commissioning and operation of a quantum technology test facility at Sheffield University. There is also scope to set up an experiment locally at Lancaster University collaborating with the low temperature physics and quantum nanotechnology research groups. In addition there will be opportunities to work with the US-based ADMX axion haloscope collaboration who are the current world-leaders in axion dark matter searches. There are experimental, computational and theoretical aspects of this project, but the proportion of these aspects can be tailored to the student's interests.

Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics. Students interested in this PhD studentship should apply via the Lancaster University admission system.

Please contact Dr Ian Bailey for further information.

Supervisors

Dr Lingxin Meng, Dr Harald Fox

Description

Future particle experiments will impose extreme requirements on their tracking detectors, taking today's silicon sensor technology to the very limit. To extend the physics reach of the LHC for example, upgrades to the accelerator are planned that will increase the peak luminosity by a factor 5 to 10. This will lead to much-increased occupancy and radiation damage of the sub-detectors, requiring the exchange of the current inner trackers with all-silicon ones.

Lancaster has a long-standing tradition of silicon detector R&D in CERN's RD50 collaboration and is now focusing on R&D for future pixel detectors – the innermost sub-detector of particle physics experiments and thus exposed to the harshest conditions.

Possible PhD projects would include irradiation and characterisation of planar pixel sensors, which are being produced for LHC detector upgrades like ATLAS.

Beyond those, the PhD project may also involve the characterisation of novel HV-CMOS pixel sensors which promise very good radiation tolerance while being extremely lightweight and cost-efficient. These are considered the baseline choice for the upgrades of LHCb and other experiments like EIC, as well as future collider experiments. The first large-area prototype chip has been received from the foundry. Initial tests of this chip have begun. Results and in-depths characterisations are eagerly awaited by the community and could be part of the PhD project.

Students interested in this PhD project should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics. The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.

Supervisor

Dr Karim Massri

Description

Lepton Flavour Universality (LFU) is a pillar of the Standard Model (SM) that implies equal interaction strength for particles from different lepton families, as the electron and the muon. Several recent experimental results in particle physics seem to suggest possible LFU violation, which is predicted by many Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) scenarios.

Kaons, the lightest particles containing the “strange” quark, provide an outstanding way of searching for BSM physics via precise measurements. Experimental studies of decays of strange and light quarks is a very active field of research, and significant progress is expected over the next decade.

The NA62 experiment at CERN, a multi-purpose experiment investigating rare kaon decays, is the flagship of the European kaon physics programme and a leader in this field worldwide. NA62 has been operational since 2016 and will continue to collect data at least until 2025. Due to a uniquely intense kaon beam provided by the CERN accelerator complex and a range of state-of-the-art detectors, a variety of stringent SM tests can be performed within the NA62 experiment. In particular, the Lancaster group is leading the analysis of leptonic kaon decays to obtain the most-precise LFU test in the world.

The student on this project would be a member of the NA62 collaboration and would contribute to the LFU research with the NA62 data. The student's contribution to the LFU research can be tailored to some extent on the student skills and interests. Joining a medium-size international collaboration, the student will have the opportunity to play a leading role on a hot topic in particle physics, while developing key expertise on hardware, software, and data analysis. The student will also spend some months on-site at CERN, acting as a detector expert and doing data-taking shifts.

Students interested in this PhD studentship should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Funding is available on a competitive basis.

Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics.

The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.

Supervisor

Professor Roger Jones

Description

We are working on the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Our main work concerns the search for the signatures of new physics processes. We wish to address the big questions: Why is there a matter/antimatter asymmetry in our universe? What is the nature of dark matter? Are there additional forces to the four in the Standard Model of particle physics? Unusually, we use the same techniques to search for new physics directly (though the search for new particles) and indirectly (through the effect of new particles, too massive to be produced directly, on very precisely measured quantities). The common themes are in our areas of expertise: the precise measurement of the tracks left by particles and the lifetimes of decaying particles; the fast identification (so-called “triggering”) of relatively low momentum muons; and the stringent control of backgrounds to the physics signals coming from particles containing beauty quarks.

The successful candidate will work on the search for new particles that live long enough to decay in the tracking detector of the ATLAS experiment, then decay to produce muons; and investigate the matter-antimatter asymmetry parameters in the decay of B_s particles.

If they wish, the student will have to opportunity to work on a smaller experiment (NA62) looking at the rare decays of kaons, which can also reveal new physics departures from the Standard Model.

The student will be able to work on the software and large-scale computing for the experiment and use data science techniques in particle physics. The student would normally spend 12 months in Geneva working closely with an international team of experts on the experiment.

Please contact Professor Roger Jones for further information. Students interested in this PhD project should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics.

The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.

Supervisor

Professor Roger Jones

Description

The PhD will analyse new data from the world’s largest collider, LHC, situated in CERN. The data are taken after the LHC upgrade to an energy of 13.6 TeV. After the enormous success of the LHC, culminating with finding the Higgs particle, we have now opened a new chapter in the search for New Physics.

The high precision measurements of B-hadron decays allow for indirect searches for New Physics, where New particles that are produced virtually alter the B decays so they do not follow rules of the Standard Model. This builds on Lancaster’s leading role in the ATLAS analysis of the Run2 data to search for New Physics contributions to the CP-violation in the Bs-decays, which led to 3 publications in influential journals. ATLAS detector upgrade of Inner Detector with additional pixel layer (IBL in 2015), followed by further detector and trigger improvements in Run3 (started in 2022) allow ATLAS substantially increase the measurement precision. This change will allow ATLAS to measure the CP violation in Bs meson decays with unprecedented precision and will increase the potential for finding possible New Physics effects.

We propose two distinct physics measurements, both searching for New Physics in CP violation. They study the decay channels Bs ➔J/ψφ and Bs ➔J/ψKK. The methodology is similar, while a physics potential is different. These two measurements are complementary to each other, and the conclusion on CP effects can be only done by performing both. Also, we propose a high precision measurement in channel Bd ➔J/ψK0*, which is both a stringent test of the detector performance and calibration and has new interesting physics information in its own right.

Please contact Professor Roger Jones for further information. Students interested in this PhD project should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics.

The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.

Supervisor

Professor Roger Jones

Description

The PhD will analyse new data from the world’s largest collider, LHC, situated in CERN. The data are taken after the LHC upgrade to an energy of 13 TeV. After the enormous success of the LHC in 2010-2012, culminating with finding the Higgs particle, we have now opened a new chapter in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model.

This proposed search for displaced supersymmetric (SUSY) particles is an example of a “direct search” in which the signal would be distinguished by an excess of displaced objects relative to those coming from Standard Model. The searches will focus on events with a pair of leptons (muons, electrons) produced at a point between 0.01 mm and 1 cm from the original collision sideways from the beams. Our initial search was designed to be sensitive to a wide range of RPV-SUSY models with sleptons decaying into non-prompt di-lepton final states. This is now being extended to events with non-prompt leptons and displaced secondary vertices to search for low-mass, low-lifetime neutralinos and charginos.

In addition to these direct searches, novel methods of establishing limits on parameters for SUSY models using the cascade decays of B-mesons are under investigation, with the aim of setting limits on the possible mixing between SM and non-SM particles.

From 2015 has an upgraded Inner Detector with additional pixel layer (IBL) that has substantially increased the precision with which the production point of the lepton pair can be resolved. In addition to the upgraded hardware, and new method of track reconstruction has been introduced with the start of Run3 in 2022. Both additions will allow us to improve these searches in the future.

The PhD will analyse the data using decay channels including a pair of displaced leptons, to provide updates results on searches for SUSY particles, and limits on SUSY-model parameters. In addition, there will be studies of the performance of the detector hardware and its reconstruction software toolchain, to identify improvements for the current and future analyses.

Please contact Professor Roger Jones for further information. Students interested in this PhD project should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics.

The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.

Supervisor:

Professor Guennadi Borissov

Description:

The subject of this PhD project is the study of the properties of the top quark using the data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The top quark is the heaviest known particle which does not have an internal structure. Because of its large mass, the behaviour of the top quark in interactions with other particles can be sensitive to the contribution of new phenomena not included in the Standard Model. The top quark is produced in large quantities at the LHC and is efficiently detected by the ATLAS detector. Thus, studying the top quark opens up exciting possibilities for discovering new physics.

The successful candidate will develop the test of lepton flavour universality in decays of the top quark. A good working knowledge of programming languages, such as C++ and Python as well as an excellent understanding of particle physics is essential for this position. The student would normally spend at least 12 months in CERN, Geneva working closely with other colleagues in the ATLAS experiment.

Please contact Professor Guennadi Borissov for further information.

Students interested in this PhD project should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics.

The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.

Supervisor:

Professor Vakhtang Kartvelishvili

Description:

Ever since the discovery of the J/psi meson in 1974, the investigation of the production and decay properties of heavy quarkonium states has provided a unique source of information about the minute details of fundamental particle interactions within the Standard Model (SM). In many collider experiments, studies involving vector quarkonia provide the foundation of various analyses aimed at improving our understanding of Quantum Electrodynamics and Quantum Chromodynamics, thanks to their dilepton decay modes which are easy to identify and convenient to be triggered on. These gave rise to a series of studies where quarkonium is not just a subject, but also a tool to study the properties of other objects such as tetra- and penta-quarks, as well as searches for heavier particles beyond the SM.

The ATLAS group at Lancaster has a long history of leadership in the area of charmonium and bottomonium production at the LHC, including several pioneering studies of associated production, where a J/psi meson is produced in association of another heavy object, such as a W or a Z boson, or, indeed, another quarkonium state. Apart from producing valuable information on the most significant backgrounds for various BSM searches, these final states provide unique ways of studying the fundamental properties of hadrons, such as the distribution of gluons inside a proton, something which affects many processes under study at the LHC.

The PhD project on offer is a study of the associated production of the J/psi meson with another heavy quarkonium state -- a Upsilon meson or another J/psi -- in the intermediate invariant mass range optimised for the study of transverse-momentum-depemdednt (TMD) distribution of gluons inside the colliding protons. This will use the full statistics accumulated during Runs 2 and 3 of the LHC, and builds on the ongoing investigation of the J/psi plus photon final state, which uses a fraction of LHC Run 2 data. The project will involve an investigation of the selection efficiency of various triggers operating in ATLAS, optimisation of event selection, separation of the signal process from various backgrounds, and the measurement of the parameters of the transverse momentum dependence of the di-quarkonium system.

Please contact Professor Vakhtang Kartvelishvili for further information. Students interested in this PhD project should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics.

The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.

Supervisor

Dr Andy Blake

Project description

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation High Energy Physics experiment for neutrino science and nucleon decay searches. Hosted by the Fermi Laboratory, DUNE is an international collaboration of more than 1000 scientists from all over the world. Once operational at the end of the decade, DUNE will consist of two detector facilities placed 1300km apart in the world’s most powerful accelerator neutrino beam. The near detector complex will measure the spectrum and composition of the beam close to its source; the multi-kiloton far detector array will operate a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility and measure a range of neutrino oscillation phenomena. With its large fiducial mass and precision Liquid Argon TPC technology, DUNE will advance the field of neutrino oscillation physics into a new era and conduct searches for physics beyond the standard model (BSM). The superb imaging capabilities of LAr-TPC detectors enable neutrino interactions to be captured with exquisite detail. At Lancaster University, we are developing advanced software to reconstruct the complex multi-particle event topologies produced by multi-GeV neutrino interactions on Argon. In this PhD research project, you will apply techniques of machine learning to the analysis of LAr-TPC images, with the goal of precisely measuring the trajectories and properties of final-state particle tracks. Building on this work, you will use computer-simulated data from the far detectors to evaluate and optimise the discovery potential of DUNE to BSM oscillation phenomena. A long-term attachment at an international laboratory such as Fermilab may be possible with this project.

Please contact Dr Andrew Blake for more information about this research programme. Students interested in this PhD project should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics.

The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.

Supervisor

Professor Jarek Nowak

Project description

Precise measurements of neutrino cross-sections are essential for understanding the physics of neutrino interactions and achieving the reductions of systematic uncertainties required by future long-baseline experiments that will study CP violation in the neutrino sector. Over the past decade, cross-section measurements from a range of experiments (MiniBooNE, NOMAD, NOvA, MINERvA, T2K, MicroBooNE) have advanced our understanding of neutrino interactions and opened several new avenues of research. In particular, the discovery of a new process (MEC, 2p-2h) has generated a paradigm shift in treating nuclear effects. This PhD project will focus on cross-section measurements at the Fermilab short-baseline neutrino programme, where the fine-grain resolution, high-statistics datasets, and large liquid argon detectors like MicroBooNE and SBND are enabling precision studies of neutrino-argon interactions in the GeV energy range. Several PhD projects are available: the Lancaster group is involved in many cross-section analyses and is leading the development of detailed simulations like the NuWro Monte Carlo generator. Our PhD students typically have the opportunity to spend about one year at the Fermi Laboratory collaborating on the collection and analysis of their data.

Please contact Professor Jarek Nowak for further information. Students interested in this PhD studentship should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics.

The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.

Supervisor

Dr Andy Blake

Project description

The standard model of particle physics accommodates three active flavours of neutrino, which interact via the weak nuclear force. In recent years, experimental observations have hinted at a new type of sterile neutrino beyond the current standard model. If confirmed, this would be a major discovery and would fundamentally alter our understanding of neutrino physics.

The short-baseline neutrino programme at the Fermi Laboratory in the USA will conduct a multi-detector search for sterile neutrinos using a powerful accelerator neutrino beam and an array of large Liquid Argon TPC detectors. LAr-TPC technology can measure neutrino interactions with an exquisite spatial and calorimetric resolution, which is crucial for precision searches for neutrino oscillation phenomena. The Lancaster group is heavily involved in commissioning the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) and is contributing to a range of analysis activities, including developing advanced algorithms for reconstructing the properties of neutrino interactions.

The goal of this PhD project is to collaborate on the commissioning of the SBND detector as it comes online and to use the data from the short-baseline programme to search for the signatures of sterile neutrinos and other phenomena beyond the standard model. This project offers an excellent opportunity to experience all aspects of a particle physics experiment, from commissioning to physics analysis. Our students typically spend a significant period working onsite at Fermilab.

Please contact Dr Andrew Blake for further information. Students interested in this PhD studentship should apply via the Lancaster University admission system. Applicants are normally expected to have the equivalent of a first (1) or upper second (2.1) degree class in Physics or Astrophysics.

The Lancaster Physics Department holds an Athena SWAN silver award and JUNO Champion status and is strongly committed to fostering inclusion and diversity within its community.