Experimental particle physics
Experimental particle physics is concerned with the design and construction of the machinery that directly probes the most extreme forms of matter accesible to scientists, as well as with the reduction and analysis of their data output. Particle physicists hope to find and study, in these high energy labs, the particles and forms of matter predicted by theoretical particle physics and cosmology, the interactions of which are described by the standard model. The most powerful collider ever built is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which holds the promise for discoveries related to many of the unsolved questions in particle physics.
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One of the most important problems the LHC was built for was to confirm the Higgs mechanism, which would give masses to the W and Z particles and to fermions (leptons and quarks). On March 2013, the LHC tentatively confirmed the existence of the Higgs particle, and with it, the viability of the Higgs mechanism.
Aside from confirming the Higgs particle, the LHC is also trying to find a solution to the problem of antimatter. Why is the Universe mostly made of matter? After the Big Bang, matter and antimatter should have annihilated each other. Why did this not happened? A difference in the behavior of antimatter and matter has already been observed, but it is not enough to explain the predominance of matter. The LHCb detector of the LHC is studying this asymmetry.
The LHC may also shade light on the nature and properties of the elusive dark matter. It may also hint at the hypothetical existence of extra dimensions in our world and bring new valuable information on the subtle unbalance between matter and antimatter in the universe.
ICCUB Contribution
ICCUB’s experimental particle physicists are specialized in the study of flavor physics. Specifically in measuring CP violation effects and rare decays of particles containing b or c quaks.
Their long track record in this field go back into the design, construction and exploitation in the Hera-B experiment at the Desy lab, in Hamburg and the participation in the BaBar experiment at the SLAC National lab, at Stanford, CA. Currently the group is fully involved in LHCb experiment data analysis and on its upgrade project.
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The LHCb detector, one of the four detectors of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN (Geneva), is designed to study this asymmetry through the b and anti-b particle pairs produced in proton collisions. The ICCUB, aside from its participation at a scientific level, undertook the design, production and installation of the electronics of the SPD (Scintillator Pad Detector) part of the calorimeter. In addition the ICCUB participated in the development of the Data-GRID computer network and the DIRAC software, which are essential in the data analysis and simulation processes, not only in LHCb, but also in all HEP experiments nowadays.
An updated LHCb detector is currently being designed and scheduled for 2018 to start operation. The ICCUB participates in the design of the readout (RO) electronics of both the calorimeter and the new central tracker (to be based on Scintillating Fibers).
Lines of Research
- Physics of B and Charm mesons
- Charge-Parity (CP) symmetry violation
- Search for deviations from the Standard Model in rare B meson decays.
- Quarkonium
- Development of distributed calculation methods using grid and cloud computing
- Design of Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes for tracking detectors of future accelerators
- Simulation and study of the radiation hardness of avalanche photodetectors.
- Design, contruction and operation of instrumentation for high energy, astrophysics and medical imaging experiments
Members
