Oxford LHCb and CLEO-c

Studentship Opportunities

LHCb makes precision studies of CP violation in the decay of beauty and charm ('heavy flavour') hadrons at the CERN LHC. LHCb searches for physics beyond the Standard Model by investigating departures from the unitarity of the CKM matrix and checking whether or not this provides a consistent picture of the CP-violation mechanism. These studies can provide valuable insight into the mechanisms responsible for matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe. The experiment also has high sensitivity to new physics effects by looking for enhanced rates of heavy flavour decays that are extremely rare in the Standard Model, or in unexpected kinematical distributions of these decays.

The LHCb detector has already run successfully for the first two full years of LHC operation, and collected a wealth of data. Major responsibilities of the Oxford group involve the analysis of physics data (CP violation, rare B decays and charm physics), hardware for the Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) and Vertex (VELO) detectors, and working towards an upgraded LHCb detector. The RICH detectors provide particle identification of pions, kaons and protons over the momentum range from 1 to 100 GeV/c, and the VELO reconstructs B-decay vertices to a precision of around 150μm.

A new graduate student would be expected to work on a combination of the following areas:

• Undertake a significant LHCb data analysis, towards a study of the physics of CP violation, rare decays or charm. A major physics interest of the Oxford LHCb group is in the measurement of the CKM angle gamma. We are currently analysing data in the family of channels family of channels B^± → D⁰ K^± with the D⁰ decaying into 2-,3- and 4-body final states. In addition, the group are measuring rare phenomena in the neutral charm system, such as CP violation and mixing. We are also active in searching for very rare beauty and charm decay channels, and are studying the properties of b-baryons. In addition we are pursuing studies in top physics and QCD, for which the unique forward acceptance of the experiment brings many advantages. A new student could expect to work in any one of the above areas, or develop an alternative analysis effort which is commensurate with the general interests of the group.
• Oversee the operation of the high-speed on-detector electronics, data links and data-acquisition for the RICH system, and monitor the performance of the detector and its readout system. Organise the magnetic calibration of the RICH photon detectors and associated data analysis. Maintain the calibration of the RICH system’s performance using real data. Of particular interest is the calibration method of cleanly detecting a background-free sample of K's and π's from D*^± → D⁰(Kπ)π^±, and Λ⁰ → pπ^- decays.
• Monitor the data quality of the VELO detector, and also the opening and closing characteristics of the silicon planes.
• Develop software and hardware for an upgraded LHCb detector. This could include studies of the physics performance, R&D for the upgraded VELO
  detector, and R&D for the upgraded particle identification system (RICH or time-of-flight).