Experimental Particle Physics Consolidated Grant (2012-2016)

实验粒子物理学研究极小的尺寸，或相当于极高的能量。我们试图从基本的力和粒子的角度来理解物理宇宙的潜在本质。这些知识支撑着我们对一些重大科学问题的探索，比如我们的宇宙是如何从大爆炸中起源和演化的。能够达到这些极端能量和尺寸的实验在技术上要求很高。挑战包括设计能够在恶劣环境中运行的精密探测器，能够以极高能量碰撞光束的粒子加速器，能够识别非常罕见的衰减的超敏感探测器，能够每秒读取数百万条信息的高速电子设备以及能够以分布式方式分析pb数据的软件。因此，粒子物理学刺激了各种重要技术的发展。这是一项“综合拨款”，为高技能的研究和技术人员奠定基础，使伦敦大学学院能够在最高水平上领导项目。它提供了支持，使集团有效地培养博士生和年轻的博士后研究人员。这笔拨款将支持的科学包括：-通过在大型强子对撞机的ATLAS实验中寻找新的基本粒子，如希格斯玻色子，来理解赋予粒子质量的机制。如果有这样的发现，测量希格斯玻色子的性质将是至关重要的。与来自Tevatron对撞机的精确测量交叉检查将允许对粒子物理标准模型进行强有力的一致性检查。-理解为什么我们生活在一个由物质主导的宇宙中，只有很少的反物质成分，而不是大爆炸之后的情况。我们将详细研究中微子的性质，中微子是一种稳定的、不带电的、几乎没有质量的粒子，在放射性衰变中释放出来。中微子正在用MINOS实验进行研究。伦敦大学学院也正在完成SuperNEMO实验的建设，该实验将寻找原子核内同时发生两种β衰变的罕见过程。研究这种衰变将对中微子的本质产生根本性的见解。-寻找能量极高的现象，远远超出了大型强子对撞机等人造加速器的范围。我们正在使用ANITA实验在南极冰层中寻找超高能中微子的相互作用，我们正在为寻找μ子（电子的较重版本）自发转化为电子的极其罕见的过程的实验做准备。-为未来的实验开发新的加速器和探测器技术。我们需要建造更高能量的对撞机，以及能够探测远距离发射的中微子束的巨型探测器，以及十倍大的地下探测器，以继续寻找罕见的过程。这些关键的科学目标需要实现具有前所未有性能的新探测器，并且可以有效地和负担得起地扩大规模。-与其他科学家和业界分享我们的工作成果。我们的加速器和辐射测量专业知识可应用于核医学和安全领域。我们还与仪器制造商合作，为我们自己的研究和其他科学和工业用户开发更好的产品。其中一些工作是由其他赠款资助的，但得到了这项综合赠款支持的技术专门知识的支持。对伦敦大学学院高能物理小组的技术基础的连续性和支持对于科学的进步及其带来的好处至关重要。

Experimental particle physics studies extremely small sizes, or equivalently extremely high energies. We seek to understand the underlying nature of the physical universe in terms of fundamental forces and particles. This knowledge underpins our quest to answer some of the biggest questions in science, such as how our universe originated and evolved from the Big Bang.Experiments capable of reaching these extremes of energy & size are very technically demanding. The challenges include devising precision detectors which can operate in hostile environments, particle accelerators which can collide beams at very high energies, super-sensitive detectors capable of identifying very rare decays, high-speed electronics which can read out millions of pieces of information per second & software which can analyse petabytes of data in a distributed fashion. Particle physics thereby stimulates a variety of important technological developments.This is a "consolidated grant", underpinning the base of highly skilled research & technical staff which allows UCL to lead projects at the very highest levels. It provides the support that allows the group to effectively train PhD students & young post-doctoral researchers. The science this grant will support includes:- Understanding the mechanism that gives particles mass by searching for new fundamental particles such as the Higgs boson with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. In the event of such a discovery, measuring the properties of the Higgs boson will be critical. Cross checking with precision measurements from the Tevatron collider will allow a powerful consistency check of the standard model of particle physics.- Understanding why we live in a universe that is dominated by matter with only a tiny anti-matter component, in contrast to the conditions immediately following the Big Bang. We will study in detail the properties of the neutrino, which is a stable, uncharged, almost massless particle released in radioactive beta decays. The neutrino is being studied with the MINOS experiment. UCL is also completing the construction of the SuperNEMO experiment, which will search for the incredibly rare process whereby two simultaneous beta-decays occur inside the nucleus. Examining such decays will yield fundamental insights into the nature of the neutrino.- Searching for phenomena at extremely high energies, well beyond the reach of man-made accelerators like the LHC. We are searching for the interactions of ultra-high energy neutrinos in the Antarctic ice using the ANITA experiment & we are preparing for experiments that will search for the exceedingly rare process whereby a muon (a heavier version of the electron) spontaneously converts into an electron.- Developing new accelerator and detector technologies for future experiments. We need to build higher energy colliders, and giant detectors able to detect neutrino beams fired over large distances, as well as 10-times larger underground detectors to continue the search for rare processes. These crucial science goals require the realisation of new detectors with unprecedented performance and which can be scaled-up effectively and affordably.- Sharing the results of our work with other scientists and industry. Our accelerator and radiation measurement expertise can be applied to the fields of nuclear medicine and security. We also cooperate with instrument manufacturers in order to develop better products for our own research and for other scientific and industrial users.Some of this work is funded on other grants but is underpinned by the technical expertise that is supported by this consolidated grant. Continuity & support for the technical base in the UCL High Energy Physics Group is vital to progress the science & the benefits that it brings.