The ATLAS experiment at Manchester

The ATLAS detector is an experiment designed to take full advantage of the very high energy and high luminosity proton-proton (and heavy ion) collisions in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. With the ATLAS detector, physicists measure Standard Model parameters to very high precision and study the properties of the newly-discovered Higgs boson in a range of decay modes. Searches are underway for new physics phenomena such as dark matter, extra dimensions, quark compositeness, supersymmetry, and other new particles.

Recent physics analysis activities

The Manchester ATLAS group takes an active role in a variety of research topics, covering Standard Model, Higgs, Top, B-Physics, and Exotics measurements and searches. The research interests of the group include:

‣QCD and electroweak physics measurements (jet and dijet production, di-lepton and di-photon measurements, Vector Boson Fusion W/Z, Diboson production, underlying event).
Manchester has provided conveners of the Soft QCD sub-group (James Robinson, 2014–present; Andy Pilkington, 2011–2012) and the Electroweak physics sub-group (Alex Oh, 2011–2013).
‣Higgs boson searches/measurements (Higgs→di-photons search and first differential cross-section measurements, ttH associated production).
‣Top-quark measurements (various top quark production and properties measurements, boosted ttbar phenomenology, colour flow in ttbar events).
Manchester has convened the Top cross section group (Mark Owen, 2013–2014), Top reconstruction group, (Mark Owen, 2012–2013).
‣Quarkonium and b-production measurements and searches (production cross-section measurements, new quarkonium states, double parton interactions, heavy flavour modelling).
Manchester has convened the B-Physics group (Darren Price, 2014–present) and Quarkonium and b-production sub-group (Darren Price, 2010–present).

‣Searches for new physics phenomena (Gravitons, W-primes, doubly-charged Higgs bosons, anomalous Invisible Higgs production, low-mass Higgs extensions, anomalous boson couplings, sterile neutrinos, Dark Matter searches).

Some recent highlights from Manchester group members:

Find out more

‣The ATLAS experiment
‣Public results from the ATLAS experiment
‣@ATLASexperiment (twitter)
‣ATLAS-UK
‣CERN
‣ATLAS Manchester twiki
‣Manchester indico

Contact (all firstname.surname at manchester.ac.uk):

Terry Wyatt, Alex Oh

Group members

Academics
Brian Cox

Stefan Söldner-Rembold

Steve Watts

Terry Wyatt

Research Fellows / Postdocs

Recent detector operation and performance activities

The Manchester ATLAS group makes a wide range of contributions to the running and performance of the ATLAS experiment including:

‣Pixel Detectors for Upgrades
Manchester has significant involvement in the development of future ATLAS pixel detectors. Group members include the UK tracker upgrade pixel-mechanics WP manager (Jo Pater, 2013–present), the 3D silicon pixels WP coordinator (Cinzia Da Via, 2009–present), and Alex Oh, who is a recognised world leader in 3D diamond detector development.
‣High Level Trigger: ID, Muon, B-Physics
Manchester group members lead work on the Inner Detector trigger (Jiri Masik, 2010–present), Muon trigger (Alex Oh, 2010–2012) and B-trigger (Darren Price, 2010–2012) menu design, algorithm development, performance, and efficiency measurement. Manchester also contribute to management of ATLAS trigger operations (Alex Oh, 2013–present).

Measurement of jet activity in ttbar production Eur.Phys.J. C72 (2012) 2043 arXiv:1203.5015

First measurement of the H→γγ differential cross-sections ATLAS-CONF-2013-072

First observation of electroweak Zjj production JHEP04(2014)031 arXiv:1401.7610

First observation of associated W+J/ψ production JHEP04(2014)172 arXiv:1401.2831

HLT ID tracking optimisation Public Results

Jet calibration measurements Eur. Phys. J. C, 73 3 (2013) 2304 arXiv:1112.6426

Luminosity measurements and factorisation of beam profiles in VdM scans Public Results

‣Luminosity measurement
The Manchester group is responsible for the following activities within the ATLAS luminosity measurement:
a)Determination of beam profiles in van der Meer scans using luminosity and luminous region data
b)Luminosity measurement using reconstructed ID tracks
c)Luminosity measurement using reconstructed vertices
d)Development of methods to measure luminosity using the DBM (diamond beam monitor) detectors

‣Muon reconstruction efficiency
Measurement of muon reconstruction efficiencies in Data and Monte Carlo, comparison of various muon reconstruction algorithms and extension of efficiency reach to low (>2 GeV) transverse momentum.
‣Inner Detector track trigger algorithms
Manchester plays a key role in the development and optimisation of Inner Detector track trigger algorithms.
‣Forward jet calibration
Manchester has been heavily involved in eta-dependent jet energy scale calibration since first data. The group developed the first forward jet systematic uncertainties in 2010 and ongoing efforts are underway to reduce these uncertainties for current and Run-2 data.
‣Monte Carlo validation
Manchester physicists coordinate the Monte Carlo validation efforts (Christian Schwanenberger, 2013–present).
‣Grid computing
Manchester plays host to a Tier-2 grid centre. Group members have management responsibilities within the WLCG and as ATLAS monitoring coordinator (Alessandra Forti, 2013–present).