ATLAS is helping us to learn about the basic forces that have shaped our universe since the beginning of time and that will determine its fate. We have already made a big step forward and discovered an important missing piece of our so-called Standard Model, which is the Higgs boson. However, we also know, that the Standard Model cannot be the ultimate theory and now we are searching for physics beyond this model by making precision measurements of our known physics processes. Among the possible unknowns is the origin of mass, extra dimensions of space, microscopic black holes, and evidence for dark matter candidates in the universe.
The RAL PPD group had responsibility for the original construction of the Level 1 Calorimeter Trigger, High-Level Trigger, and Semi-Conductor Tracker (SCT). Now we are operating the detector and contributing to the physics analysis. We are also heavily involved in the upgrades of these components, needed for the HL-LHC luminosity upgrade when we expect to have around 200 collisions overlapping with any interesting one. We will continue to work on the Level 1 Calorimeter Trigger and the High-Level Trigger as well as the replacement for the SCT, which is called the Inner Tracker (ITk).
Including PhD students, the group currently contains 23 people, some of whom are residents at CERN. We have multiple physics interests, including B physics, Higgs measurements, and searches for heavy bosons.
