Eimear Conroy

Abstract:

The EIC Comprehensive Chromodynamics Experiment (ECCE) detector has been designed to address the full scope of the proposed Electron Ion Collider (EIC) physics program as presented by the National Academy of Science and provide a deeper understanding of the quark–gluon structure of matter. To accomplish this, the ECCE detector offers nearly acceptance and energy coverage along with excellent tracking and particle identification. The ECCE detector was designed to be built within the budget envelope set out by the EIC project while simultaneously managing cost and schedule risks. This detector concept has been selected to be the basis for the EIC project detector.

Abstract:

Since the 2020 release of 10 fb⁻¹ of integrated luminosity of proton–proton collision data to the public by the ATLAS experiment, significant potential for its use for youth engagement in physics and citizen science has been present. In particular, this article aims to address whether, if provided adequate training and resources, high school students are capable of leveraging the ATLAS Open Data to semi-autonomously develop their own original research projects. To this end, a repository of interactive Python Jupyter notebook training materials was developed, incrementally increasing in difficulty; in the initial instalments no prior knowledge of particle physics or Python coding is assumed, while in the latter stages students emulate the steps of a real Higgs boson search using ATLAS data. This programme was implemented in secondary schools throughout the UK during the 2022/23 academic year and is presented in this article through a collection of research projects developed by a selection of participating students.

Abstract:

Since the 2020 release of 10fb-1 of integrated luminosity of proton–proton collision data to the public by the ATLAS experiment, significant potential for its use for youth engagement in physics and citizen science has been present. In particular, this article aims to address whether, if provided adequate training and resources, high school students are capable of leveraging the ATLAS Open Data to semi-autonomously develop their own original research projects. To this end, a repository of interactive Python Jupyter notebook training materials was developed, incrementally increasing in difficulty; in the initial instalments no prior knowledge of particle physics or Python coding is assumed, while in the latter stages students emulate the steps of a real Higgs boson search using ATLAS data. This programme was implemented in secondary schools throughout the UK during the 2022/23 academic year and is presented in this article through a collection of research projects developed by a selection of participating students.

Abstract:

The question of the nature of the universe at its most fundamental level is one which has been with humankind since ancient times. The development of the theoretical basis of the Standard Model of elementary particles during the 20th century, and its subsequent experimental validation, is a triumph of modern physics. However, the Standard Model is known to be incomplete, and, in the Large Hadron Collider era at the high-energy and high-intensity frontier, our understanding and modelling of the Standard Model has increasingly become limiting for searches for physics beyond it. In this thesis, a measurement performed using 36.2 fb−1 of integrated luminosity recorded by the ATLAS experiment during Large Hadron Collider Run 2 of a crucial benchmark process for Standard Model modelling is presented; W boson production in association with jets. This is the first such measurement in the W → μν decay channel at √s =13 TeV. Differential cross-sections, in observables sensitive to the modelling of quantum chromodynamics, are presented for both charge-independent and charge-separated W production, and compared to two cutting-edge calculations evolved to next-to-next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics. In addition, this process strongly constrains fits of the Parton Distribution Functions of the proton; an analysis of the structure of the proton using several previous ATLAS measurements, including W boson production in association with jets at √s=8 TeV, will also be presented.