LHC Phenomenology


Book Description

This book covers a very broad spectrum of experimental and theoretical activity in particle physics, from the searches for the Higgs boson and physics beyond the Standard Model, to detailed studies of Quantum Chromodynamics, the B-physics sectors and the properties of hadronic matter at high energy density as realised in heavy-ion collisions. Starting with a basic introduction to the Standard Model and its most likely extensions, the opening section of the book presents an overview of the theoretical and phenomenological framework of hadron collisions and current theoretical models of frontier physics. In part II, discussion of the theory is supplemented by chapters on the detector capabilities and search strategies, as well as an overview of the main detector components, the initial calibration procedures and physics samples and early LHC results. Part III completes the volume with a description of the physics behind Monte Carlo event generators and a broad introduction to the main statistical methods used in high energy physics. LHC Phenomenology covers all of these topics at a pedagogical level, with the aim of providing young particle physicists with the basic tools required for future work on the various LHC experiments. It will also serve as a useful reference text for those working in the field.




Large Hadron Collider Phenomenology


Book Description

With the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) under construction and due to come online in 2007, it is appropriate to engage in a focused review on LHC phenomenology. At a time when most of the experimental effort is centered on detector construction and software development, it is vitally important to direct the experimental community and, in particular, new researchers on the physics phenomena expected from the LHC. Large Hadron Collider Phenomenology covers the capabilities of LHC, from searches for the Higgs boson and physics beyond the standard model to detailed studies of quantum chromodynamics, the B-physics sectors, and the properties of hadronic matter at high energy density as realized in heavy-ion collisions. Written by experienced researchers and experimentalists, this reference examines the basic properties and potentials of the machine, detectors, and software required for physics analyses. The book starts with a basic introduction to the standard model and its applications to the phenomena observed at high energy collisions. Later chapters describe the key technological challenges facing the construction of the LHC machine, the operating detectors of the LHC, and the vast computing grid needed to analyze the data. In the final sections, the contributors discuss the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), explore questions and predictions for the LHC program, and examine the physics opportunities of the LHC using information from the forward region. By surveying the difficult challenges of the LHC development while also assessing the novel processes that the LHC will perform, Large Hadron Collider Phenomenology aids less seasoned physicists as well as existing researchers in discovering the numerous possibilities of the LHC.




Lectures on LHC Physics


Book Description

With the discovery of the Higgs boson, the LHC experiments have closed the most important gap in our understanding of fundamental interactions, confirming that such interactions between elementary particles can be described by quantum field theory, more specifically by a renormalizable gauge theory. This theory is a priori valid for arbitrarily high energy scales and does not require an ultraviolet completion. Yet, when trying to apply the concrete knowledge of quantum field theory to actual LHC physics - in particular to the Higgs sector and certain regimes of QCD - one inevitably encounters an intricate maze of phenomenological know-how, common lore and other, often historically developed intuitions about what works and what doesn’t. These lectures cover three aspects to help understand LHC results in the Higgs sector and in searches for physics beyond the Standard Model: they discuss the many facets of Higgs physics, which is at the core of this significantly expanded second edition; then QCD, to the degree relevant for LHC measurements; as well as further standard phenomenological background knowledge. They are intended to serve as a brief but sufficiently detailed primer on LHC physics to enable graduate students and all newcomers to the field to find their way through the more advanced literature, and to help those starting to work in this very timely and exciting field of research. Advanced readers will benefit from this course-based text for their own lectures and seminars. .




Beyond Standard Model Collider Phenomenology of Higgs Physics and Supersymmetry


Book Description

This thesis studies collider phenomenology of physics beyond the Standard Model at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It also explores in detail advanced topics related to Higgs boson and supersymmetry – one of the most exciting and well-motivated streams in particle physics. In particular, it finds a very large enhancement of multiple Higgs boson production in vector-boson scattering when Higgs couplings to gauge bosons differ from those predicted by the Standard Model. The thesis demonstrates that due to the loss of unitarity, the very large enhancement for triple Higgs boson production takes place. This is a truly novel finding. The thesis also studies the effects of supersymmetric partners of top and bottom quarks on the Higgs production and decay at the LHC, pointing for the first time to non-universal alterations for two main production processes of the Higgs boson at the LHC–vector boson fusion and gluon–gluon fusion. Continuing the exploration of Higgs boson and supersymmetry at the LHC, the thesis extends existing experimental analysis and shows that for a single decay channel the mass of the top quark superpartner below 175 GeV can be completely excluded, which in turn excludes electroweak baryogenesis in the Minimal Supersymmetric Model. This is a major new finding for the HEP community. This thesis is very clearly written and the introduction and conclusions are accessible to a wide spectrum of readers.




Beyond Standard Model Phenomenology at the LHC


Book Description

This thesis provides an introduction to the physics of the Standard Model and beyond, and to the methods used to analyse Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data. The 'hierarchy problem', astrophysical data and experiments on neutrinos indicate that new physics can be expected at the now accessible TeV scale. This work investigates extensions of the Standard Model with gravitons and gravitinos (in the context of supergravity). The production of these particles in association with jets is studied as one of the most promising avenues for researching new physics at the LHC. Advanced simulation techniques and tools, such as algorithms allowing the computation of Feynman graphs and helicity amplitudes are first developed and then employed.




Colliders and Neutrinos


Book Description

Every night, William thinks up reasons why he shouldn't go to bed. One evening there is a very BIG reason -- someone has come to visit William. Will his parents believe him? Does William ever get to sleep? This delightful story about that tricky time at the end of every young family's day is guaranteed to make both child and parent smile!




Dawn Of The Lhc Era, The (Tasi 2008) - Proceedings Of The 2008 Theoretical Advanced Study Institute In Elementary Particle Physics


Book Description

This book contains material from the lecture courses conducted at the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (TASI, Colorado, USA) on high energy physics and cosmology in 2008. Three series of lectures are presented in parallel in the areas of Large Hadron Collider (LHC) phenomenology and experimentation; advanced theoretical topics beyond the standard model; and neutrino oscillation, astroparticle physics and cosmology. The phenomenology lectures cover a broad spectrum of standard research techniques used to interpret present-day and LHC data. The new physics lectures focus on modern speculations about physics beyond the standard model, with an emphasis on supersymmetry, grand unification theories, extra-dimensional theories, and string phenomenology, which may be tested at the LHC. The lecture series on neutrino physics, astroparticle physics and cosmology treats recent developments in neutrino oscillations, theories and searches of dark matter and dark energy, cosmic microwave background radiation, and density perturbation theory. The lectures are of pedagogical nature in presentation, and are accessible to advanced graduate students and researchers in high energy physics and cosmology.




Strong Coupling Gauge Theories In The Lhc Perspective (Scgt 12) - Proceedings Of The Kmi-gcoe Workshop


Book Description

This volume contains contributions which are largely focused on strong coupling gauge theories and the search of theories beyond the standard model, as well as new aspects in hot and dense QCD — particularly in view of the LHC experiments and the lattice studies of conformal fixed point.It contains, among others, many of the latest and important reports on walking technicolor and related subjects in the general context of conformality, discussions of phenomenological implications with the LHC, as well as the theoretical ones through lattice studies. Nonperturbative studies like lattice simulations and stringy/holographic approaches are extensively elaborated in close relation to phenomenological studies. Also, heavy ion experiments at LHC are discussed in such nonperturbative approaches.




The Black Book of Quantum Chromodynamics — A Primer for the LHC Era


Book Description

The Black Book of Quantum Chromodynamics is an in-depth introduction to the particle physics of current and future experiments at particle accelerators. The book offers the reader an overview of practically all aspects of the strong interaction necessary to understand and appreciate modern particle phenomenology at the energy frontier. It assumes a working knowledge of quantum field theory at the level of introductory textbooks used for advanced undergraduate or in standard postgraduate lectures. The book expands this knowledge with an intuitive understanding of relevant physical concepts, an introduction to modern techniques, and their application to the phenomenology of the strong interaction at the highest energies. Aimed at graduate students and researchers, it also serves as a comprehensive reference for LHC experimenters and theorists. This book offers an exhaustive presentation of the technologies developed and used by practitioners in the field of fixed-order perturbation theory and an overview of results relevant for the ongoing research programme at the LHC. It includes an in-depth description of various analytic resummation techniques, which form the basis for our understanding of the QCD radiation pattern and how strong production processes manifest themselves in data, and a concise discussion of numerical resummation through parton showers, which form the basis of event generators for the simulation of LHC physics, and their matching and merging with fixed-order matrix elements. It also gives a detailed presentation of the physics behind the parton distribution functions, which are a necessary ingredient for every calculation relevant for physics at hadron colliders such as the LHC, and an introduction to non-perturbative aspects of the strong interaction, including inclusive observables such as total and elastic cross sections, and non-trivial effects such as multiple parton interactions and hadronization. The book concludes with a useful overview contextualising data from previous experiments such as the Tevatron and the Run I of the LHC which have shaped our understanding of QCD at hadron colliders.




Hadron Physics


Book Description

Straddling the traditional disciplines of nuclear and particle physics, hadron physics is a vital and extremely active research area, as evidenced by a 2004 Nobel prize and new research facilities, such as that scheduled to open at CERN. Through detailed, pedagogical chapters contributed by key international experts, Hadron Physics maps out contemporary knowledge of the subject. It covers both the theoretical and experimental aspects of hadron structure and properties along with a wide range of specific research topics, results, and applications. Providing a full picture of activity in the field, the book highlights three particular areas of current research: computational lattice hadron physics, the structure and dynamics of hadrons, and generalized parton distributions. It provides a solid introduction, includes background theory, and presents the current state of understanding of the subject.