The Large Hadron Collider’s particle detectors are being rebuilt from the inside out to survive a decade more of high-energy collisions. The LHC’s existing tracker and trigger systems were not designed for the radiation damage and event pileup that come with extended operation. Without these upgrades, the machine would lose its ability to record clean data on rare events—such as Higgs boson decays or signs of dark matter—as background noise overwhelms the signals. This project delivers new front-end electronics for the tracker, a data acquisition system for the pixel detector, and a redesigned calorimeter trigger that will incorporate tracking data into the first level of event selection. The work is fundamental science: it keeps the LHC programme running, allowing physicists to test the Standard Model and explore questions about dark matter, force unification, and the origin of the universe. There is no immediate practical application. But past fundamental detector work at CERN led to technologies now used in medical imaging and industrial scanning—similar spin-offs could emerge from the higher-granularity, radiation-hard electronics developed here.
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To allow deeper investigations of the physics of discoveries expected at the LHC, and the challenges presented by the very successful performance of the accelerator, upgrades to some key CMS sub-systems are required in the next few years. In addition, LHC operation is expected to continue for at least a decade longer than the experiments were designed for. Inevitable radiation damage to the tracking detector will require its replacement in 2022 and the new detector must be more granular and radiation hard. It must also perform better in an even harsher environment, with higher pileup of events in each beam crossing, to meet the required physics goals. The LHC, which is the highest energy machine in the world, is the only accelerator capable of investigating some of the highest priority fundamental physics topics for the foreseeable future. In addition to the hoped for completion of the Standard Model by the discovery of the Higgs boson, it allows us to shed light on many other key questions in particle physics including the nature of dark matter, unification of forces, the existence of fundamental particles and their roles in the origin of the universe. The investment in the LHC programme has been significant and upgrades to the experiments will extend its working lifetime considerably, and improve their performance by taking advantage of technological progress in the last decade. The most crucial sub-detectors to be modified are the tracker and trigger, in which UK groups have played significant roles and have undertaken successful R&D in recent years. We propose to build on this by delivering a significant part of the new calorimeter trigger system and continuing R&D to incorporate tracking data into the future Level 1 trigger. We will deliver a new data acquisition system for the new pixel detector, and contribute to construction of detector modules for the future tracker by providing major parts of the front end electronics. In each case, the UK will be providing hardware, firmware and software with substantial intellectual input and leadership roles. These represent substantial contributions to the overall CMS upgrade plan consistent with proportionate sharing of construction responsibilities. We request appropriate resources to allow us to undertake these projects.
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