A team at the University of Manchester is smashing protons together at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider to hunt for cracks in the Standard Model of particle physics. This matters because the Standard Model, while extraordinarily successful, cannot explain why the Universe contains more matter than antimatter, what dark matter is, or why neutrinos have mass. The researchers are testing the Higgs boson’s properties, studying the top quark, and searching for a never-before-seen process called neutrinoless double beta decay—which, if found, would prove that neutrinos are their own antiparticles and reveal their absolute mass. They are also building detectors for a beam of neutrinos fired from Chicago to a mine in South Dakota, to see whether neutrinos violate the symmetry between matter and antimatter. This is fundamental science with no immediate practical application. However, the novel detector technologies they develop—such as 3D silicon and diamond sensors—already have potential uses in medical imaging and security scanning. Past fundamental particle physics research led directly to the World Wide Web, medical PET scanners, and accelerator-based cancer therapy.
View original technical description
The Particle Physics Group at the University of Manchester studies fundamental particles and their interactions, with experiments based at major international research centres. This research is performed in international collaborations and covers all aspects of experimental particle physics: the development of novel detector concepts; the design, construction and operation of large experiments; and the analysis of data. The Manchester Particle Physics Group plays a leading role on two of the main experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which produces proton-proton collisions at the highest energies currently accessible in accelerators. On the ATLAS and LHCb experiments, we test the Standard Model of Particle Physics with unprecedented precision and search for new physics beyond the Standard Model. These studies include measurements of the properties of the strong and electroweak interactions. We also study the properties of the newly discovered Higgs boson. Another focus of our research at ATLAS is the study of the properties of the heaviest of all known quarks, the top quark, where the Manchester Particle Physics Group has many years of experience. The LHCb experiment is designed to study the properties of particles that are built from the heavy bottom and charm quarks. Detailed studies of their production and decays provide a window to new physics and allow us to study fundamental questions such as the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe. We are also active on preparing future upgrades to both the ATLAS and LHCb experiments, which will allow their discovery reach to be significantly extended. Understanding the properties of the elusive neutrino is another priority of our research programme. With the NEMO-3 and SuperNEMO detectors, located in the Modane Underground Laboratory, we search for neutrinoless double beta decay, a process that has never been observed before. Its observation would indicate that neutrinos are their own antiparticles and it will provide a measurement of the neutrino mass. A different kind of experiment, ELBNF, will use a novel technology based on liquid argon to detect neutrinos that have been sent through the Earth, in a beam pointing from Fermilab in Chicago to a mine in South Dakota. The goal of this experiment is to learn whether neutrinos violate the fundamental symmetry between matter and antimatter. The experiment could also detect large numbers of neutrinos from a supernova explosion. A similar kind of experiment (LAr1-ND/MicroBooNE) uses neutrinos close to the source at Fermilab to develop the novel liquid argon technology and to search for 'sterile' neutrinos that do not interact via any of the fundamental interactions of the Standard Model except gravity. Modern Particle Physics experiments contain sophisticated technology to detect particles. The Manchester Group leads an extensive reasearch programme on developing novel detection devices, such as 3-dimensional silicon detectors and diamond detectors. These novel technologies have many potential applications beyond Particle Physics research, in areas such as medical physics and security applications. Particle Physics experimentation requires the reconstruction and analysis of large, complex data sets. We operate a large computing facility which supports data analysis for several of these large projects. Finally, through our outreach programme, we communicate the results of our research to the public through television and radio programmes, books and lectures.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know