Particle physicists at Royal Holloway, University of London are building and operating the electronic brains of detectors that smash protons together at the Large Hadron Collider, hunting for new particles and forces. This research addresses the most fundamental gaps in our understanding of the universe: what dark matter is made of, why matter vastly outnumbers antimatter, and whether the Higgs boson behaves exactly as predicted. The team also develops detectors to catch the faintest interactions of neutrinos and dark matter particles, which have so far evaded direct detection. This is fundamental science with no immediate practical application. It aims to answer questions about the basic structure of reality rather than to produce a specific technology or product. However, the work has concrete spin-offs: the group’s expertise in high-speed data acquisition, statistical methods, and accelerator simulation codes feeds directly into fields like climate modelling and computing. The project also trains early-career researchers in advanced electronics, software, and data analysis—skills that transfer to industries from medical imaging to finance. If the team succeeds in detecting dark matter or discovering a new particle, it would rewrite the textbooks on how the universe works.
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Experimental particle physics explores some of the fundamental questions about the structure and behaviour of the Universe at the level of the smallest particles of matter and the forces acting between them. We are studying fundamental properties of particles at the the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and researching the nature of dark matter and neutrinos by developing and employing novel detection systems. We are contributing to the successful operation of the ATLAS detector at the LHC at CERN. We have constructed and commissioned electronic systems and their associated software. From the beginning of data taking we have played a leading role in searches for exotic particles, the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson and subsequent research into its properties, and studies involving the heaviest particle discovered so far: the top quark. We are heavily invested in the upgrades to the ATLAS detector, which will allow for the collection of large datasets, capable of probing even more fundamental questions at the energy frontier. Although there is ample indirect evidence for the existence of dark matter, it has not yet been directly detected in terrestrial laboratories. Direct detection experiments seek to observe dark matter particles scattering on target detector nuclei. We explore this area through a world-leading dark matter search with the Lux-Zeplin detector. The group's expertise in high pressure TPCs and in data acquisition systems is now being utilised to carry out measurements relevant to the study of neutrinos as part of the DUNE experiment. Using detection techniques similar to those of our dark matter research, we are also involved in the the puzzle surrounding the matter anti-matter asymmetry in the Universe by studying the elusive neutrino particle musing the T2K long baseline neutrino experiment in Japan. Our expertise in accelerator science will allow us to carry out studies for the machine-detector interface for the High Luminosity LHC. We will also expand the interactions between our phenomenology group and the experimental Neutrino and Dark Matter communities. Our main objectives over the next grant period are: - to continue the maintenance and operations of the trigger and data acquisition systems of the ATLAS detectors, including the installation and commissioning of the upgrades to those systems; - to exploit ATLAS data to perform measurements of the Higgs boson, search for exotic particles, look for new phenomena using events containing top quarks and develop statistical methods for incorporating systematic uncertainties into such measurements; - to expand our programme of machine-detector-interface and related studies for the ATLAS/LHC upgrade and the FASER experiment; - to continue our leading role in CP violation measurement using the long baseline neutrino experiment T2K; - to lead the development of DUNE Near Detector DAQ activities; - to participate in the physics exploitation of Lux-Zeplin experiment; - to contribute to the development of novel quantum sensors to address the nature of dark matter and other cosmology questions; - to contribute to the development and application of our accelerator simulation code to experimental projects searching for new physics in the dark sector. The potential applications of this research are to contribute to the promotion of research and science to the general public, to train young researchers with skills for a future in academia or in industry and to exchange research practices and statistical methods to other fields like computing and climate research.
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