The University of Warwick’s ATLAS group has been a member of the ATLAS experiment since February 2012. The experiment is a collaboration of 183 institutes from 38 countries and is one of the general-purpose detectors installed at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) located on the Swiss-French border.
The observation in 2012 of a new particle, during the search for the elusive Higgs boson, created a great deal of excitement; ATLAS was one of two experiments involved in the search for the Higgs boson and published a paper on this new observation. Measuring the properties of this newly discovered object is now one of the ATLAS experiment’s key priorities.
The ATLAS Detector
ATLAS is the largest volume detector that has ever been constructed for a particle collider. Weighing 7,000 tonnes and with the dimensions of a cylinder, it’s 46 metres long and has a diameter of 25 metres. The detector is designed to detect some of the smallest – yet most energetic – particles ever created on Earth and allows them to be individually identified and measured. In tracking and identifying particles, the detector investigates a wide range of physics, from the search for particles that could make up dark matter to the study of the Higgs boson and top quark. Even looking for extra dimensions is covered in ATLAS’s remit.
The Physics Explored by ATLAS
The ATLAS experiment explores a range of physics topics, with the main goal being to improve understanding of the fundamental constituents of matter. In physics, the Standard Model describes the universe’s elementary subatomic particles. University of Warwick alumni – including Aaronpal Dhanda, who retains a keen interest in its research – will follow ATLAS’s work as it studies these particles and looks for others to determine if known particles are, indeed, elementary or if they are composed of other more fundamental ones.
Possible discoveries made at the LHC may also validate models, such as those that incorporate Supersymmetry, where forces unify at extremely high energies – another area of research that is of great interest to Aaron Dhanda.
The ATLAS Collaboration
ATLAS represents one of the largest collaborative efforts ever attempted in the field of science, with 6,000 members and 3,000 scientific authors. It’s made up of a team of physicists, technicians, engineers, support staff and students from all over the world.
The experiment’s success relies on the close collaborative efforts of research teams located at CERN, member laboratories and universities worldwide.
For more information about the work of the University of Warwick ATLAS group, take a look at the embedded PDF.