Project
THbridgeEXP-II_A ponte entre Teoria e Experiência: Fenomenologia de Colisionadores (II)

Code CERN/FIS-PAR/0032/2021

Beneficiary Entity

LIP - Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas

Project summary

The exceptional joint performance of the LHC and its associated experiments during Runs 1 and 2 has delivered unprecedented volumes of data for all explored collisions systems: proton-proton, nucleus-nucleus (Pb-Pb, complemented by a short Xe-Xe run), and proton-nucleus (Pb). These data have led to major achievements including the discovery of the Higgs boson, access to the Yukawa sector of the Standard Model, discovery of collective heavy-ion like behaviour in high multiplicity proton-nucleus and proton-proton collisions, and first steps towards full characterization of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions. The unleashing of the immense physics potential of existing and forthcoming data sits at the core of the mission of LIP’s Phenomenology Group. The Group was founded in early 2018 as an aggregation of phenomenological research activitiesacross LIP and has since successfully pursued a sustained growth strategy that this project will consolidate further. While fully aligned with LIP’s overall strategic objectives and operating in synergy with the experimental groups and Big Data Competence Centre, the group has an independent research programme aimed at high impact and visibility contributions. The proposed research is organized into two complementary lines (tasks) both targeted at augmenting the physics potential of LHC and future colliders data with particular emphasis on LHC Run 3 data: 1. Exploration of QCD Here we address the need, driven by the experimental precision achieved by LHC experiments, for key observables to be computed at the NNLO in the strong coupling. The planned further development of the parton-level generator NNLOJET will enable new beyond the state of the art physics analysis at the LHC. We will also continue our QCD-based studies of quarkonium production and polarization, through rigorous comparisons between the most precise experimental results from the LHC and state-of-the-art theory computations. Further, we will continue to pursue our efforts towards tagging strongly modified jets and accessing the time evolution of the QGP produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC, including those of nuclei substantially lighter than Pb, by studying modifications induced on jets by the QGP they traverse. Here, the recourse of innovative Machine Learning techniques plays a leading role. 2. New Physics searches Here the main focus will be on Composite Higgs models as New Physics candidates testable at the LHC and their potential as Dark Matter candidates. A particular focus will be on extensions of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory approach motivated by Composite Higgs models. Further, we will design observables for model-independent high-sensitivity scrutiny of Spontaneous Electroweak Symmetry breaking where small deviations from Standard Model predictions can be isolated. An overarching thread of the proposed work is the treading of two complementing paths that, given the accrued competences and past track record of the team, will allow us to make high-quality contributions. The first path targets precision by aiming at increased accuracy of theoretical descriptions. The second one focuses on the identification and engineering of novel observables with strong sensitivity to small effects. Additionally, we will continue the efforts of using machine learning to find viable regions of the parameter space of different classes of models, allowing to improve the time required to explore the high dimensionality of such regions. Furthermore, the expertise of the team in anomaly detection techniques will be used to propose model-independent approaches for searches of new physics phenomena at present and future colliders, exploring synergies with the ATLAS and CMS groups at LIP, as well as with the Competence Center on Simulation and Big Data and with the planned group on the Future Circular Collider. The research activities of the project will be combined with a proactive outreach programme focused on actions targeted at university, high-school and general public level. Presentation at appropriate level of the themes of the project, and of the overall LHC programme, is expected to contribute to a much needed general understanding of how big science projects are conducted and to what extent they make a societal contribution.

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Support under

Reforçar a investigação, o desenvolvimento tecnológico e a inovação

Region of Intervention

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Acknowledgements