13th Course on Physics at the LHC 2024

4 Mar 2024, 17:00 → 13 Jul 2024, 04:40 Europe/Lisbon

Conference Room (LIP)

This is the 13th edition of a specialized course on the Physics at the Large Hadron Collider. It is organized by LIP in the framework of the International Doctorate Network in Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology (IDPASC). The course is intended for under-graduate or graduate students with basic training in Particle Physics. The objective of the Course is to introduce the physics, analysis methods and results on the physics areas covered by the LHC experiments.

Lectures will take place in person at LIP (in "sala Seminarios"). A Zoom link may also be provided to connect remotely. 

TOPICS

• Experimental program at the LHC
• Standard Model at the LHC
• Detectors
• Statistics
• Top quark physics
• Higgs Physics
• SuperSymmetry
• Exotic processes and Dark Matter
• Heavy flavor physics and rare decays searches
• Matter at high density and temperature

 

WHOM is this course for?

For anyone with a basic course on particle physics and/or to be familiar with the basics of physics.

Required background
Attendees are expected to have followed a basic course on particle physics and/or to be familiar with the following topics:

• Basic concepts Elementary constituents of matter and interactions. Quantum numbers and conservation rules. Spin and symmetry groups. Relativistic kinematics. Cross-section. Natural units. Mass and lifetime. Resonances.
• Structure of matter Elastic scattering and form factors. Inelastic scattering experiments. Nucleon structure functions. Scale invariance. Quark model. Parton distribution functions. Introduction to QCD.
• Fundamental interactions Introduction to QED. Fermi interaction. Parity violation. Currents V-A and weak doblets. W and Z bosons. Cabibbo angle. Neutral currents. Electroweak interaction. Gauge symmetries. The Higgs mechanism. Weinberg-Salam model. CP violation.

Students are recommended to refresh their knowledge in particle physics prior to the Course. Suggested bibliography:

• F. Halzen and A.D.Martin, ' Quarks and Leptons ', John Wiley and Sons (1991)
• D. Griffiths, ' Introduction to Elementary Particles ', John Wiley and Sons (1987)
• B.R.Martin, G. Shaw, ' Particle Physics ', John Wiley and Sons (2008)
• D. Perkins, `Introduction to High Energy Physics', Cambridge University Press (2000)

Registration
The registration for the Course is free but mandatory.

 

Evaluation:

IST students should register for the course on "Tópicos em Física de Partículas" on Fenix.

In order to be qualified for the exam, students must attend at least 80% of the lectures. The evaluation will consist of a presentation (~20mins) of a paper, followed by questions.

 

Certificate
A certificate will be delivered after the Course upon regular attendance and successful final examination.

The content of the Course may be updated as a result of possible discoveries at LHC during the Course duration.

 

Zoom Meeting ID: 668 4696 8788

Passcode: 87654321

Zoom URL: https://cern.zoom.us/j/66846968788?pwd=N3R5c3k2M3N1NE9WaXFreXBFVDhqQT09

 

All lectures will start at 5pm (Lisbon time), unless otherwise stated. Please note that Lisbon is one hour behind CET.

Monday 4 March

17:00 → 18:30 Experimental program at the LHC

1. Introduction to the Course. Objectives. Plan of lectures. Additional information.
2. The LHC physics case. In a few slides review what are the main motivations for the LHC program. Short reminder of SM.

3. The LHC experimental program. The LHC machine. The experiments. Basic comparison CMS, ATLAS, LHCb and Alice.
4. Experimental challenges: Cross-sections, rates. Trigger. Pile-up. Radiation.

Speaker: João Varela (LIP)

Lecture1-Exp at LHC.pdf

Wednesday 6 March

17:00 → 18:30 Introduction to collisions at LHC

1. Hadron interactions. A few reminders (kinematics, etc.). Proton-proton scattering. Hard scattering.
2. QCD and parton densities. Lepton-proton scattering. Scaling violation.
3. Monte Carlo generators. Parton showers: fragmentation and hadronization.
4. Luminosity and cross-section measurements. Ingredients for cross-section measurement. Luminosity.
5. QCD and jet physics. Higher orders. Jet algorithms. Jet energy scale. Jet cross-section measurements.

Speaker: João Varela (LIP)

Lecture2-SM at LHC.pdf

Monday 11 March

17:00 → 18:30 Detectors 1

- Particles and their decays into stable particles.
- Detector layout, geometry, particle flow
- Tracking:
- Silicon (solid-state) trackers.
- Track reconstruction, momentum measurement.
- Muon detectors.

Speaker: Pedro Vieira De Castro Ferreira Da Silva (CERN)

detectors_March2023_part1.pdf

Wednesday 13 March

17:00 → 18:30 Detectors 2

- Calorimetry:
- Electromagnetic and hadronic showers.
- Energy reconstruction and resolution.
- Jets and missing energy.
- Trigger:
- Level-1 latency and pipelining.
- HLT: configuration flexibility and efficiency.

Speaker: Pedro Vieira De Castro Ferreira Da Silva (CERN)

detectors_March2023_part2.pdf

Monday 18 March

17:00 → 18:30 Standard Model processes

An overview of SM processes (excluding those that are explicitly covered in the following lectures, i.e. Top, B, Higgs)

Speakers: Jonathan Hollar (LIP), Jonathan Hollar (LIP)

SM_IDPASC_PhysicsLecture2024.pdf

Wednesday 20 March

17:00 → 18:30 Statistics 1

- Basics of probability
- Errors
- Probability density functions
- The likelihood principle
- Hypothesis testing
- Basics of multivariate algorithms

Speaker: Pietro Vischia (U. Oviedo)

2024-03-20-22_StatisticsAtCoursePhysicsLHC_vischia_part1.pdf

HTML slides (preferred, animations work here)

Friday 22 March

17:00 → 18:30 Statistics 2

- Basics of probability
- Errors
- Probability density functions
- The likelihood principle
- Hypothesis testing
- Basics of multivariate algorithms

2024-03-20-22_StatisticsAtCoursePhysicsLHC_vischia_part2.pdf

HTML slides (preferred, animations work here)

Monday 25 March

17:00 → 18:30 Top Physics 1

Top quark physics:
- Introduction
- Discovery
- Tevatron vs LHC
- Objects used in Top quark events
- Heavy flavor tagging and mis-tagging
- Top quark production (cross section, differential cross section)

Speaker: Michele Gallinaro (IST and LIP Lisbon)

2024_course_Top_Lecture1.pdf

Tuesday 26 March

17:00 → 18:30 Top Physics 2

Top quark properties and decays:
- Properties: mass, mass difference, charge asymmetry, spin correlation
- Decay: branching ratios (taus, heavy flavor content of ttbar events, Vtb)

Top quark studies in the search for New Physics:
- New particles decaying to top quarks
- BSM top decays
- Top-like signatures
- Boosted top
- Top-tagging

Speaker: Michele Gallinaro (LIP)

2024_course_Top_Lecture2.pdf

Tuesday 2 April

17:00 → 18:30 Top Physics 3

Single top quark and rare decays:
- Single Top quark
- The Wtb vertex structure within and beyond the SM
- Rare decays of top quarks (Flavor Changing Neutral Current)

Speaker: António Onofre (LIP)

PLHC_AO.pdf

Monday 8 April

17:00 → 18:30 Higgs Physics 1

Introduction
Reminder of some shortcomings of the SM: masses, WW scattering.
The Higgs mechanism. Production and decay of the Higgs boson at colliders: LEP, Tevatron and LHC.
Previous searches at LEP and the Tevatron.

Speakers: Ricardo Goncalo, Ricardo Gonçalo (U. Coimbra/LIP)

HiggsLecture.pdf

Wednesday 10 April

17:00 → 18:30 Higgs Physics 2

Discovery of the Higgs boson in the different final states:
Algorithms, challenges, tools,
combination of results

Speakers: Pedro Silva (LIP), Pedro Vieira De Castro Ferreira Da Silva (CERN)

higgsproperties_10Apr2024.pdf

Friday 12 April

17:00 → 18:30 Analysis tools

Speaker: Inês Ochoa

Physics@LHC_AnalysisTools_2024.pdf

Monday 15 April

17:00 → 18:30 Higgs Physics 3

Case-study of the H->bb search, H->bb observation
Algorithms, challenges, tools
Higgs measurements with H->bb

Speakers: Rute Costa Batalha Pedro (LIP Laboratorio de Instrumentacao e Fisica Experimental de Particulas (PT)), Rute Pedro (LIP)

2024_04_15_HiggsLecture_PhysicsLHC.pdf

Wednesday 17 April

17:00 → 18:30 Higgs Physics 4

- Search for new physics in the Higgs sector.
- The Higgs boson and processes beyond the SM.
- Extensions of the SM, minimal and non-minimal extensions.
- High mass searches.
- MSSM Higgs searches: neutral, charged.
- Light pseudoscalar, resonant and non-resonant Higgs pair production.

Speaker: Michele Gallinaro (LIP)

higgs_Lecture4_bsm2024.pdf

Monday 22 April

17:00 → 18:30 SUSY 1

• General introduction SUSY
• Description of the soft SUSY lagrangian
• Phenomenological introduction to SUSY particles I: Squarks, gluino, sleptons, charginos, neutralinos, higgs
• Phenomenological introduction to SUSY particles II: Squarks, gluino, sleptons, charginos, neutralinos, higgs
• Searches of SUSY particles at past accelerators & LHC I

Recommended reading:
1/ "SuSY and such", S. Dawson, arxiv:hep-ph/9612229
2/ "A Supersymmetry primer", S. P. Martin, arxiv:hep-ph/9709356

Speakers: Cristovao Beirao da Cruz e Silva, Cristóvão Silva (LIP)

2024-04-22 SuSy Intro.pdf

Wednesday 24 April

17:00 → 18:30 SUSY 2

• Searches of SUSY particles at past accelerators & LHC II

Speakers: Cristovao Beirao da Cruz e Silva, Cristóvão Silva (LIP)

2024-04-24 SuSy searches.pdf

Monday 29 April

17:00 → 18:30 Flavour anomalies and BSM

The so-called flavor anomalies are introduced.

BSM through precision. Rare decays and FCNCs. Anomalies and Lepton Flavour Universality violation.

Speakers: Alessio Boletti (LIP, Lisboa (PT)), Alessio Boletti

FlavourAnomalies.pdf

Monday 6 May

17:00 → 18:30 Exotic processes and Dark Matter

Searches for exotic particles and for Dark Matter candidates are discussed.

Speaker: Michele Gallinaro (LIP)

DarkMatter_Exo_2024.pdf

Friday 10 May

17:00 → 18:30 Quantum Computing for HEP

Speaker: João Seixas (CeFEMA/LaPMET/ IST (also at LIP))

Course_on_Physics_at_LHC.pdf

Monday 13 May

17:00 → 18:30 Future endeavors in Particle Physics

Future endeavors in particle physics, both the High-Luminosity phase of the LHC and plans for future accelerators in particle physics are presented.

Speaker: João Varela (LIP)

Future endeavors in Particle Physics.pdf

Tuesday 9 July

14:00 → 18:00 Final evaluation: Presentations

14:00 Precise W boson mass measurement: Measurement of the W-boson mass and width with the ATLAS detector using proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV

https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.15085

Speaker: Jose' Bastos (IST, University of Lisbon)

W_mass_width_measurment_ATLAS.pdf

14:40 Observation of γγ→ττ in proton-proton collisions and limits on the anomalous electromagnetic moments of the τ lepton

https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.03975

Speaker: Ricardo Lage (FCUP/FEUP)

15:20 Search for dark photons in Higgs boson production via vector boson fusion in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV

https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.14009

(this presentation will take place on July 10th, starting at 14h)

Speaker: Rui Miranda (Universidade do Porto)

RMiranda_presentation_lip.pdf