Project

b quark; B mesons; heavy flavour; CP violation; CKM matrix; New Physics; LHCb; LHC; B physics; Standard Model

Lead
Lay summary
LHCb is an experiment designed for precise measurements of CP violation and rare B decays at the LHC collider at CERN. LHCb's main physics aims are to elucidate the flavour structure in the quark sector, and hopefully observe signals from New Physics.The LHCb detector has recorded LHC's first collisions at the end of 2009. The LHCb collaboration is studying the possibility to upgrade the detector.Our particle physics group in Lausanne has worked on LHCb since the beginning of the project in 1995 and plays important roles in the leadership of the experiment. We have fulfilled our detector construction responsibilities, which included the development, construction and installation of the so-called TELL1 common readout boards, of the transmission electronics for the silicon vertex detector VELO, and of the silicon Inner Tracker stations, in collaboration with other institutes (in particular the University of Zurich). We have commissioned all this equipment without and with real particles going through the detector. In addition, we have contributed to the development of trigger algorithms and general software, to the optimization of the physics performance, and to the preparation for physics analysis. In view of a possible future involvement in the LHCb upgrade, we also recently undertook new R&D activities for an upgraded TELL1 board and in the area of fibre tracking.Our objectives for the 2-year funding period 2010-2012 are the following:o Operate, monitor, maintain and (when needed) improve the hardware devices under our responsibility to keep them fully operational for physics data-taking.o Contribute in a significant way to the first data analysis and physics measurements with the data taken during the 2010 and 2011 runs.o Design a replacement for the Inner Tracker detector boxes based on the fibre-tracking technology, and start the corresponding construction.o In view of a possible upgrade of LHCb, coordinate the development of subsequent versions of the TELL1 board, in particular the TELL10 board based on 10-Gigabit link technology.FORCE funding will help us achieve our objectives related to the TELL1 project, through the funding of an additional production of TELL1 boards and of a full-time engineer position associated with this project.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 21.02.2013

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

LHCb is an experiment designed for precise measurements of CP violation and rare B decays, exploiting the very large bbbar production cross section at the LHC collider at CERN. LHCb's main physics aims are to elucidate the flavour structure in the quark sector, and hopefully observe signals from New Physics.The LHCb detector is ready to record LHC's first collisions expected by the end of 2009, and deploy its full physics program as soon as the LHC reaches a luminosity of 2 x 10^32 cm-2 s-1. The LHCb collaboration is studying the possibility to upgrade the detector after an integrated luminosity of about 10 fb-1 in view of running at ~ 10 times higher instantaneous luminosities. Our particle physics group in Lausanne has worked on LHCb since the beginning of the project in 1995 and plays important roles in the leadership of the experiment. We have fulfilled our detector construction responsibilities, which included the development, construction and installation of the so-called TELL1 common readout boards, of the transmission electronics for the silicon vertex detector VELO, and of the silicon Inner Tracker stations, in collaboration with other institutes (in particular the University of Zurich). Since spring 2008 we have commissioned all this equipment without and with real particles going through the detector (produced by cosmic rays or beam injected in the LHC). By the end of March 2010 we anticipate that the commissioning phase with beam-gas and beam-beam collisions will be completed. In addition, we have contributed for several years to the development of trigger algorithms and general software, to the optimization of the physics performance, and to the preparation for physics analysis. In view of a possible future involvement in the LHCb upgrade, we also recently undertook new R&D activities for an upgraded TELL1 board and in the area of fibre tracking.Our objectives for the forthcoming 2-year funding period 2010-2012 are the following:- Operate, monitor, maintain and (when needed) improve the hardware devices under our responsibility to keep them fully operational for physics data-taking.- Contribute in a significant way to the first data analysis and physics measurements with the data taken during the 2010 and 2011 runs.- Design a replacement for the Inner Tracker detector boxes based on the fibre-tracking technology, and start the corresponding construction. - In view of a possible upgrade of LHCb, coordinate the development of subsequent versions of the TELL1 board, in particular the TELL10 board based on 10-Gigabit link technology.