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FLARE 2013: Operation and upgrade of the LHCb experiment

English title FLARE 2013: Operation and upgrade of the LHCb experiment
Applicant Schneider Olivier
Number 147467
Funding scheme FLARE
Research institution Laboratoire de physique des hautes énergies 2 EPFL - SB - IPEP - LPHE2
Institution of higher education EPF Lausanne - EPFL
Main discipline Particle Physics
Start/End 01.04.2013 - 31.03.2014
Approved amount 621'000.00
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Keywords (10)

CKM matrix; Silicon photo-multipliers; CP violation; New Physics searches; Detector upgrade; Scintillating fibres; Heavy flavour; b hadrons; LHC; LHCb

Lay Summary (French)

Lead
L’expérience LHCb est conçue pour exploiter l’énorme quantité de particules appelées hadrons lourds, produits au collisionneur de protons (LHC) du CERN. La désintégration de ces particules permet d’étudier certains paramètres du modèle standard de la physique des particules, p.ex. l'asymétrie entre matière et anti-matière. Ceci pourrait révéler l’existence de « nouvelle physique » ou, à défaut, permettra de contraindre très fortement les modèles théoriques au-delà du modèle standard.
Lay summary

Nous avons joué d'importants rôles dans ce projet international, dès ses débuts en 1995, que ce soit pour les phases de conception, de construction, ou d’exploitation. La première période de prise de données s’est étendue entre novembre 2009 et janvier 2013, à des énergies de collisions proton-proton allant jusqu’à 8 Tera-électron-Volts. Le détecteur LHCb a pu enregistrer des données de bonne qualité qui ont déjà donné lieu à plus de 100 publications scientifiques. De nombreuses mesures ont été faites, y compris des découvertes, mais pour l’instant toutes sont compatibles avec le modèle standard. Après une deuxième période de prise données prévue en 2015-2017, à une énergie encore plus élevée, une mise à jour majeure de l’expérience est prévue, de sorte à décupler son l’efficacité.

Nos objectifs pour la période 2013-2014 sont les suivants :

• Entretenir et améliorer les équipements et appareillages sous notre responsabilité, afin d'assurer leur parfait fonctionnement dès la reprise de la collecte de données en 2015.

• Continuer notre contribution significative à l'analyse de données déjà enregistrées.

• Construire des prototypes de détecteurs à fibres scintillantes, lues par des photo-multiplicateurs au silicium, et mener à bien nos efforts de R&D (recherche et développement) en vue de la mise à jour de l’expérience en 2018. 

Ce projet FLARE est une continuation de nos précédents subsides FORCE. Il est étroitement lié à notre projet FNS régulier en soutien, lui aussi, à l'expérience LHCb. Des fonds supplémentaires pour l'entretien et le fonctionnement (M&O) du détecteur ont été obtenus dans un projet FLARE séparé, soumis par l'ensemble des participants suisses aux expériences du LHC.
Direct link to Lay Summary Last update: 04.04.2013

Lay Summary (English)

Lead
The LHCb experiment is designed to exploit the huge production of particles called heavy hadrons at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The decay of these particles enables the precise study of certain parameters of the Standard Model of particle physics, for example the asymmetry between matter and anti-matter. This could reveal the existence of « New Physics », or else severely constrain theoretical models beyond the Standard Model.
Lay summary

We have played important roles in this international project since its beginning in 1995, from the design phase through the construction and running processes. The first data-taking period extended from November 2009 until January 2013 at total energies of the proton-proton collisions up to 8 Tera-electron-Volts. The LHCb detector recorded quality data, which served as a basis for more than 100 scientific publications. Many measurements were performed, and several discoveries made, but so far all are compatible with the Standard Model. After a second data-taking period scheduled for 2015-2017, a major upgrade of the experiment is foreseen in order to strongly increase its efficiency.

Our objectives for the 2013-2014 period are the following :

• Maintain and improve the equipement and hardware devices under our responsibility, to ensure that they be fully operational as soon as data-taking resumes in 2015.

• Continue to contribute significantly to the physics analysis of the data samples collected so far.

• Build model tracking detectors based on scintillating fibres read out with silicon photo-multipliers, and complete our R&D and design efforts for the experiment upgrade in 2018. 

This FLARE project is a continuation of our previous FORCE grants. It is closely related to our regular SNSF projet, which supports our involvement in the LHCb experiment. Additional funding for general Maintenance and Operations (M&O) costs is provided through a separate FLARE grant common to all LHC experiments with Swiss participation.
Direct link to Lay Summary Last update: 04.04.2013

Responsible applicant and co-applicants

Employees

Associated projects

Number Title Start Funding scheme
135453 Experimental Particle Physics at the LHC 01.04.2011 Project funding
141547 FORCE: Maintenance & Operation for the LHC Experiments 2012 01.04.2012 FORCE / CERN
141140 FORCE 2012: Operation and upgrade of the LHCb experiment 01.04.2012 FORCE / CERN
141288 FORCE 2012: High Precision CP Violation Physics at LHCb 01.07.2012 FORCE / CERN
152784 High Precision CP Violation Physics at LHCb 01.04.2014 Project funding
127479 Particle Physics in the LHC Era 01.03.2010 ProDoc
146644 Experimental Particle Physics with the LHCb detector at Cern 01.04.2013 Project funding
141096 High Precision CP Violation Physics at LHCb 01.04.2012 Project funding
154217 FLARE: Maintenance & Operation for the LHC Experiments 2014 01.04.2014 FLARE
154218 FLARE 2014-2015: Operation and upgrade of the LHCb experiment 01.04.2014 FLARE

Abstract

The LHCb detector is designed for precise measurements of CP violation and rare B decays, exploiting the very large b-hadron production at the LHC collider at CERN. The main physics aims are to elucidate the flavour structure in the quark sector, and look for New Physics in the decay of charm and bottom hadrons.LHCb is efficiently taking data since November 2009, recording pp collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 8 TeV. At the end of 2012 the total integrated luminosity recorded by LHCb is expected to reach approximately 3.2 fb-1. With these data the LHCb collaboration is deploying its full physics programme, playing a unique role at LHC. Already 78 scientific papers have been published or submitted to peer-reviewed journals. The collaboration is planning a major detector upgrade in 2018 such as to enable the collection of 5 fb-1 per year with improved efficiency.We have played important leadership roles in LHCb since the beginning of the project in 1995. Our detector construction and maintenance responsibilities cover the so-called TELL1 common readout boards, the powering system and analogue transmission electronics for the silicon vertex detector VELO, the optical readout system for the whole experiment, and the Silicon Tracker. We contribute to data analysis and are heavily involved in R&D studies in view of the upgrade of the tracking stations. Our objectives for the funding period are the following: - Maintain and improve the hardware devices under our responsibility to ensure that they be fully operational for their entire lifetime.- Continue to contribute significantly to the physics data analysis, with emphasis on CP violation in B decays, rare B decays, heavy-flavour spectroscopy, W and Z production, and direct New Physics searches.- Build model tracking detectors based on scintillating fibres read out with silicon photo-multipliers, to be used for tests or, if needed, as replacements of existing silicon detectors in LHCb.- Complete our R&D and design effort for the upgrade of the tracking stations with the scintillating-fibre technology. We ask SNSF/FLARE to help us achieve our objectives through the funding of technical positions associated with the TELL1 and tracker projects, and with the maintenance of the EPFL computer cluster. In addition, we ask support for the construction of tracking detectors using the scintillating- fibre technology, for the development of silicon-photomultipliers in view of the upgrade of the tracking stations, and for increased disk storage for data analysis.
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