ATLAS @ UCL

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, is giving us access to a whole new area of physics at the high energy frontier. We are exploring the validity of the Standard Model of particle physics above the electroweak symmetry breaking scale, and searching for answers to some of the most fundamental questions: what is the origin of mass (and is it the Higgs boson?), are there extra space time dimensions within our reach? Does supersymmetry makes sense? What is dark matter, and can we make some? Why is there more matter than antimatter?

ATLAS is one of two general purpose detectors being constructed at the LHC to study proton-proton collisions at the highest energies achieved to date in particle physics accelerators. Currently the LHC is running at 7 TeV, and over a programme of several years we will collect data and upgrade the detectors as the LHC increases the energy toward 14 TeV.

The UCL group is involved in many aspects of the ATLAS experiment, especially in measuring the production of jets and their substructure, searches for the Higgs boson, detailed measurements of particle production to improve our understanding of quantum chromodynamics, and more. We contribute to the complex trigger mechnisms which allow the experiment to record the most interesting events, we helped build part of the tracking detector and maintain some of the electronics for it, and we have are responsible for several key pieces of ATLAS software, including the ATLANTIS event display and the Run Time Tester.

The LHC will remain the world's energy-frontier machine for many years to come, and we are leading technical developments for several areas of planned upgrades to the detector, so that we continue to exploit the possibilities and extend our knowledge of fuindamental physics.

Under the left toolbar you can find more details about who at UCL works on ATLAS, something on what we do (aimed at physicists) and some more information about ATLAS, the LHC and physics aimed at the general public.