14-10-2019 : Nivedita Ghosh (IACS Kolkata)

Associated $Z^\prime$ production in the flavorful $U(1)$ scenario for $R_{K^{(*)}}$

The flavorful $Z^\prime$ model with its couplings restricted to the left-handed second generation leptons and third generation quarks can potentially resolve the observed anomalies in $R_K$ and $R_{K^*}$. After examining the current limits on this model from various low-energy processes, we probe this scenario at 14 TeV high-luminosity run of the LHC using two complementary channels: one governed by the coupling of $Z'$ to $b$-quarks and the other to muons. We also discuss the implications of the latest LHC high mass resonance searches in the dimuon channel on the model parameter space of our interest.

[slides]

18-10-2019 : Ralf Kaiser (Glasgow)

Cosmic Ray Muography

Muons are fundamental, charged particles that form part of our naturally-occurring background radiation. They are produced in particle showers in the upper atmosphere from the impact of cosmic rays. These muons are incident at sea-level at a rate of about one per square centimetre per minute and with average energies of about 3 GeV - approximately four orders of magnitude more than typical X-rays. Muons are highly penetrating and can traverse hundreds of metres of rock, which has opened up the possibility to use them for challenging imaging applications. Muography is an established technique in volcanology, it has been used to find a cavity in the pyramid of Khufu in Egypt and over the last years a wide variety of applications have been explored – ranging from cargo screening to nuclear waste characterisation and carbon storage monitoring. Lynkeos Technology is a spin-out company from the University of Glasgow, founded in 2016 following a 7-year, £4.8M research programme funded by the NDA. The Lynkeos Muon Imaging System is the worldwide first, CE-marked muon imaging system for the characterization of nuclear waste containers. It has been successfully deployed on the Sellafield site in October 2018. This talk will give an overview of muography applications worldwide and present the activities of Lynkeos Technology in detail, with a focus on the characterization of nuclear waste containers.

[slides]

25-10-2019 : Katharina Behr (DESY)

The puzzle of dark matter: missing pieces at the LHC

Unravelling the particle nature of dark matter is one of the key goals of the LHC physics programme. Dark matter cannot be detected directly by the LHC experiments but would manifest itself as missing energy in the detector signature of collision events. Complementary resonance searches targeting new mediator particles between dark and known matter provide an additional approach to explore the interactions of dark matter. To date, no evidence for dark matter or related mediators has been found. Could dark matter interactions be more complex or have otherwise have evaded detection? I will review the diverse programme of dark matter searches on LHC Run 2 data and address strategies to extend our coverage of possible dark matter signatures at the LHC.

[slides]

01-11-2019 : Sarah Heim (DESY)

Higgs differential cross section measurements in the H->ZZ*->4l decay channel with the ATLAS detector.

One of the most promising approaches for probing Higgs boson production and decays are differential cross sections. Measuring the Higgs boson transverse momentum and other distributions can shed lights on the couplings of different Standard Model particles to the Higgs boson. I will discuss fiducial and differential cross section measurements in the H->ZZ*->4l decay channel, often called the golden channel, and highlight the important role of lepton reconstruction and identification. Furthermore I will discuss a number of interpretations and give an outlook for Higgs differential cross section measurements at the High-Luminosity LHC.

[slides]