PhD project: The Mu3e experiment
Supervisor: Prof. Gavin Hesketh
The Standard Model is remarkably successful, and yet leaves many open
questions, such as the nature of dark matter, the mechanism which
generated the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe, and why are
there three generations of fermions. New experimental data is needed to
point us towards a deeper theory of the universe, but so far the Large
Hadron Collider (LHC) has not turned up such a discovery. However, there
are hints in recent precision measurements of the muon, including the
first data from Muon g-2 published in 2021. This PhD project is on the
Mu3e experiment, which will expand the study of precision muon physics,
providing complimentary information on the tension observed at Muon g-2
and probing for new physics at mass scales far beyond the direct reach
of the LHC.
Using an innovative HV-CMOS silicon tracker design, Mu3e will search for
the forbidden decay of a muon to three electrons, extending the
sensitivity to this process by 4 orders of magnitude over current
limits. This will place strict limits on new physics - or turn up a
groundbreaking discovery. The experiment is currently under construction
at the Paul Scherrer Institut (Switzerland) and will start data-taking
in 2024, with physics data in 2025. This PhD project offers the
opportunity to be involved in the commissioning, operation, and data
analysis on Mu3e, giving experience in a broad range of experimental
particle physics skills. The project supervisor, Prof. Gavin Hesketh, is
the Physics Coordinator for Mu3e, and UCL will play a central role in
producing first results from the experiment.
More details on Mu3e at UCL can be found here.
For more details please contact gavin.hesketh at ucl.ac.uk