A search for displaced lepton and track triggers at the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider

Zheng, Kai

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127162 Copy

Description

Title

A search for displaced lepton and track triggers at the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider

Author(s)

Zheng, Kai

Issue Date

2024-10-30

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Benjamin, Hooberman

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Peng, Jen-Chieh

Committee Member(s)

• Shelton, Jessie
• Cooper, Lance

Department of Study

Physics

Discipline

Physics

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

particle physics, high energy physics, LHC, ATLAS, CERN, Supersymmetry, physics analysis, trigger system, pattern recognition, lepton isolation

Abstract

This thesis describes searches for beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) physics within the ATLAS Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), with a focus on displaced leptons and advanced tracking techniques. Displaced leptons, which are not consistent with originating from the primary interaction point, can arise from long-lived particles predicted by BSM theories such as supersymmetry (SUSY), offering a distinctive signature for BSM physics. Three projects are described with the aim of improving the search for BSM signals. The first project involves the search for displaced leptons using the latest LHC Run 3 data collected from 2022 to 2023 with the ATLAS detector, targeting BSM scenarios including SUSY. The second project applies a method called the Hough transform for displaced track pattern recognition to optimize the trigger system for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) upgrade that will be performed from 2026 to 2030. The third project explores the use of deep learning techniques to improve the identification of low transverse-momentum leptons, enhancing the efficiency of detecting BSM scenarios that introduce new particles with small mass differences between them. Collectively, these projects advance the search for BSM physics in final states with leptons at the ATLAS experiment at LHC.

Graduation Semester

2024-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127162

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Kai Zheng

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