I am interested in collaboration with good and motivated students. If you are looking for a supervisor or an interesting topic for your diploma or doctoral thesis, do not hesitate to contact me.
This page contains a list of proposed topics for research projects at different levels as well as topics done under my supervision in the past. I am open to collaboration on topics proposed by students, if they are within my expertise or interests.
Proton diffraction at high energies
Strong interaction of two high-energy protons typically leads to an
inelastic process. The final state consists of many particles, and the original
incoming protons do not survive the interaction intact. This can be thought of
as the wave function of one proton being absorbed by the other proton. Because
a proton has a finite size, this is equivalent to a situation familiar from
classical optics – diffraction of light on an obstacle.
In pp collisions, the diffraction of the wave function results in elastic
interactions with the scattering angle distribution resembling the diffractive
pattern in optics. This distribution is related to the total cross-section for
the interaction by the optical theorem.
Diffractive processes lead also to more complex final states. One or both
interacting protons may dissociate into a higher-mass multiparticle system that
has overall quantum numbers of the proton.
The proposed research topic is devoted to the measurement of diffractive
pp interactions at the Large Hadron Collider energies. The analysis will use
the data collected by ATLAS Experiment, in particular one of ATLAS subsystems
placed far away from the interaction point and very close to the LHC beam
(inside the accelerator beam pipe). A phenomenological analysis of the obtained
results could be integrated into the research plan.
Measurement of central diffraction events in the ATLAS detector at the LHC
In typical proton-proton collisions at high energies (for example at the LHC
accelerator) both protons are broken down as a result of the interaction
between their constituent elements - quarks and gluons. Diffraction events are
a special class of collisions in which protons interact without revealing their
internal structure and thus they can remain intact, only scattered at a low
angle. Often for such an interaction, the name of the pomeron exchange is used
(in analogy to e.g. the electromagnetic interaction, which is the exchange of a
photon). The process when both protons get scattered, and there are additional
particles produced in the event, is called a central diffractive production. It
can be written as pp → pXp, where X is the system of additionally produced
particles. Such an interaction can be thought of as a collision of two Pomerons
and it is still relatively poorly understood.
An experimental method of
measuring diffraction processes is the so-called proton tagging, i.e. with
proton dispersion detection. Such measurement is possible only in detectors set
very far from the point of impact (at the LHC it is over 200 meters) and very
close to the beam (single millimeters). Measuring the center diffraction comes
down to the requirement the presence of both scattered protons.
The aim of the
work is to analyze the data from the ATLAS detector and to select appropriate
cases and to investigate systematic effects affecting measurement (resolution
and efficiency detectors, background).
Diffractive processes at Electron Ion Collider
Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is a new particle physics accelerator that
has been recently approved to be built in US. A part of the planned
physics program is to study diffractive processes. The goal of the
project is to perform a feasibility study of a selected diffractive
process using the EIC simulation framework.
Forward physics at High Luminosity LHC
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is presently entering its third
data-taking period (Run 3) where the physic studies performed during
Run 2 will be continued. After Run 3, an upgrade of the accelerator is
planned. It will allow reaching significantly higher collision rates
(higher luminosity) and providing higher statistics for studies of rare
phenomena. The goal of the project is to perform a feasibility study
for the ATLAS Forward Proton detectors for the High-Luminosity LHC.