Interpretation of Searches for New Physics
Supervisor: Wolfgang Waltenberger
Projekt: CMS Analyse
The "interpretation" group of the institute has a vacancy for a master's student to work on the interpretation of the searches for physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). While the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) keeps running at its new record energy of 13 TeV, data analysts are busy searching for hints of BSM physics. It has become the default to interpret the results of such searches in the context of "Simplified Models Spectra" (SMS). Contrary to fundamental models like supersymmetric theories, these simplified models introduce only a very reduced set of new particles and thus describe the result of a given search in an effective, empirical fashion. Only in a second step does one then attempt to combine these SMS results to build up the Next Standard Model. The institute's "interpretation" group has built a database to collect and store these SMS results, and a software framework that allows for a systematic application of these results to a given fundamental model.
The successful candidate is intended to help the group maintain and extend the database. He or she will then apply the software framework with the up-to-date database to one specific fundamental theory. Search channels that the experimental collaborations are so far blind to will be identified. The candidate should have a background in elementary particle physics, basic knowledge of statistics is an asset. The candidate should be ready to program in "python" in an object oriented fashion. Working at the interface between theory and experiment, our future master's student should not shy away from theoretical particle physics, even though expert knowledge in this regime is not needed.
Contact: Wolfgang Waltenberger