The ATLAS and CMS collaborations, involving teams from CEA/IRFU and CNRS/IN2P3, announced on 4 June 2018 at the LHCP conference the direct observation of the coupling of the quark top to the Higgs boson. Studying the interaction between the Higgs boson and the heaviest elementary particle known, the quark top, is a way of investigating the effects of new physics, which must take over from the standard model.
The results of the analyses, orchestrated by IRFU/DPHP physicists, led to the observation of this rare process and are in agreement with the predictions of the standard model. In the coming years, both experiments will collect much more data and improve the accuracy of their measurements, which could reveal a deviation from the prediction of the standard model.
CMS article: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.231801
arXiv link for the ATLAS article submitted to publication : https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.00425
The ATLAS and CMS collaborations, involving teams from CEA/IRFU and CNRS/IN2P3, announced on 4 June 2018 at the LHCP conference the direct observation of the coupling of the quark top to the Higgs boson. Studying the interaction between the Higgs boson and the heaviest elementary particle known, the quark top, is a way of investigating the effects of new physics, which must take over from the standard model.
The results of the analyses, orchestrated by IRFU/DPHP physicists, led to the observation of this rare process and are in agreement with the predictions of the standard model. In the coming years, both experiments will collect much more data and improve the accuracy of their measurements, which could reveal a deviation from the prediction of the standard model.
CMS article: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.231801
arXiv link for the ATLAS article submitted to publication : https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.00425
As part of the new CLAS spectrometer project for the 12 GeV electron energy upgrade of the Jefferson Lab (USA) IRFU has been conducting R&D for more than 10 years to design and build a new generation tracker, using thin and flexible MICROMEGAS detectors that are now operating with the new CLAS12 spectrometer. After one year of installation, this tracker is operational and meets the expected characteristics with more than 95% detection efficiency and a spatial resolution of less than 100μm. After a dedicated data collection to measure the detector response, the new CLAS12 spectrometer is now collecting data for the DVCS physics experiment, where IRFU also participates and which objective is to measure the internal structure of the proton in three dimensions.
The exceptional success of the tracker project, that results from a close collaboration between IRFU's engineering and physics departments (DEDIP, DIS and DPHN), has been an example for other projects. Let us quote the LHC experiments for particle hunting, the muonic imaging of the pyramids, as well as a transfer of know-how to industry.
NFS (Neutrons For Science) is an experimental area of the Spiral2 facility (Ganil, France) that will provide high intensity neutron beams for energies ranging from 0.5 to 40 MeV. The neutrons will be created by collision of Spiral2 charged particles with carbon, beryllium or lithium targets, thanks to a key element of NFS, the converter. The design of this one is a real challenge because it has to withstand a high power deposited by Spiral2's intense beams. In this context, Irfu has designed and built a converter able to support a power of 2 kW. NFS neutron beams will provide information in an unexplored energy domain. Fundamental physics, nuclear reaction modelling and nuclear databases will thus benefit from a unique tool.
The STEREO experiment presented its first physics results at the 53rd Rencontres de Moriond1. STEREO is a neutrino detector made up of six scintillation liquid cells that has been measuring, since November 2016, the electronic antineutrinos produced by the Grenoble high neutron flux reactor 10 metres from the reactor core. The existence of a fourth neutrino state, called sterile neutrino, could explain the deficit in neutrino flux detected at a short distance from nuclear reactors compared to the expected value. Indeed, this anomaly could result from a short-range oscillation that would result in less expected electronic antineutrinos being detected because they would disappear into sterile neutrinos. The first results obtained in 2018 after 66 days of data exclude a significant part of the parameter space. The experiment will continue to take data until the end of 2019. By multiplying the statistics by four and minimizing systematic analysis errors, STEREO will be able to shed light on the existence of this 4th neutrino family.
153rd Rencontres de Moriond Electroweak session
As part of the new CLAS spectrometer project for the 12 GeV electron energy upgrade of the Jefferson Lab (USA) IRFU has been conducting R&D for more than 10 years to design and build a new generation tracker, using thin and flexible MICROMEGAS detectors that are now operating with the new CLAS12 spectrometer. After one year of installation, this tracker is operational and meets the expected characteristics with more than 95% detection efficiency and a spatial resolution of less than 100μm. After a dedicated data collection to measure the detector response, the new CLAS12 spectrometer is now collecting data for the DVCS physics experiment, where IRFU also participates and which objective is to measure the internal structure of the proton in three dimensions.
The exceptional success of the tracker project, that results from a close collaboration between IRFU's engineering and physics departments (DEDIP, DIS and DPHN), has been an example for other projects. Let us quote the LHC experiments for particle hunting, the muonic imaging of the pyramids, as well as a transfer of know-how to industry.