Bachelor Projects

Bachelor Projects

Extreme Astronomy – Preparing for CTA, the Next-Generation Gamma-Ray Observatory

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a planned facility for measuring gamma rays from space covering more than four orders of magnitude in energy, up to energies exceeding 100 TeV. CTA employs the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov technique to measure properties of cosmic gamma rays. This technique is based on measuring Cherenkov light emitted during the development of a gamma-ray air shower. CTA will be built at two experimental sites, one in the Northern, one in the Southern hemisphere, and will consist of up to 100 telescopes. It represents a major leap forward in sensitivity and precision for gamma-ray astronomy, and will allow us to explore very-high-energy processes of the extreme Universe at an unprecedented level.

Two projects for students are available at the CTA group of UvA in the field of optical and photonic R&D contributing to the starting phase of CTA. For the first project the student will conduct measurements to characterise novel kinds of single-photon detectors, referred to as silicon photomultipliers, and evaluate different types of these sensors for their use for CTA. For the second project the student will develop and test an imaging system making use of a liquid crystal display. This flexible light source will be able to mimic images from different light sources of the night sky as seen by cameras of CTA, for instance gamma-ray air showers or stars, and will be used for camera tests and calibration.

Supervisors: David Berge, Maurice Stephan (postdoc)

ATLAS

ATLAS (1): zoeken naar het Z' deeltje bij de Large Hadron Collider

Bij de Large Hadron Collider op CERN worden protonen met hoge snelheid op elkaar geschoten. Het doel is om antwoorden te vinden op de vragen waar we wakker van liggen omdat we geen enkele verklaring kunnen bedenken binnen de natuurwetten zoals we ze nu kennen. Nieuwe deeltjes zouden wel eens voor de oplossing kunnen zorgen.

Een van de kandidaat nieuwe deeltjes die wordt voorspeld is het zogenaamde Z' (Z-prime) deeltje. Als zo'n deeltje bestaat zal hij gelijk uit elkaar vallen in 2 muon deeltjes die we in onze detectoren kunnen zien. Nou kan je op veel meer manieren 2 muon deeltjes maken, maar als we nou alle botsingen waarin 2 muon deeltjes zijn gezien in detail gaan bekijken zou het mogelijk moeten zijn om die 'speciale' botsingen eruit te filteren. De standaard manier is om te zoeken naar een 'piekje' in de massa-distributie. Maar dat kan vast beter!

We gaan in dit project (met behulp van de computer) kijken of we een bijdrage kunnen leveren:

 - optimaliseren van de huidige publicatie. Waar kan en moet het beter en hoe kwantifiseer je dat ?
 - simuleer hoe de Z-prime eruit ziet in de detector als hij net iets andere eigenschappen heeft dan 
   we vooraf denken. Hoe verandert onze strategie dan ?
 - kunnen we extra informatie toevoegen: hoe doe je dat en eigenlijk, wat zijn de problemen 
   daarbij en helpt het ? 
 

We gaan met Python/C++ aan de gang.

Supervisors: Marco van Woerden en Ivo van Vulpen

ATLAS (2): Measurement of W boson polarisation in top quark decays

Top quarks are produced copiously at the LHC and measured with the ATLAS detector. The top quark is the heaviest elementary particle known and decays to the W boson and the b-quark. The measurement of the decay properties allow to set limits on possible new physics effect on the Wtb vertex. New measurements of the W boson polarization in top quark pair events become available and limit several of these new physics effects. The object of this bachelor project is to install, run and understand a dedicated program, called TopFit, to study these limits. The student should have affinity with theory and programming. More information: dr Marcel Vreeswijk, h73@nikhef.nl, 020 5925088

ATLAS (3): Dark-matter-motivated searches for supersymmetric particles at the LHC

Supersymmetry, a symmetry between fermions and bosons in particle physics, may provide a particle that could be the dark matter in the universe. The observation of an excess of gamma rays originating from the centre of our galaxy could be explained in a model where supersymmetric dark matter particles annihilate each other in the galactic centre, leading to gamma rays.

Given the model parameters, it should also be possible to produce such particles at the LHC, at CERN in Geneva. But it is not so easy to observe them: the signal is small, and the noise (background) is large. In this project, we will use simulations of signal and background to optimize experimental searches for such particles with the ATLAS detector, apply them to the data collected in 2015, and prepare for the new data in 2016 and later.

Supervisors: Paul de Jong, Sarah Williams, Broos Vermeulen

ATLAS (4): Simulations / Quality tests for the ATLAS High-Luminosity LHC Upgrade

One of the key sub-systems of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the Inner Detector (ID), designed to provide excellent charged particles momentum and vertex resolution measurements.

At Phase-2 of the LHC run, in ~2025, the operating luminosity of the collider will be increased significantly. This will imply an upgrade of all ATLAS subsystems. In particular, the ID will be fully replaced with a tracker completely made of Silicon, having higher granularity and radiation hardness. The R&D process for the new ATLAS ID is now ongoing. Different geometrical layouts are simulated and their performance is studied under different operating conditions in search for the optimal detector architecture. Also, the performance of the new Si-sensors/modules is under investigation with dedicated laboratory tests.

The focus of the project could be on the simulation of the High-Luminosity LHC version of the ATLAS Inner Detector. The student will learn how a high-energy physics experiment is designed and optimized. Alternatively, if possible at that moment, the student could work on a project at the Nikhef Silicon laboratory at the test-bench for new ATLAS Si-strip detectors and participate in the quality assurance procedure for the new ATLAS Si detectors.

KM3Net

The KM3NeT collaboration is constructing a new generation neutrino telescope with a volume of several cubic kilometers (final configuration) in the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea. With the data, scientists will look for the astrophysical sources of neutrinos such as supernovae, colliding stars or gamma-ray bursts. In the domain of particle physics the properties of neutrinos will be investigated, in particular the unknown neutrino mass hierachy.

The KM3NeT telescope detects the Cherenkov light emitted by the secondary particles produced in neutrino interactions using an array of thousands of sensitive 3 inch photo-multiplier tubes housed in 17 inch pressure resistant glass spheres, digital-optical-modules (DOMs), together with electronics. The DOMs are oriented along 700m long vertical lines, called detection units.

The first phase of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope is currently under construction. The first detection unit has been succesfully deployed in december 2015 at at depth of 3500m, 100 km of the coast of Sicily and is currently taking data.

Bachelor projects:

Data from the first detection unit of KM3NeT

Data from the first detection unit provides plenty of opportunities for analysis. Photons from atmospheric muons, potassium decay and calibration beacons can be used to quantify and monitor the quality of the taken data, to perform timing calibrations to achieve the required nanosecond accuracy and to study the detector and medium properties. Two projects are available which consist of analysis of the data in the context of timing calibration, detector and medium properties and data quality. For the data-analysis, we will make extensive use of the C++ programming language.

DOM orientation

In order to reconstruct the properties of neutrino interactions from the recorded photons, the orientation of the photomultiplier tubes has to be known at each moment in time. The position of the DOMs is determined using an acoustic positioning system. To complement that, each DOM contains an attitude and heading reference system (compass, accelerometer, gyroscopes) to determine the orientation. The project concerns an investigation of an alternative system for the DOM orientation. In this project we will be working with hardware (DOM, compass/accelerometer boards) and software (C++, Java).

Supervisors: R.Bruijn, M. Jongen, K. Melis