Welcome to the LHCb web

Organisation

We joined the LHCb experiment early in 2011, after first data taking so our responsibilities are for core software and not experimental hardware. This section will keep track of who is working on what. Please feel free to edit your section if I have missed anything out.

• Nigel Watson: Head of the LHCb group. Responsible for implementing new versions of Geant4 within the LHCb framework, and testing performance against previous versions. Working on the rare decay Λ_b → Λ μ⁺ μ^- analysis.
• Cristina Lazerroni: Working on the rare decay K → piμ⁺μ^- analysis. Also leads the UK effort on the NA62 experiment.
• Simone Bifani: Research Fellow in Particle Physics. Currently working on electroweak penguin decays and electroweak physics studies.
• Sasha Mazurov: Most recent analysis of Χ_b(3P), Χ_b1,2(1P), now developing the new performance and regression testing framework LHCbPR for simulation and more general use.
• Tonino Sergi: working on K → piμ⁺μ^- analysis, coordinating integration tests of elementary module for RICH upgrade, developing firmware for irradiation tests of FE board FPGA, carrying out PMT ageing tests, and responsible for RICH aspects of firmware on the TELL40 boards.
• Mark Slater: Responsible for GRID operations and GANGA developement.
• Jimmy McCarthy: graduated PhD student ( thesis). Carried out the search for Λb → Λ η(') decays, JHEP 1509 (2015) 006. Optimised the Geant4 generator cuts used by LHCb in order to improve the performance of Monte Carlo productions, responsible for the XML description of the beam pipe supports.
• Pete Griffith: graduated PhD student. Finalising the analysis, Λ_b → pKμ⁺μ^- , and EM benchmarking tests Geant4
• Luca Pescatore: graduated PhD student. Currently finalising R_K* analysis, previously on rare decay Λ_b → Λμ⁺μ^- from Run I data, including branching fraction and angular analysis ( JHEP 1506 (2015) 115, set up hadronic and material benchmarking tests for Geant4.
• Nathanael Farley: 4th year !PhD student. Working on the search for B⁺_c → K^*0(892) K⁺and PMT ageing tests for RICH.
• Tim Williams: 3rd year student, working on search for Λb → pK; η(') decay, EM benchmarking for Geant4.
• Georgios Chatzikonstantinidis:2st year student, working on Λ_b → Λμ⁺μ (run I and II) angular analysis with moments; previously at Nikhef, masters on study of CPT and Lorentz-invariance violation in B _s mixing
• Kristian Zarebski: 2nd year student, working on search for K → piμ⁺μ^-
• Ryan Calladine: 1st year student, working on search for Λ_b → Λll'

Local Meetings

We currently have regular meetings every Wednesday, 09:00 in the West 229 meeting room

For New Students

Welcome to Birmingham. Click here for information to get yourself started.

Activities

A full summary can be found on CDS

Ongoing and Past Analyses

• Λb → Λ η(') full Run I seach
• Λb → Λ η' 2012 search
• Λ_b → pK μ⁺ μ^-?
• Λb → Λ μ+ μ- (earlier paper)
• RK*
• Measurement of the forward W boson cross-section in pp collisions at s√ = 7 TeV
• Inclusive W and Z production in the forward region at s√=7 TeV
• ψ(3770)

Hardware Tests

• Ni foils irradiation

Paper Reviews

• Institutional comments?

Working Locally

CernVM can be used to access the LHCb software locally. The advantage to working locally is that it is a lot quicker than trying to run emacs etc. over the network.

Physics Analysis

These pages are aimed at giving a brief introduction to the tools needed for a physics analysis. It is supposed to be guide only to jog your memory and give some example code. Please refer to the manuals and tutorials for a full description of how everything works.

• Using DaVinci to fill an nTuple from Data or Monte Carlo.
• Using ROOT? to analyse the nTuple.
• Using the TMVA tool to refine your selection.
• Using RooFit? to perform fits to Data.

Simulations

These pages are aimed at giving a brief introduction to the tools needed to run simulations for your technical work. It is supposed to be guide only to jog your memory and give some example code. Please refer to the manuals and tutorials for a full description of how everything works.

• Using Gauss? and Boole to perform simulations.
• Using Panoramix? to visualize the detector.
• Writing XML for the detector Descriptions?
• Making a new release of Geant4? for LHCb.

Validation Studies

Useful Links

• Just a Taste - Lectures on Flavor Physics, Yuval Grossman (latex notes by Flip Tanedo), Cornell.
  • related notes from 2009 summer schools
• Course on Physics at the LHC, LIP Portugal, 2013 (emphasis on GPDs rather than CMS, but useful nontheless)