CERN Internship Projects, as described by student-selected mentors
Project Title: Designing a first-level trigger on tracks for the LHCb upgrade to detect charm quark decays
Student: David Corbino
Mentor: Dr. Diego Tonelli CERN/PH/LBD
Project Description: This is a data-analysis project at the interface between physics analysis and conceptual design of an online event-selection trigger. The goal is assessing
the physics performance of a possible novel trigger based on simple observables
related to charged-particle tracking, for the first stage in the data acquisition of the
upgraded LHCb experiment. A sample of few thousand two- and three-body charmed-meson decays reconstructed in trigger-unbiased LHCb data will be used as a benchmark to characterize and optimize the trigger efficiency, purity, and event accept-rate for a variety of track-trigger configurations.
Project Title: Test of novel pixel prototypes for the future Linear Collider Detector
Student: William Nash
Mentor: Dr. Lucie Linssen CERN/PH/LCD
Project Description: The next high-energy accelerator may well be a positron-electron linear collider (LC). The experimental conditions at that collider require novel detector techniques insisting on very low mass and very finely segmented detectors. At CERN, our Linear Collider Detector group is charged to solve this demanding new detector problem. The student will participate in the testing of detectors for the LC using the innovative micro-pixel detectors read out in 65 nm technology.
Project Title: Detecting positronium with crystal calorimetry for the antigravity experiment AEGIS
Student: Adi Foord
Mentor: Dr. Michael Doser CERN/PH/SME
Project Description: Adi will be working on the detection of positronium annihilation radiation with crystals. This project is part of our efforts to maximize the production of semi-thermalized (~100K) positronium from a cryogenic target. She will characterize its emission, temperature and lifetime both under standard conditions and in a cryogenic environment in UHV in a 1T magnetic field. We will use the same diagnostics system to determine which fraction of the positronium we will have laser-excited. The project consists of evaluating different crystals and read-out possibilities, building a test set-up, and testing the different options in a lab as well as in situ. in addition to Adi, the group working on this will consists of an engineering student, myself, and support from CERN’s crystal experts, as well as an external group specializing in positronium.
Project Title : Construction and test of a zero angle hadron calorimeter for the rare kaon decay experiment NA62
Student: Joseph Serigano
Mentor: Dr. Augusto Ceccucci CERN/PH/SME
Project Description: The NA62 experiment studies rare kaon decays. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, less than one in ten billion kaons decay in reaction we seek to discover! Using high momentum beams from the CERN SPS, accelerator, kaons are produced in proton beryllium interactions and transported to the decay region. To completely cover the region at small angle, the student will help insturment a novel hadron calorimeter. This will provide full geometrical coverage of hadrons, which is a crucial requirement for the experiment. The student will test the calorimeter and will evaluate the performance of the proposed read-out with silicon photomultipliers. The students will also study the simulation and the physics applications of the calorimeter.
Project Title: Developing silicon detectors for the High Luminosity LHC
Student: Nora Shipp
Mentor: Heinz Pernegger, CERN/PH/ADE
Project Description: Silicon detectors are the key devices for reconstructing of charged particle tracks in the experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and its upgrade, the High-Luminosity (HL-) LHC. To distinguish between primary and secondary vertices and to achieve a good track resolution these devices have to be placed very close to the interaction points. Therefore, their radiation tolerance is of prime interest and had led to a broad line of investigations worldwide. Novel “active” sensors have been produced using a 180 nm feature size HV-CMOS process, which is normally used to produce ASICS. This small size for active circuits, located within a deep n-well, enables amplification directly “on the sensor.” The use of discriminators and logic elements allows improved resolution. First prototypes have been irradiated and are now under investigation. This student will work on the ATLAS Upgrade project R&D effort with my group.
Project Title: Prototyping Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners for cancer therapy
Student : Kolby Weisenberger
Mentor: Etiennette Auffray CERN/PH/CMX-DS
Project Description: The vast experience accumulated during the R&D phase and the construction of the CMS crystal calorimeter is now being widely employed to build innovative PET and PEM scanners for biophysical applications in general, and for cancer diagnosis in particular. The student will participate to the study of the characteristics of some innovative detectors and be part of a large network of research institutes devoted to the development and deployment of advanced PET and PEM techniques including fast timing techniques that may open the way to endoscopic applications.
Project Title: Testing cryogenics for the antigravity experiment AEGIS
Student: Henry Koster
Mentor: Dr. Michael Doser CERN/PH/SME
Project Description: Achieving ultra-low temperatures (less than 1K) is paramount to making a cold beam of anti-hydrogen atoms. Understanding the thermal flow inside the AEGIS experiment, and devising ways to minimize heat flow into the ultra-cold region, are essential steps to achieving this. This will require simulation work with the COMSOL simulation package, a calibration campaign for temperature sensors, and measurements with the existing system. Technical solutions may need to be implemented, e.g. a movable baffle to minimize thermal radiation through a laser port. The group working on this consists of the technical coordinator of AEGIS, a postdoc, and a cryogenics expert. An expert on COMSOL will assist the intern.
Project Title: Evaluating a novel Fast Cycled Magnet (FCM), a superconducting solenoid the next collider
Student: Zijia Zhao
Mentor: Dr. Gijs De Rijk, CERN/TE/MSC
Project Description: This is a thermo-electric problem, with one of the most challenging features of superconductors: the superconducting to normal transition. In this particular FCM case, a thermo-hydraulic problem is also involved, with supercritical helium that is constrained in a tube in the cable. The heat exchange with the cable that starts to be normal will give a phase transition of the helium and a pressure wave as well. The intern will attempt to understand this process.