Projectdetails

The Standard Model predicts the existence of a so far undiscovered particle known as the Higgs boson. New experiments will try to find this particle in high-energy proton-proton collisions in the near future.

In these experiments the interesting interactions need to be separated in real-time from an overwhelming amount of background events. This is done with fast and efficient selection techniques, which are implemented in so-called trigger systems. Although the quality of the trigger system is of crucial importance for successful operation of the experiment, the amount of locally available computing resources is limited. As a result, the trigger will inevitably reject events with interesting physics content.

Recent developments in the area of computer science could provide a cost effective solution for this problem. High-speed wide area networks enable the deployment of real-time applications on distributed resources. In particular, the connection between CERN and Amsterdam is one of the best in the world. The exploitation of this network via a reliable computing grid infrastructure can be much more efficient than the expansion of locally available compute power.

I propose to exploit the unique position of the Netherlands with respect to network infrastructure by implementing a distributed solution for the trigger of the ATLAS experiment. Specifically, I want to analyze Higgs boson production in association with top quark pairs, decaying into fully hadronic final states.

ATLAS is an experiment in the Large Hadron Collider, a 2 x 7 TeV proton accelerator that is currently under construction at CERN in Geneva. The research proposed here can significantly improve the discovery potential of ATLAS for light Higgs bosons. The benefits of the worldwide trigger even extend to other disciplines like earth sciences or astro-particle physics.