PhD Studentship on measuring top quark and Higgs boson interactions with ATLAS (2021)

What you get

• Open to students from the UK, EU and Overseas.
• Tuition fees for three and a half years at the UK student rate. Outstanding students not eligible for UK fees will be considered for a partial tuition waiver above that level.
• A tax-free bursary for living costs for three and a half years. From October 2021/22 this is expected to be £15560 per year.
• If you are not a UK national, nor an EU national with settled/pre-settled status in the UK, you may need to apply for a student study visa before admission

 

Type of award

PhD Research

PhD project

Probing the Higgs boson, the most recently discovered fundamental particle, and one unlike anything else in the Standard Model (SM), is a critical priority in the search for new physics at the LHC. The Higgs boson is responsible for giving fundamental particles their mass and has the strongest interaction with the largest mass particles. The top quark is the heaviest fundamental particle in the SM and therefore has the strongest coupling to the Higgs. This makes LHC collisions where a Higgs is produced with a top-quark pair (ttH) one of the most exciting places to look for signs of new physics. The candidate will play a leading role in new differential measurements of ttH. This will provide fresh sensitivity to the top quark-Higgs interaction and the Higgs boson’s interaction with itself that will lead to world-leading sensitivity to new physics. The importance of this work goes beyond understanding the Higgs boson. The interplay between the strength of the Higgs interaction to the top quark and with itself is directly related to the stability of the Universe at a quantum level and is a vital piece in the understanding of our existence. The ATLAS-Sussex group has made significant contributions to measurements of ttH, ttW and ttZ production in multi-lepton final states performed so far in ATLAS: profiting from this experience in the group, the candidate will be ideally positioned to make large impact in this sector, also through close contact with CERN-based experts.

Eligibility

• To be eligible you should hold or expect to hold a UK upper second class degree (or non-UK equivalent) in Physics or a closely-related area, or else a lower second class degree followed by a relevant Master's degree.

We also welcome applications from independently-funded students interested in our experimental programme.

Deadline: 4^th April 2021

Deadline

30 March 2021 11:00

How to apply

Apply online at https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/apply/log-into-account

Select the PhD in Physics with a September 2021 start date.

State in the Finance & Funding section that you are applying for the RS EPP studentship no. RS/EPP/2020/06, “ATLAS ttH studies”

Be sure to supply all of the required documents, particularly your transcripts and the details of two referees.

Due to the high volume of applications received, you may only hear from us if your application is successful.

Contact us

If you have practical questions about the progress of your applications or your eligibility, contact Emma Ransley at mps-pgrsupport@sussex.ac.uk

For academic questions contact the coordinator of STFC EPP PhD admissions, Dr. W. Clark Griffith: W.C.Griffith@sussex.ac.uk or the supervisor of this project, Dr Josh McFayden, J.A.McFayden@sussex.ac.uk 

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/epp/

Timetable

Interviews of shortlisted candidates will be held in February and March initially and will continue until the position is filled.