PhD Studentship on Higgs and Top Quark Properties – ATLAS Experiment (2023)

What you get

• Fully-paid tuition fees for three and a half years at the home fee status.
• A tax-free bursary for living costs for three and a half years (£17,668 per annum in 2022/23).
• Additional financial support is provided to cover short-term and long-term travel.
• If you are not a UK national, nor an EU national with UK settled/pre-settled status, you will need to apply for a student study visa before admission.

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

PhD project

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

Probing the Higgs boson is a critical priority in the search for new physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). To this end, collisions containing a Higgs and a top-quark pair (ttH) are especially well motivated. The candidate will play a leading role in new differential measurements of ttH. This will provide fresh sensitivity to the strength of the top-Higgs interaction and the Higgs self-interaction which are directly related to the stability of the Universe at a quantum level. Furthermore, the exact nature of the top-Higgs interaction could hold the answer to why we exist at all - why the Universe is matter-dominated.

Top quarks produced with lepton pairs (ttll) are a key background to ttH, but are also vital to probe one of the strongest hints of new physics to from the LHC – the flavour anomalies. The candidate will also measure ttll (where l=e,mu,tau) to test the universality of lepton couplings in the top sector. This will add vital additional information to understand the flavour anomalies seen in the B-sector.

The ATLAS-Sussex group has made significant contributions measurements of ttH, ttW and ttZ so far in ATLAS: profiting from this experience in the group, the candidate will be ideally positioned to make large impact in this area, supported by contact with CERN-based experts. 

Funding is available for a September 2023 start which includes a tax-free bursary (£17,668 per annum in 2022/23) and fully paid (at the Home student level) tuition fees for 3.5 years. Additional financial support is provided to cover short-term and long-term travel. Interviews of shortlisted candidates will be held in February and March initially and will continue until positions are filled. Applications from self-funded students interested in available projects are also welcome at any time of the year.

Eligibility

Applicants must hold, or expect to hold, at least a UK upper second class degree (or non-UK equivalent qualification) in Physics, or a closely-related area, or else a lower second class degree followed by a relevant Master's degree.

This award is open to UK and International students.

Deadline

28 February 2023 16:00

How to apply

Apply through the University of Sussex on-line system. 

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

Select the PhD in Physics, with an entry date of September 2023.

In the Finance & Fees section, state that you wish to be considered for studentship no EPP/2023/04

We advise early application as the position will be filled as soon as a suitable applicant can be found.

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

Contact us

For more details about the project, please contact Dr Josh McFayden: J.A.Mcfayden@sussex.ac.uk.

For practical questions about applications and/or eligibility for funding, please contact mps-pgrsupport@sussex.ac.uk

For academic questions please contact the coordinator of EPP PhD admissions, Prof Iacopo Vivarelli: I.Vivarelli@sussex.ac.uk

Applications: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/apply

Please state in the Finance section of the online form that you are applying for STFC EPP studentships.