Experimental Particle Physics – Physics studies at the e+e- Future Circular Collider

Department

Department of Physics and Astronomy "Galileo Galilei"

Main research activities/topics/projects

The electron-positron stage (FCC-ee) of the FCC project, is a precision frontier factory for Higgs, electroweak, flavour, top quark and BSM physics. It is designed to operate in a 91-km circular tunnel built at CERN, and will serve as the first step towards O(100 TeV) proton-proton collisions (FCC-hh). The very high luminosity, the exquisite energy calibration at the Z, WW, ZH and ttbar energies and the multiple detectors are building blocks of a unique program for FCC-ee, with high potential for discoveries. Such a machine offers ideal conditions for the study of the four heavy particles of the standard model with a flurry of opportunities for precision measurements, the observation of tiny violations of established symmetries, the searches for rare or forbidden processes, and the exploration of the dark sector with the possible discovery of feebly coupled particles.  The research program of the Padova group is led by Dr. Patrizia Azzi, who is also Physics Coordinator of the FCC-ee Project at CERN, and it is focused on two main aspects. One is to evaluate the physics requirement imposed by the desired experimental precision in order to design optimal detector concepts. We would develop the software needed for the simulation and reconstruction of the physics events under study. In particular, we are concerned with the optimization of the experimental results in the case of fully hadronic final states (such as those found in Higgs, di-boson or top events), since these involve a complex relation of detector performance, reconstruction, particle identification and object association and event fitting. On the other hand, we are also involved in the study and performance under irradiation of silicon sensors utilizing the MAPS technology to be used for a vertex detector at FCC-ee. In the Padova department, we have a fully equipped clean room.  The specific length and difficulty of the project can adapted depending if the incoming person is a master student, doctoral student or a postdoc.

Working language

English and Italian

Special entry requirements

Python (pytorch), C++, Root (RDataFrame).   

Duration in months (min-max)

Master Research: 1-3

PhD sandwich: 3-6

Post Doc: 3-9