Previous Studies by Master/Bachelor students at HU
The following studies are examples from previous bachelor and master theses.
The phenomenology of Higgs pairs
One master student explored the phenomenology of Higgs pair events: How will we be able to discriminate between Higgs pairs and other signatures? The starting point had been a phenomenology study of Prof. Issever’s previous group in Oxford. The student replicated the neural net architecture and studied possibilities for improving it.
Identifying b-jets without using tracks
Another master project studied the identification of highly energetic b-jets. In the high energy range, the tracking algorithms might not be fully efficient and thus the student explored how to find b-jets without using tracking but the raw information of the ATLAS tracking detector.
The student developed a discriminant (shown here) based on how many “hits” in a tracking layer were found with respect to the next one. She also showed how including that information in the ATLAS standard b-jet identification method can improve the latter.
Preparing ATLAS analyses for the upcoming proton-oxygen run
In this master project, the student studied several simulation models in preparation for the upcoming proton-oxygen collision run. With the reconstruction of proton-oxygen collisions using the forward detectors of and around ATLAS, the group wants to test models that are used for cosmic air showers. In the plot here, the student investigated the differences between simulation models in the proton energy distribution. The two peaks observed correspond to the proton beam energy (6800 GeV) and the Oxygen nucleon beam energy (3400 GeV).
Potential future thesis topics
You will find a list of potential projects under this link (that contains also thesis projects within digital calorimetry or for quantum sensors). This list can be extended and further projects can be developed depending on the student’s skills and interests. If you are interested in working with us, please contact Prof. Cigdem Issever (isseverc@hu-berlin.de) or Dr Hannsjörg Weber (weberhaa@hu-berlin.de) for general topics on ATLAS, or Dr Clara Leitgeb (clara.leitgeb@desy.de - e-mail to be updated) for questions on the forward physics.