Precise top quark physics at the LHC in the search for Dark Matter particles (FWOAL829)

The true nature of Dark Matter is one of the most fascinating mysteries in science. It dominates the matter content of our universe and is therefore essential in describing the evolution of it. Scientists are more and more convinced that Dark Matter is made of unknown particles. Therefore in our understanding of particle physics, new particles are to be included beyond the Standard Model. Several new direct and indirect searches for Dark Matter particles are being performed or planned, and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is the unique instrument to produce them in the laboratory. Different scenarios, so-called simplified models, are recently defined to search for the invisible particles in the high-energetic proton collisions. In many scenarios the signal of Dark Matter is striking, while in others the signal resembles very well the known Standard Model processes in the collisions. In these latter cases, the signal can only be extracted from the huge collision data by use of precision measurements. In this project we propose to deploy novel methods and to extend the sensitivity of the searches for Dark Matter particles at the LHC. Together with the large dataset to be collected by the CMS experiment in the timespan of the project as well as our internationally recognised expertise to perform these measurement successfully, we will either discover or exclude the existence of Dark Matter particles in exactly those corners of new physics models that are difficult to access.

Keywords:Dark Matter, Astronomy

Disciplines:Astronomy and astrophysics