Particle Physics - Student at DESY

DESY is one of the world’s leading research centres for photon science, particle and astroparticle physics as well as accelerator physics.
The particle physics programme of DESY includes strong contributions to the LHC experiments at CERN and the preparation of future experiments. The experimental programme is enhanced by collaboration with a strong theory group.
In collaboration with the theory group of the University of Hamburg, the dedicated project for a Ph.D. thesis is open via PIER:

The first-ever determination of the top-quark mass running (PIER PhD Project 4):

As the heaviest elementary particle known, the top quark has the largest coupling to the Higgs boson. Being of the utmost importance for stringent tests of the Standard Model and for manifestation of signals of New Physics, the running of the Yukawa coupling of the top quark has never been measured. Since 2011, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN acts almost as a factory for top-quark-pair production in the proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass of 7, 8 and 13 TeV. With precise data to be collected by the LHC experiments at 13 TeV in the next years and using recent developments in the theory and the experimental analysis strategies, it becomes possible, for the first time, to determine the running of the top-quark mass. This is currently the best chance to study effective coupling related to the Higgs boson. In this way, a fundamental quantum effect, the scale dependence of couplings, would be established for the first time for the heaviest elementary particle known.

Specific requirements/experiences of PhD candidates:
The candidate should have masters or equivalent in experimental or theoretical high- energy physics. She/he should have experience in the analysis of the experimental data (preferably at the LHC experiment). Solid university background in theoretical physics, preferably quantum field theory, QCD, renormalization is required. Pro- gramming and communication skills are of high importance. The candidate is ex- pected to perform theory developments in close collaboration with the UHH Theory group and conduct the measurements with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass of 13 TeV. The student will become a member of the DESY group in the CMS collaboration.

Application deadline: 01. July 2016

For more information about the details of the project and application procedure, please address Katerina.Lipka@desy.de