The student will be part of the ATLAS group in the Centre for Particle Physics at the University of Alberta. The group consists of two professors, two postdoctoral fellows, three graduate students and an estimated two summer students. Our group is helping to analyse data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva.
My group is studying the possibility of the experiment being sensitive to higher-dimensional space beyond our common three dimensions. String theory is one possible theory that requires higher-dimensional space. For many years, string theory has guided the direction of the "theory of everything". One drawback is that it is extremely difficult to find a unique prediction of the theory that can be testable in current or future experiments. Low-scale gravity and string models based on intersecting D-branes have recently allowed a connection to be made between the theory and experiment. The student will develop the phenomenology of this theory in the context of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider by searching for black holes or highly-excited string states.
The student will perform computer simulations, analyse and plot data, and present the results. She/he will also document the project. In particular, the student will create an algorithm for searching for evidence of black holes or highly-excited string states at the Large Hadron Collider.