PhD in Particle Physics

Deadline for SUPA prize studentships is 20th January 2012.
Applications and references for other studentships must be received by 29th January to receive equal consideration for September 2012 entry.

Shortlisted UK-based students will be invited to Edinburgh for interview on the mid February 2012.

This is a unique time to study particle physics. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland produced its first physics collision in 2009 after 15 years of design and construction, and took excellent quality data during 2010 and 2011. The amount of data taken in 2012 will increase the total data by a factor of four or more! Thus providing exciting prospects for Higgs boson searches, precision measurements of flavour physics - and maybe even the discovery of new physics beyond the Standard Model. Data from the LHC may completely reshape our current model of particle physics. University of Edinburgh researchers collaborate on two experiments at the LHC: ATLAS and LHCb.

We are looking for prospective PhD students to collaborate on these two projects. We also have projects on detector development (for the LHC and beyond), on LHC data storgage and distributed computing, and for exceptional students to work in collaboration with our theoretical colleagues on understanding LHC physics.

We offer fully-funded STFC studentships (for UK nationals and UK-based students only), SUPA studentships and University of Edinburgh Principal's Career Development PhD Scholarships (for any nationality). We welcome applicants who already hold a scholarship, and also to students who wish to apply for a PhD place in conjunction with a scholarship application. Most projects include the opportunity for a fully-funded long-term attachment to CERN for a year, or longer.

More details about our PhD projects and funding opportunities are given below.

PhD Projects

High energy frontier physics at ATLAS

Supervisors: P. Clark and V. Martin

The Atlas experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will provide a very rich experimental physics programme, which may change fundamentally our understanding of Particle Physics: it will elucidate the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism that provides mass generation in the Standard Model. It may also lead to the discovery of new particles and candidates for the missing dark matter in the Universe. Students will contribute to the maintenance and monitoring of the detector, software and/or trigger system and study data taken by ATLAS, for example by contributing to the group's effort on Higgs analysis or with the aim of testing the Standard Model predictions or looking for new physics. The ATLAS detector is sophisticated and complex and will produce a large amount of data. We also welcome applications from students who wish to work with the state of the art data acquisition systems, distributed computer software (e.g. the GRID) or improving the performance of analysis software, for example by using GPUs (Graphics Processing Units).

Flavour physics at LHCb

Supervisors: F. Muheim, S. Playfer, P. Clarke

The LHCb experiment at the LHC started taking data in November 2009. LHCb tests the flavour sector of Standard Model with a new level of precision. Massive numbers of hadrons containing bottom and charm quarks are produced and detected using specialised, state-of-the art detectors. We are primarily interested in determining the phases of B-Bbar mixing from measurements of time-dependent CP violation. These measurements constrain fundamental parameters in the Standard Model CKM matrix and are sensitive to new physics through loop-induced contributions. Students will also have opportunities to work on measurements of the Bs lifetime difference, or to explore rare flavour-changing neutral current decays such as Bs->phiphi and Bs->phimumu. Here, also, new physics effects may appear and have a significant effect.

Research and design of future particle physics detectors

Supervisors: F. Muheim, P. Clark and S. Eisenhardt

Particle physics uses many novel techniques in its detectors. Almost all new detectors push the forefront of technology in one way or the other. Either through a new technology, or using an existing technology for something for which it wasn't originally designed. The scale, efficiency, sensitivity and radiation hardness of the detectors pose many challenges and some of which result in spin off technology for medicine and industry. We have positions to design, simulate and build new detectors for upgrading of the LHC detectors and for future linear colliders.

Physics at the LHC: Experiment and Theory

Supervisors: A. Buckley, P. Clark, V. Martin (PPE); R. D. Ball, L. Del Debbio, E. Gardi (PPT)

A full understanding of the physics at the LHC energy scales may only be achieved by studying both the underlying theory, and its phenomenology, and by examining the experimental data. To facilitate this, we are looking for students who wish to work across the traditional boundary between particle physics theory and experiment. Students will be co-supervised by a theorist and an experimentalist. Students will work on LHC phenomenology, work on the ATLAS experiment (or LHCb experiment) and study early LHC data in order to test and refine their theoretical work. Students could choose to work in QCD studies - which is the first step to understanding LHC data, in Higgs physics - studying either the signal or background processes, on flavour physics or in physics beyond the Standard Model. Students applying for this area should demonstrate an aptitude for theoretical physics and will be required to be interviewed by both the experimental and theoretical groups.

Training

Postgraduate students attend a comprehensive set of graduate level courses within our SUPA graduate school. See here for the timetable of the current courses
Students can also take a wide variety of courses from the undergraduate programme to supplement their knowledge.
Organised by NeSC there are a variety of EGEE funded training events available. Many upcoming workshops/meetings are hosted by NeSC.
There are a number of International summer schools and physics workshops.
Data analysis training using advanced statistical techniques,
State of the art particle detector design and development of new technology.
Opportunities to present your results at international conferences.
Additional training at CERN with a variety of short trips & long trips (12-18 months).

Eligibility

Academic

Candidates should hold, or expect to gain, a 2:1 honours degree in physics or related subject (or international equivalent).
It is essential to have a keen interest in physics data analysis & computing and/or detector technologies.

Financial

We offer a number three main funding options dependent upon your country of residence and nationality:

For UK citizens and UK resident applicants: STFC studentships. Candidates should meet a 3 year UK residency requirement. For more information please see the STFC eligibility criteria.
- All tuition fees paid,
- Tax free stipend of £13,950 per annum,
- Expenses covered for all trips.
- Apply for these using the application procedure below. If you eligible for STFC funding we will automatically consider you for it.
For excellent applicants of any nationality (top 10% of undergraduate class): SUPA Prize Studentships.
- These are fully funded: tuition fees plus a stipend of £15,000 per annum.
- There is a separate application for these. Please contact Victoria Martin before applying to discuss details before applying.
For applicants of any nationality, with excellent English (minimum IELTS 7.0): University of Edinburgh's Principal's Career Development PhD Scholarships, which provides the UK/EU-level of tuition fees and stipend of £14,000 per annum in return for a contribution to the University's teaching or outreach.
Non-EU students: should applying to the Career Development Scholarships should also apply for an Edinburgh Global Research Scholarships (EGRS) to ensure that the full cost of their fees will be met.
All applicants should also investigate alternative funding. You may find this search tool useful.

We aim to fund all PhD students' stipend for three and a half years, irrespective of their funding source.

Self-funded applicants (of any nationality) are welcome, provided they are able to show evidence of sufficient funding There is some other useful information here on cost of living and funding information.

English Language Requirements

International students must have evidence of English lanugage competency. Please see the College of Science and Engineering website for more information.

To apply

Please complete the online application form by selecting the appropriate start date (e.g. September 2012) and then clicking on "Apply" at postgraduate entry page. Please note the application is for 3 year PhD, even though your PhD course is usually funded for 3.5 years.

The form application form is used throughout the University and asks for more information that we actually need! Please read these helpful application notes.
- Email addresses for referees are requested later in the process - please ignore 'upload references'.
- For your research topic feel free to use the one of the above titles, this is not binding and can be changed later.
- For relevant knowledge please mention any project work and any programming or hardware experience.
UK applicants completing the application form will be automatically considered for STFC funding.
Applicants (both UK and overseas) wishing to apply for the other studentships should complete both an application form and also apply separately for:
- SUPA Prize Studentship and/or
- Principal's Career Development PhD Scholarships (and, if you are not an EU citizen) an Edinburgh Global Research Scholarship on this form.
Overseas applicants who wish to apply only to the SUPA scheme do not need to fill out a University of Edinburgh application form.