TIFR to take in more PhD students to analyse LHC data

Even as data generated from phase one of the Large Hadron Collider experiment is expected to lead to crucial findings by next year.

Even as data generated from phase one of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment is expected to lead to crucial findings by next year,the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) has decided to considerably increase the number of PhD students for data analysis. From two students in the first batch,the number is expected to go up to 23. LHC,the worlds highest energy particle accelerator,started circulating proton beams recently after it was shut down for routine maintenance in December.

Almost a decade in the making,LHC passed its first major test by firing a beam of protons around a 27-km tunnel in the France-Switzerland border near Geneva in 2009. Built at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN),Geneva,the LHC hopes to provide deeper insights into the Big Bang theory,Higgs particle,dark matter and dark energy,among others. Scientists also hope the experiments will enable them to unravel extra dimensions if at all they exist.

LHC has just started circulating beams in the machine. In the first stage we got some very good data. What is significant is that the results are pointing to us that we may get a lot more information about the Higgs particle than we had earlier expected. And we may be able to conclude few things by the middle of 2012, said Sudeshna Banerjee,principal investigator and scientist at TIFRs department of high energy physics. Higgs Particle is theorised to be the cause behind other particles having mass.

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Accordingly,we are taking in more doctoral students specifically to probe the data obtained so far. We are trying to put different aspects of the Higgs analysis in their research work. The number of students applying for the LHC project has also gone significantly. They are very excited and keen to be part of such a huge scientific experiment, she said.

TIFR,this year,has enrolled eight new students for the LHC programme. Around 15 more are expected to be enrolled in the next one month. While all students have to clear the written test,at the time of interview,their area of interest is gauged by the institute. For the TIFR student summer programme too,the number of students applying for the LHC project has gone up from two to around 10.

Around 150 institutions across 30 countries are participating in this LHC experiment. While one Indian team is participating in the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment led by TIFR,another team is in the ALICE experiment and for both,Indian groups have fabricated high performance detectors.

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