Experiments Involved
The aim of the experiment is the high statistics study of photons, neutral hadrons and charged particles, and their correlations in Pb-Pb collisions. After the beam interacts in the target, the Plastic Ball detector measures multiplicities and momenta of particles and other heavier fragments produced in the collision. Just downstream, the Silicon Pad and Drift Chambers provide a precise determination of the charged particle multiplicity. Energy flow measurements are available with midrapidity and zero-degree calorimetry. The 10,000 module Lead Glass spectrometer yields high precision data on pi0 and eta at midrapidity in a large range of Pt covering the thermal as well as the hard scattering regime beyond 3 GeV/c, and determination of the thermal and direct photon to pi0 ratio.
The preshower Photon Multiplicity Detector allows, by comparing with the charged particle multiplicity measurement, to determine the photon enrichment in an event or event class. The charged particle setup contains two spectrometers to measure momenta of both charges of particles produced in the collision; a Multistep Avalanche Chamber tracking system and a Pad Chamber/Streamer Tube tracking system. These are supplemented by two Time-of-Flight detectors for particle identification. This yields high statistics transverse momentum spectra of identified hadrons as well as Bose-Einstein correlation data, and allows ultimately to correlate electromagnetic and charged hadronic data within event classes.
My Publications in WA98 Experiment
Our Major Contribution in the experiment: Search for disoriented Chiral Condensates and studies of event-by-event fluctuations in multiplicity of produced particles as a signature of QCD phase transition.
The primary physics task of STAR is to study the formation and characteristics of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of matter believed to exist at sufficiently high energy densities. Detecting and understanding the QGP allows us to understand better the universe in the moments after the Big Bang, where the symmetries (and lack of symmetries) of our surroundings were put into motion.
Unlike other physics experiments where a theoretical idea can be tested directly by a single measurement, STAR must make use of a variety of simultaneous studies in order to draw strong conclusions about the QGP. This is due both to the complexity of the system formed in the high-energy nuclear collision and the unexplored landscape of the physics we study. STAR therefore consists of several types of detectors, each specializing in detecting certain types of particles or characterizing their motion. These detectors work together in an advanced data acquisition and subsequent physics analysis that allows final statements to be made about the collision.
My Publications in STAR Experiment
Our Major Contribution in the experiment: RHIC Beam Energy Scan Program, QCD Critical Point and Phase Diagram, Partonic Collectivity, Jet Quenching, Anti-matter search and nuclei production, Strangeness production and phi-mesons, Resonance production, new method of relativistic dE/dx to identify high momentum particles, Logitudinal Scaling of Multiplicity of photons, indentified particle momentum spectra and all aspects (test beam, GEANT, physics simulations etc) of Technical Design Report of Photon Mulitplicity Detector in STAR.
The ALICE Collaboration has built a dedicated heavy-ion detector to exploit the unique physics potential of nucleus-nucleus interactions at LHC energies. Our aim is to study the physics of strongly interacting matter at extreme energy densities, where the formation of a new phase of matter, the quark-gluon plasma, is expected. The existence of such a phase and its properties are key issues in QCD for the understanding of confinement and of chiral-symmetry restoration. For this purpose, we are carrying out a comprehensive study of the hadrons, electrons, muons and photons produced in the collision of heavy nuclei. Alice is also studying proton-proton collisions both as a comparison with lead-lead collisions and in physics areas where Alice is competitive with other LHC experiments.
My Publications in ALICE Experiment
Our Major Contribution in the experiment: Resonance Production, Spin alignment of Vector Mesons, Photon Multiplicity, All aspects (test beam, GEANT, physics simulations etc) of Technical Design Report of Photon Mulitplicity Detector in ALICE
Matter, as we know it, constitutes less than 5% of the total mass in the Universe. Rest of the matter is what we call Dark Matter, which can be felt gravitationally, but can not be seen. The motion of galaxies and clusters are dominated by the presence of this Dark Matter. Dark Matter pervades all space around us, but we do not see it due to its exceptionally low interaction with ordinary matter. The solution to this mystery may lie in a particle called WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle). This particle not only can solve this astrophysical problem, but also solve problems in Particle Physics. A dark matter particle passes through us every second, yet we do not feel it due to their extremely rare interaction with ordinary matter.
Due to the rareness of such recoil and the exceptionally low amount of energy released, an experiment needs to not only be very sensitive, but also have the ability to reject fake events, which can come from radioactivity. The experiment that has led the world in the field of dark matter search is called the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS), located in US. The experiment uses very sophisticated detector technology and advanced analysis techniques to enable cryogenically cooled (almost absolute zero temperature at -460°F) Germanium and Silicon targets to search for the rare recoil of dark matter particles. The next generation experiment will take place in SNOLAB and is called the Super CDMS. An important aspect to this experiments is understanding the coherent neutrino scattering contributions - hence we are also involved in such an experiment called the Mitchell Institute Neutrino Experiment at Reactor (MINER) experiment at the Nuclear Science Center at Texas A&M University
Our Publications in Super CDMS and MINER Experiment
Our Major Contribution in the experiment (so far): Photo-Neutron Analysis, LIPs Search, Backgrounds from 32Si, Feasibility for Dark matter search at DINO and Jadugada and Dilution fridge
The primary physics task of STAR is to study the formation and characteristics of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of matter believed to exist at sufficiently high energy densities. Detecting and understanding the QGP allows us to understand better the universe in the moments after the Big Bang, where the symmetries (and lack of symmetries) of our surroundings were put into motion.
Unlike other physics experiments where a theoretical idea can be tested directly by a single measurement, STAR must make use of a variety of simultaneous studies in order to draw strong conclusions about the QGP. This is due both to the complexity of the system formed in the high-energy nuclear collision and the unexplored landscape of the physics we study. STAR therefore consists of several types of detectors, each specializing in detecting certain types of particles or characterizing their motion. These detectors work together in an advanced data acquisition and subsequent physics analysis that allows final statements to be made about the collision.
Expected Contribution: Critical Point Search and Spin Alignment studies
Future Possibilities we are exploring to join includes:
The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project is a multi-institutional effort aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory with a rock cover of approx.1200 m for non-accelerator based high energy and nuclear physics research in India.
The initial goal of INO is to study neutrinos. Neutrinos are fundamental particles belonging to the lepton family. They come in three flavours, one associated with electrons and the others with their heavier cousins the muon and the Tau. According to standard model of particle physics, they are mass less. However recent experiments indicate that these charge-neutral fundamental particles, have finite but small mass which is unknown. They oscillate between flavours as they propagate. Determination of neutrino masses and mixing parameters is one of the most important open problems in physics today. The ICAL detector is designed to address some of these key open problems in a unique way. Over the years this underground facility is expected to develop into a full-fledged underground science laboratory for other studies in physics, biology, geology, hydrology etc.
This new facility, the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), would collide intense beams of spin-polarized electrons with intense beams of both polarized nucleons and unpolarized nuclei from deuterium to uranium. It will address the following broad physics goals - Precision imaging of the sea-quarks and gluons to determine the spin, flavor and spatial structure of the nucleon; and Definitive study of the universal nature of strong gluon fields in nuclei. More about the physics case in the White Paper .