Characterization of the radiation field in ATLAS using Timepix detectors

Le travail présenté dans cette thèse porte sur le réseau de détecteurs à pixels ATLAS-TPX, installé dans l’expérience ATLAS afin d’étudier l’environement radiatif en utilisant la tech- nologie Timepix. Les travaux sont rapportés en deux parties, d’une part l’analyse des données recueillies entre 2015 et 2018, d’autre part l’étude de nouveaux détecteurs pour une mise à niveau du réseau. Dans la première partie, une méthode pour extraire certaines propriétés des MIPs (Mini- mum Ionizing Particles) est développée, basée sur l’étude des traces laissées par ces particules lorsqu’elles traversent les matrices de pixels des détecteurs ATLAS-TPX. Il est montré que la direction des MIPs et leur perte d’énergie (dE/dX) peut être déterminée, permettant d’évaluer leur origine. De plus, la méthode pour mesurer les champs de neutrons thermiques et neutrons rapides avec ces détecteurs est expliquée, puis appliquée aux données. Les flux de neutrons thermiques mesurés aux différentes positions des détecteurs ATLAS-TPX sont présentés, alors que le signal des neutrons rapides ne se distingue pas du bruit de fond. Ces résultats sont décrits dans une publication, et la façon dont ils peuvent être utilisés pour valider les simulations de champs de radiation dans ATLAS est discutée. Dans la seconde partie, la thèse présente une étude de détecteurs Timepix utilisant l’arséniure de gallium (GaAs) et le tellurure de cadmium (CdTe) comme capteur de radia- tion. Ces semiconducteurs offrent des avantages par rapport au silicium et pourraient être utilisés dans les prochaines mises à niveau du réseau ATLAS-TPX. Comme ils sont connus pour des problèmes d’instabilité dans le temps et une efficacité de collection de charge incomplète, ils sont testés en utilisant divers types d’irradiation. Ceci est décrit dans deux articles, l’un portant sur un capteur au GaAs de 500 μm d’épaisseur, l’autre sur un capteur au CdTe de 1 mm d’épaisseur. Malgré l’apparition de pixels bruyants lors des mesures, les détecteurs montrent une bonne stabilité du signal dans le temps. Par contre, l’efficacité de iv collection de charge est inhomogène à travers la surface des détecteurs, avec des fluctuations de produits mobilité-temps de vie (μτ) importantes. Ces résultats montrent qu’il est nécessaire d’étudier l’influence de ces défauts sur les algorithmes de reconnaissance de traces avant l’utilisation du GaAs et CdTe dans les mises à niveau du réseau ATLAS-TPX.The work presented in this thesis focuses on the ATLAS-TPX pixel detector network, in- stalled in the ATLAS experiment for studying the radiation environement using the Timepix technology. The achievements are presented in two parts, on one hand the analysis of data acquired between 2015 and 2018, on another hand the study of new detectors for an upgrade of the network. In the first part, a method to extract properties of MIPs (Minimum Ionizing Particles) is developed, based on the analysis of clusters left by the interaction of these particles in the pixel matrixes of the ATLAS-TPX detectors. It is shown that the direction of MIPs and their energy loss (dE/dX) can be determined, allowing the evaluation of their origin. Moreover, the method for mesuring the thermal and fast neutron fields is explained, and applied to the data. The thermal neutron fluxes at the different detector locations are reported, whereas the fast neutron signal cannot be distingished from the background. Thoses results are described in a publication, and their use for benchmarking simulations of the radiation field in ATLAS is discussed. In the second part, the thesis presents a study of Timepix detectors equipped with gallium arsenide (GaAs) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) sensors. These semiconductors offer some advantages over silicon and could be used for upgrades of the ATLAS- TPX network. Since they are known to suffer from time instabilities and incomplete charge collection efficiency, they are tested using several types of irradiation. This is described in two publications, one focusing on a 500μm thick GaAs sensor, another focusing on a 1mm thick CdTe sensor. Despite the appearance of noisy pixels during the measurements, the detectors are found to be reasonably stable in time. However, the charge collection efficiency is found to be inhomogeneous across the sensor surfaces, with significant fluctuations of mobility-lifetime (μτ) products. These results show that vi it is necessary to study the influence of these material defects on the pattern recog- nition algorithms before the integration of such sensors in the ATLAS-TPX upgrades

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Alginates along the filament of the brown alga Ectocarpus help cells cope with stress

International audienceEctocarpus is a filamentous brown alga, which cell wall is composed mainly of alginates and fucans (80%), two non-crystalline polysaccharide classes. Alginates are linear chains of epimers of 1,4-linked uronic acids, β-d-mannuronic acid (M) and α-l-guluronic acid (G). Previous physico-chemical studies showed that G-rich alginate gels are stiffer than M-rich alginate gels when prepared in vitro with calcium. In order to assess the possible role of alginates in Ectocarpus, we first immunolocalised M-rich or G-rich alginates using specific monoclonal antibodies along the filament. As a second step, we calculated the tensile stress experienced by the cell wall along the filament, and varied it with hypertonic or hypotonic solutions. As a third step, we measured the stiffness of the cell along the filament, using cell deformation measurements and atomic force microscopy. Overlapping of the three sets of data allowed to show that alginates co-localise with the stiffest and most stressed areas of the filament, namely the dome of the apical cell and the shanks of the central round cells. In addition, no major distinction between M-rich and G-rich alginate spatial patterns could be observed. Altogether, these results support that both M-rich and G-rich alginates play similar roles in stiffening the cell wall where the tensile stress is high and exposes cells to bursting, and that these roles are independent from cell growth and differentiation

Alginates along the filament of the brown alga Ectocarpus help cells cope with stress.

Ectocarpus is a filamentous brown alga, which cell wall is composed mainly of alginates and fucans (80%), two non-crystalline polysaccharide classes. Alginates are linear chains of epimers of 1,4-linked uronic acids, β-D-mannuronic acid (M) and α-L-guluronic acid (G). Previous physico-chemical studies showed that G-rich alginate gels are stiffer than M-rich alginate gels when prepared in vitro with calcium. In order to assess the possible role of alginates in Ectocarpus, we first immunolocalised M-rich or G-rich alginates using specific monoclonal antibodies along the filament. As a second step, we calculated the tensile stress experienced by the cell wall along the filament, and varied it with hypertonic or hypotonic solutions. As a third step, we measured the stiffness of the cell along the filament, using cell deformation measurements and atomic force microscopy. Overlapping of the three sets of data allowed to show that alginates co-localise with the stiffest and most stressed areas of the filament, namely the dome of the apical cell and the shanks of the central round cells. In addition, no major distinction between M-rich and G-rich alginate spatial patterns could be observed. Altogether, these results support that both M-rich and G-rich alginates play similar roles in stiffening the cell wall where the tensile stress is high and exposes cells to bursting, and that these roles are independent from cell growth and differentiation

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Measurement of the W±Z boson pair-production cross section in pp collisions at √s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector

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Search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with tau leptons in √s=13 TeV collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with at least two hadronically decaying tau leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV.Nosignificant deviation from the expected Standard Model background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of ˜χ+1 ˜χ−1 pair production and of ˜χ±1 ˜χ02 and ˜χ+1 ˜χ−1 production in simplified models where the neutralinos and charginos decay solely via intermediate left-handed staus and tau sneutrinos, and the mass of the ˜ τL state is set to be halfway between the masses of the ˜χ±1 and the ˜χ01. Chargino masses up to 630 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level in the scenario of direct production of ˜χ+1 ˜χ−1 for a massless ˜χ01. Common ˜χ±1 and ˜χ02 masses up to 760 GeV are excluded in the case of production of ˜χ±1 ˜χ02 and ˜χ+1 ˜χ−1 assuming a massless ˜χ01. Exclusion limits for additional benchmark scenarios with large and small mass-splitting between the ˜χ±1 and the ˜χ01 are also studied by varying the ˜ τL mass between the masses of the ˜χ±1 and the ˜χ01