1. Topic ID: 0134
  2. Research topic: Production of strange hadrons in diffractive proton-proton collisions with the STAR detector at RHIC
  3. Supervisor: prof. dr hab. inż. Mariusz Przybycień
  4. Supervisor’s email address: mariusz.przybycien@agh.edu.pl
  5. Auxiliary supervisor: dr inż. Leszek Adamczyk
  6. Abstract: The study of the production of strange hadrons in proton-proton collisions has long been recognized as an important ground for tests of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). Exclusive production of meson and baryon pairs belongs to the class of central exclusive production (CEP) processes, which in hadron-hadron collisions can, in general, proceed via Double Pomeron Exchange (DPE), photon-Pomeron and photon-photon exchanges, where Pomeron is a colour singlet object with internal quantum numbers of the vacuum. Also, inclusive production of strange hadrons will be measured. Currently, there exist no published results of the diffractive production of strange neutral hadrons. It is expected that the successful candidate will analyze the data collected by the STAR experiment in proton-proton collisions at √s = 510 GeV, which are known to be of high quality and large statistics.

    It is also expected that the successful candidate will spend a significant part of his/her time, especially in the second half of the PhD study, working on the new project - the ePIC experiment to be built at the future Electron-Ion Collider. This will include simulation of the detector components centered around the luminosity detector, and evaluation of the measurement efficiencies of the major physics processes such as e.g. the photoproduction of lepton pairs and the Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS).

    The research proposed in this project is rather broad, and it will be split into two separate analyses: exclusive and inclusive production of neutral strange hadrons. Each analysis of the existing STAR data will be accompanied by the preparatory studies related to the future ePIC experiment. Therefore, two interested students are sought for this project.

    More information on the current involvement of Prof. M. Przybycień in international high-energy physics projects can be found here: http://home.agh.edu.pl/mariuszp/prace/prace.html
  7. Research facilities: This research will be performed using the data collected by the STAR experiment at the RHIC accelerator in the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY, USA. RHIC is one of two currently operating in the world, circular accelerators of protons and heavy-ions, and the only one in which it is possible to collide polarized (longitudinally or transversely) proton beams. The STAR detector is a multi-purpose detector with an extraordinary capability of identifying charged particles produced at central rapidities, and what is especially important for this project, is also equipped with a Roman Pot system which allows tagging of the beam protons scattered at very small polar angles. This capability of tagging the forward-scattered protons, which emerge from the collision intact, is essential in order to make sure that the process under study is exclusive.

    It is planned that BNL will be the host laboratory for the new tool for high energy (particle) physics - the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The EIC will provide collisions of (polarized) electron and proton beams at high energies. This new tool will include a circular collider as well as a multipurpose detector to be built by the newly established international Collaboration ePIC. The main aim of these new devices will be to eventually fully understand the spin structure of the proton. The whole complex is expected to be built within approximately 10 years and the first collisions are expected to take place in 2032.

    The successful candidate(s) will have full access to the STAR data and all necessary computing facilities at BNL, as well as to the local computing infrastructure at the AGH UST.
    Although the main source of funding the stipend is a subsidy, it is also likely that some additional component of the stipend will be funded from an NCN grant.
  8. Funding source: Subsidy