1

Project  description  –  High  Energy  Particle  Physics  

at  LHC  Run  2  
Proposal1 for a “NFR Forskerprosjekt” within “CERN-related” program 2016-2019

Farid Ould-Saada et al., 9 September 2015

1.  Relevance  relative  to  the  call  for  proposals  

The follow-up of the current High Energy Particle Physics (HEPP) Project closely follows the
call for proposals to ensure optimal scientific use of Norway’s CERN membership and the
investments made through participation in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC). The “HEPP at LHC Run 2” proposal aims mainly to
- Cover Norway’s share of the operation and maintenance costs for the ATLAS detector,
- Support data preparation and analysis and an ambitious physics research program,
- Contribute to funding and operation of the Norwegian part of the computing infrastructure,
part of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), in collaboration with the Nordic
eInfrastructure Collaboration (NeIC), Sigma2 and USIT (Oslo University IT centre),
- Take part in the upgrade of the ATLAS detector through R&D within silicon sensors for the
new inner tracker, as a necessary preparation for the infrastructure application aimed at
covering the full upgrade program.

High Energy Particle Physics recently extended the frontiers of knowledge by discovering the
last element of the Standard Model (SM) of elementary particles, the Higgs boson. Some of
the most advanced technology in existence was required to achieve this feat: the LHC itself -
the world’s highest energy particle accelerator - and the largest particle detectors ever built,
one of them being the ATLAS experiment. The next LHC run will achieve higher energies
and collision rates and will precisely measure the properties of the Higgs boson - and explore
a completely new energy regime, where “New Physics” can be expected to be discovered.

Our strong team of experts in physics analysis, computing, detector technology and statistics,
proposes a way to refine the ATLAS detector, strengthen the computing infrastructure and
tools, and innovate in analysis methods, in order to take part in this revolution in
understanding the basic laws of nature. We aim to educate tomorrow’s experts - masters and
PhD students – and share the excitement, data and discoveries with students and the public.

2.  Aspects  relating  to  the  research  project    

The project objectives are already described in the grant application form.

Background  and  status  of  knowledge

The Standard Model (SM) describes interactions between quarks and leptons (Figure 1). At
high energies, it unifies electromagnetism, a macroscopic force carried by the massless
photon, and the weak force, a microscopic force carried by heavy W and Z bosons. The

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University of Oslo, University of Bergen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University College of Gjøvik
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resulting electroweak symmetry is broken at low energies to give the W, Z, and all matter
particles masses. The Universe is suffused with an invisible scalar field, which acts on
particles and provide them with mass. The Higgs particle observed in 2012 by ATLAS and
CMS at LHC is the manifestation of this Higgs field. Englert and Higgs, two of the people
behind the mechanism of electroweak spontaneous symmetry breaking, were awarded the
2013 physics Nobel Prize. The discovery of the Higgs particle has been a “global effort
leading to a global success”, in the words of the CERN DG, Rolf Heuer. “The results today
are only possible due to the extraordinary performance of the accelerators, the experiments
and the Grid infrastructure”. Further data will allow in-depth investigation of the Higgs
boson's properties and thereby of the origin of mass. Are there more Higgs bosons?
Despite the success of the SM it is not the
ultimate theory of Nature. It does not account
for dark matter or dark energy, and does not
incorporate gravity. Higher symmetries than
those defining the SM would be needed to
relate leptons and quarks (Grand Unified
Theories, GUT) and matter particles and force
carriers (Supersymmetry, SUSY). Superstring
theories, where particles correspond to
vibrations of extended “strings”, in 10 space
dimensions, are the current candidates for the
ultimate unified theory. SUSY predicts five
Higgs bosons and proposes a good candidate
for Dark Matter observed in the Universe. Figure 1 - Standard Model particles.

Are there hidden space dimensions, which would allow gravity-related phenomena, such as
the production of microscopic black holes and gravitons, to occur?

In addition to the discovery and study of the Higgs boson we exploited the ATLAS detector at
the LHC to look for a large spectrum of new phenomena. Despite enormous gains in mass
reach in Run 1, there is no direct evidence for new physics yet. However, we have collected
only a few per cent of the data planned for the full LHC program and already in 2016 the
doubling of the collision energy could yield some surprises.

Current  status2

The LHC collider, the ATLAS detector, the software and computing infrastructure and the
data analysis framework are ready to tackle the challenge.

LHC plans. The current LHC Schedule is full of promises:

- 2010-2012 – Run 1 delivered ~5 fb-1 of data at 7 TeV energy and ~25 fb-1 at 8 TeV
- 2013-2014 – LHC Shutdown 1 (LS1) prepared the machine for nearly design energy
(13 TeV) and nominal luminosity
- 2015-2018 – Run 2 at 13 TeV where 100 fb-1 of data are expected
- 2019-2020 – Injector and LHC Phase 1 upgrades to ultimate luminosity 2.2 x nominal.
- 2021-2023 – Run 3 at 14 TeV to accumulate few 100 fb-1, closing Phase 1 of LHC
- 2024-2026 – Phase 2 Ultimate luminosity Super LHC (SLHC)
- 2027-2035 – Run 4 (27-29), LS4 (30), Run5 (31-35) to collect 3000 fb-1 at 14 TeV.

2
Contributions made by Norwegian HEPP members can be found in the CVs attached to this application.
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ATLAS and the HEPP project. LHC and ATLAS have so far been hugely successful. The
discovery of the Higgs particle and the scrutinised search for new physics in all possible
corners are the highlights so far.

Detector. We played a crucial role in designing, constructing and operating the ATLAS
detector, with emphasis on the Semi-Conductor Tracker (SCT), the main contribution being to
deliver 300 detector modules. A necessary condition to discover the Higgs particle is the
excellent operation of the tracker. LS1 was devoted to detector consolidation, installation of a
new innermost pixel layer for the tracker, the Insertable B-layer (IBL), and other detector
consolidation. In the context of the IBL, we delivered readout flexes installed in the final
system and together with SINTEF we participated in the development and testing of radiation-
hard silicon pixel detectors using the 3D sensor technology. This is one of the sensor
technologies that will be developed further for use in the new all-silicon Inner Tracker (ITk),
which will be installed during the final upgrade to high-luminosity of the LHC taking place in
2024-2025.

Computing and Software. Our key contribution is to develop and deploy Grid middleware
and software and to set up the WLCG distributed computing infrastructure necessary to
exploit the large amount of data produced by LHC. The NorduGrid Advanced Resource
Connector (ARC) is deployed by many large-scale distributed computing infrastructures,
including the Nordic NeIC, the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) and the WLCG. ARC has
been used by the LHC experiments for more than 10 years and is a highly successful and
adaptable distributed computing platform. ARC serves as a job and data management middle
layer without the need for computing nodes to interact with the outside world. This makes it
ideally suited for use with HPC systems, which traditionally are in highly secure
environments with no inbound connectivity.

The ARC Control Tower (aCT)3 is a workload management system that handles all compute
jobs from ATLAS on ARC enabled resources. The lightweight, non-intrusive design of both
ARC and aCT makes it possible to set up a working environment for running compute jobs on
almost any HPC cluster. This allows ATLAS to take advantage of advanced scheduling
techniques like “backfilling”, increasing the amount of available computing resources and
limiting the necessity to acquire dedicated resources for LHC computing. ARC and aCT also
provide a gateway to the volunteer computing project, ATLAS@home, which allows the
public to run ATLAS simulation tasks on their home PCs.

We have also made very significant contributions to offline software. The Derivation
Framework, to be used during Run 2 to produce the ATLAS analysis formats, was largely
designed and implemented by us. Significant contributions to the performance of the event
reconstruction were made - these are essential to obtain the best possible physics results and
realistic systematic uncertainties. Contributions were made to the simulation, reconstruction
and pixel data acquisition software of the IBL pixel layer, and to combined performance of
physics objects reconstruction for Run 2.

Physics. As of September 2015, ATLAS published more than 460 publications in refereed
journals; we made direct contributions to ~10% of these. The physics publications cover
measurements of SM processes, including the discovery and measurements of the Higgs

3
ARC Control Tower - A Flexible Generic Distributed Job Management Framework, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., 2015.
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boson, and an extensive search for new physics phenomena. Run 1 datasets are still being
analysed to make precise measurements.
The discovery of the Higgs boson at a mass of 125.5 GeV was made in 2012 by ATLAS4 and
CMS. Properties such as spin (0) and parity (+) are now established.
We made important contributions to the di-photon and tau-lepton pair decay modes of the
Higgs boson as well as to the combination of ATLAS Higgs results. A key issue is the
understanding of more abundant SM "background" processes to which many students
dedicated large parts of their theses. A recent combination of ATLAS and CMS provides the
best precision to-date on its production and decay and on how it interacts with particles. All of
the measured properties are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model. We
reconstructed b-quark particles and searched for rare decays of B-mesons. These decays are
sensitive to new physics at a higher energy scale and complement the direct searches at the
LHC energy scale. We searched for signs of new physics in final states with electrons, muons
and taus and set severe constraints on possible scenarios: (i) supersymmetric particles,
including setting the first limits at hadron colliders on sleptons; (ii) new charged and neutral
heavy gauge bosons, which would mediate new interactions and thus facilitate unification of
fundamental forces; and (iii) extra space dimensions through the graviton, the hypothetical
mediator of gravity, or microscopic black holes. The experimental contributions are
complemented by theoretical calculations and predictions, especially for the electroweak
symmetry-breaking sector and dark matter.

Education and Outreach. The objective to educate many students in physics, computing and
technology is met. In the 4-year period 2012-2015 the number of PhD (Master) students is 13
(12), to be compared to 15 (30) in the previous 6-year period 2006-2011. Some efforts went
into explaining the Higgs mechanism and mass generation, as well as new physics concepts to
the general public. We developed the Z-path, a powerful and popular educational resource
allowing high-school students to learn about particle physics and search for new phenomena
using real LHC collision data. The ambition to bring to the “classroom” important LHC
discoveries is realized using the recent discovery of the Higgs boson. Invariant mass is
successfully mastered to measure properties of known particles and discover new ones5.

Approaches,  hypotheses  and  choice  of  method  

This project aims to collect and exploit 13 TeV data until end of 2018, prepare the ATLAS
detector to tackle even higher collision rates and energies during the long shutdown (LS2)
taking place in 2019-2020, adapt the computing infrastructure accordingly, and improve the
analysis and statistical techniques. HEPP theoretical particle and astroparticle physicists in
Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim are part of this application or collaborating through common
projects, thus creating some synergy in result interpretation and widening the scope for new
physics searches.

Our strategy will be to play a key role in the following areas further discussed below:
● Duty towards the collaboration
- ATLAS Maintenance and Operations is a necessary service work and the HEPP team has the
overall expertise to perform the tasks.

4
A particle consistent with the Higgs Boson observed with the ATLAS Detector, Science 338 (2012) 1576.
5
Bringing LHC data into the Classroom, PoS ICHEP2012 (2013) 559; ATLAS W and Z path physics and the Z path
measurement, EPJ Web of Conf. 71 (2014); Sharing ATLAS data and research with young students, Procs ICHEP 2014
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- Distributed Computing, Data Management and Analysis, Data Model. Expertise acquired in
Grid middleware and data handling through various Grid project is an important asset. Oslo
hosts several researchers, including the core of the data management system, funded outside
the HEPP project.
- ATLAS upgrades and R&D within the Inner tracking detector. This is a natural continuation
of the excellent contribution to the ATLAS SCT, IBL and pixel R&D.
● Exploitation
- Combined Performance studies
- Focused physics program based on a few final states and conducted within physics groups
- Phenomenology and result interpretation through synergy with theoreticians
- Education, communication and outreach.
Commitments to ATLAS duties (maintenance and operations, detector upgrade, and
computing and software) are necessary investments to best exploit the rich LHC physics
program.

3.  The  project  plan,  project  management,  organisation  and  cooperation  

The project period, the progress plan, and the activities and milestones are provided in the
online application form. In this section, we detail the project plan. We first describe the
strategy behind our research plan, present the project activities, the expertise and personnel
required to carry out the tasks as well as the management and organization of the project, and
finally go through the projects and applications of interest for cooperation.

Project Plan

Computing and Software. With the restart of the experimental program at higher collision
energies and luminosities, data rates will increase dramatically, giving new posing to
distributed computing. Continued contributions to the WLCG infrastructure and related
developments is not only necessary to fulfil the requirements for participation in LHC
experiments, but also provides experience at the forefront of computing technology. The
requirements imposed on software during the third LHC run will be as stringent as those on
the computing resources. The data throughput that will have to be achieved exceeds anything
that our community has managed to date. Such performance can only be attained by
combining a number of techniques - multi-threading and parallel processing of events - as
well as novel algorithms and optimisation of existing software. Inner detector track
reconstruction is the most important part of the offline software in this regard due to the very
high density of tracks that will arise from Run 3 collisions. We will contribute to the
development of high-throughput inner tracking software during Run 2 and the second long
shutdown, ensuring that the components are in place for the start of Run 3.

We worked extensively on ATLAS software and computing developments during LS1. We

will continue to contribute to the maintenance and development of these components, as well
to ATLAS distributed computing operations. We will continue to develop and operate the
ARC Control Tower, allowing further integration of non-traditional resources such as large
HPC centres and volunteer computing into the ATLAS production system. We will integrate
ARC and the Event Service, including enabling access to object stores. Development,
maintenance and operation of the ATLAS Distributed Data Management (DDM) system,
Rucio, and the further integration of Rucio and ARC (especially with regards to allowing full
access to ARC caches through Rucio and extracting popularity information from ARC), will
all be under our responsibility the coming years. Building on the work done on the derivation
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framework in LS1, the production of derived data formats using this framework will be
coordinated by us, according to the requirements of the physics groups.

ATLAS detector upgrade. The coming four-year period is crucial for the detector upgrades
that are foreseen for successful exploitation of the data to be collected at the collision rates
foreseen during LHC Phase 2, planned to start in 2024. For the HEPP project it is crucial to
strengthen the activities within the ITk, the planned new tracker. The ITk will replace the
current Inner Detector, and consists of two parts, both using silicon sensor technology: the
Pixels and the Strips. The R&D necessary for the ITk is now approaching its final phases. We
have participated in this activity, notably in the development of novel 3D sensors, and
participation in the IBL (Insertable B-Layer) and the recently approved AFP (Atlas Forward
Proton) projects. Both projects employ 3D pixel sensors, and are stepping-stones for the final
sensor technology to be employed by the ITk Pixels. Our contributions to these projects are
within the delivery of PCB flexes and mechanical parts. A series of processing runs for 3D
pixel sensors has been launched with SINTEF, with layout and geometry compatible with the
requirements for the pixels for the ITk. During the fall of 2015, these sensors will be
evaluated in test beams at CERN.
For meaningful contributions to the ITk, our involvement must be substantially scaled up,
with investments in infrastructure items and qualified manpower. We would like to
accommodate funding for one applied physicist/engineer, who, together with the existing
personnel, targets his/her work to detailed planning and realisation of the infrastructure
needed to contribute to the construction of the ITk. As we did for the SCT, we plan to
contribute to silicon modules construction. This requires significant upgrades of existing
facilities. The departments at UiO and UiB already possess cleanrooms, but the equipment to
be used for module assembly and testing needs to be acquired. This includes probe stations,
bonding machines, equipment for precise positioning of components, and equipment for
module testing. Given the long term experience in the design of printed circuit boards on solid
and flexible material, it is also likely that we will be asked to take on design and production
tasks in this area.

A strategic physics exploitation plan. The strategy for both New Physics searches and Higgs
and other SM measurements is
● choose a few promising final states and thus minimize the technical studies required to
perform precise measurements which are sensitive to new physics
● use and further develop methods and tools to discriminate new physics from SM
physics, and relate LHC results with other experiments worldwide
● make use of the WLCG infrastructure, including the Nordic Tier-1, to gain access to
large amounts of real and simulated data stored worldwide.
We will search for new physics in basic final states containing at least one lepton (electron,
muon or tau). The various searches with leptons present some synergy. The trigger (high pT
lepton), tracking and lepton reconstruction and identification, data-driven SM background
estimations, systematic uncertainties, and the studies of SM candles (such as Z and W), are
common or very similar, as are the advanced statistical techniques required to perform such
analyses.

Standard Model, flavour and Higgs precision measurements. We will perform precision
measurements of the Higgs boson mainly through its decay to 2 photons, 2 taus and 4 leptons,
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as a follow-up of the search carried out in Run 1. We will continue with studies of b hadrons6
and with global fits of CKM matrix7 and Wilson coefficients.

(i) Higgs decays to tau-pairs. We will continue to explore novel techniques for estimating the
invariant mass of tau-pairs and use the tau-polarisation information to discriminate between Z
and Higgs decays. The tau-tau final state is appropriate for spin and CP (charge conjugation
and parity) measurements of the Higgs boson. In the past, we have developed a method to
find the rest frame of two-body decays where not all energy is visible8. A feasibility study has
been launched to enhance the sensitivity to forbidden decays such as Z, H to tau-mu. While
accumulating data, the plan is to take an active part in the efforts to ‘rediscover’ the Higgs
boson in the tau-tau channel, and also to look for monochromatic recoiling muons in the new
data. Towards 2018-2019 sufficient amounts of data are expected to start meaningful studies
of the spin and CP properties of the Higgs boson.

(ii) Higgs decays to diphotons. The products of branching ratio times cross section show
consistency with the SM prediction for various production mechanisms9. These measurements
will be repeated at higher energy and eventually with a larger sample in order to look for
deviations that might give hints of new physics. One of the challenges of the diphoton channel
is that the large background under the narrow signal peak has to be interpolated precisely and
without bias from sideband measurements. A method is being studied to merge the power of
the statistically limited but full simulation of the dominant SM background with very large
samples of generated background events. If successful this would replace the less rigorous
parameterization currently in use and allow ATLAS to control and estimate the systematic
uncertainty in the signal strength for the large sample expected by the end of Run 2. These
results would then be input to a wide spectrum of improved measurements and searches.

(iii) Higgs decays to 4 leptons through ZZ*. We are investigating two new methods to
improve the statistical sensitivity of the signal strength measurement for the production
mechanisms vector boson fusion (VBF), Higgs-radiation of a vector boson (VH) and gluon-
gluon fusion (ggF). The first method uses two-dimensional boosted decision tree (BDT)
probability density functions (PDFs) that were produced with separately trained VBF and VH
events and checked versus ggF events. The second method is still under investigation and
employs neural network classifiers, which further improves the statistical sensitivity of signal
strength measurement. Both methods are being tested using the 8 TeV Run 1 data sample
before we apply them to Run 2 data. We plan to measure angular distributions with the full
dataset.

Searches for new physics with lepton final states. This was our substantial physics analysis
activity in Run 1 resulting in 6 PhD theses and direct contribution to 20 published papers. We
will work in four main directions:

(i) Model-independent search. We will perform a model-independent study of one, two, three
and four charged-lepton (electrons and muons) final states. Discriminating variables will be
developed and exploited to distinguish between various models. Backgrounds will be

6
Search for the decay Bs0 à µµ with the ATLAS detector, Phys.Lett. B713 (2012) 387-407; Determination of the ratio of b-
quark fragmentation fractions fs/fd in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector, arXiv:1507.08925.
7
Global CKM Fits with the Scan Method, Phys.Rev. D89 (2014) 033004.
8
Method to Estimate the Boson Mass and Optimise Sensitivity to Helicity correlations of τ+τ- final states, JHEP01(2012)43
9
Measurement of Higgs boson production in the diphoton decay channel at 7 and 8 TeV, Phys. Rev. D90 (2014) 112015
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estimated with data-driven methods. Leptonic decays of Z0 and W will be exploited as high-
statistics control channels. Models with two-leptons include high-mass resonances Z´, Z*,
black holes, gravitons, as well as non-resonant excesses such as new contact interactions.
Three-lepton events may stem from flavor violating resonances, such as R-parity violating
SUSY decays of charginos. W’ or supersymmetry may lead to final states with leptons and
missing energy. Finally, massive spin zero resonances may decay via ZZ(*) to four leptons.
Such states originate in some extensions of the SM in addition to one of the most prominent
precision measurement channels for the SM Higgs boson just described above.
For all of the new physics searches with leptons, we will investigate novel techniques such as
anomaly detection, which could identify non-SM physics without relying on signal MC.

(ii) Searches for SUSY and exotics with electrons and muons. We have already published
many results (including 4 PhD theses) on searches for SUSY in channels with two10 or more
leptons, additional charged (W’, W*)11 and neutral (Z’,Z*) or graviton12 (gauge) bosons in
one- and two-lepton channels, respectively. We will extend the searches with electrons and
muons via the electroweak production, involving sleptons and gauginos.
Interesting hints arise from Run 1 ATLAS and CMS data, which will be explored in Run 2. In
a search for narrow resonances decaying into WW, WZ, or ZZ boson pairs, an excess of
events is observed at 2 TeV in the invariant mass distribution of di-jets from highly boosted
W or Z. An excess of events in the same-sign dilepton channel with b-jets and missing
transverse energy is observed by five separate analyses. The very first Run 2 data, collected in
July 2015 were analysed by two of our students in search for W' and Z', and the results were
presented at EPS-HEP 2015.

(iii) SUSY strong production with tau-leptons. We have been exploring the SUSY parameter
space with relevance to astrophysics and dark matter searches. This often involves the
supersymmetric partners of the tau (staus), leading to tau leptons in the final state. In order to
enhance the sensitivity to SUSY it is essential to improve tau reconstruction in ATLAS, and
possibly measure tau polarization. This motivates our direct involvement in the ATLAS tau
performance group, which will strengthen throughout Run 2. While Run-1 search results were
converted into limits, our Run-2 analyses will be optimised towards discovery.
We will continue to (a) lead the strong production search in the one-tau channel13, (b) work on
the combination of results from the one-tau, two-tau, tau+light lepton channels, and (c)
interpret the results of strong production searches with taus in the context of simplified
models14 and more realistic SUSY scenarios such as the pMSSM15. We have made a leading
contribution to the DM interpretation of ATLAS SUSY searches in the pMSSM scan, as well
as in the Monte Carlo simulation of simplified models, and we will keep these commitments
for Run 2.

(ii,iii) In all lepton channels (electron, muon, tau) we will extend SUSY searches to cover all
relevant pMSSM phenomenologies helped by collaboration with theory and astrophysics

10
Search for direct production of charginos, neutralinos and sleptons in final states with two leptons and missing transverse
momentum in pp collisions at √s =8 TeV, JHEP 05 (2014) 071; Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in
events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s =8 TeV pp collisions, JHEP 04 (2014) 169.
11
Search for new particles in events with one lepton and missing transverse momentum at 8 TeV, JHEP 09 (2014) 37.
12
Search for High-Mass Dilepton Resonances in pp Collisions at √s = 8 TeV, Phys. Rev. D 90 (2014) 052005.
13
Search for supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least one tau lepton in 20 fb−1 of
√s = 8 TeV proton-proton collision data, JHEP09 (2014) 103.
14
Searches for squarks and gluinos using √s = 8 TeV pp collisions, arXiv:1507.05525.
15
ATLAS sensitivity to supersymmetry after LHC Run 1 - interpreted in the phenomenological MSSM, arXiv:1508.06608.
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colleagues within this project. SUSY searches are interpreted for more general cases than they
are optimized for, including constrained models (mSUGRA, NUHM, GMSB, …) and a 19-D
scan of the pMSSM. In such scans all SUSY searches performed in our project are effectively
combined.

(iv) Dark matter search in mono-W and mono Z-events. These are general DM investigations
extending the search for SUSY DM. We will investigate mono-W and mono-Z production.
The W’ search was interpreted as mono-W and a pair of DM particles within the framework
of Effective Field Theory (EFT) or contact interaction, when the mediator of the interaction
between SM and DM particles is very heavy. “Simplified models” of DM production,
including particles and interactions beyond the SM, provide an extension to the EFT
approach. At the LHC, the kinematics of mono-X (X=jet, W, Z, H) reactions occurring via a
TeV-scale mediator can differ substantially from the prediction of the contact interaction.

Synergy with Theory. There is a wide spectrum of theory activities in Norway that tie into the
experimental work, allowing for productive national collaborations, strengthening both
experiment and theory. The two main themes are: the exploration of the electroweak
symmetry-breaking sector at the LHC, and studies to optimize searches for supersymmetry
and DM.

On-going Higgs sector studies explore models that also lead to DM candidates, as well as
additional CP violation effects, and how these could be experimentally searched for. The
focus will mainly be on LHC searches for two Higgs doublet models and the exploration of
the properties of inert Higgs doublet models. Here there is long-term collaboration between
experiment and theory in Bergen to define relevant benchmark points16.

In collaboration with experimentalists we plan a consistent analysis of mono-X searches.

Within simplified model we will consider both mono-X and mediator production as well as
precise measurements of W/Z production, Higgs invisible branching ratio measurements, and
direct and indirect DM detection. A software package is to be developed for the analysis,
which allows for the prediction of consequences for indirect DM observation. A Short Term
Association (STA) with ATLAS for one or more theorists will be formed to facilitate
collaboration.

We will explore supersymmetric scenarios with a gravitino LSP, where the next-to-lightest
superpartner (NLSP) is metastable, leading to interesting phenomenology at colliders and in
the early universe. Since the NLSP relic density depends on the properties of the NLSP and
other sparticles, LHC results can be used to constrain it17. We plan to extend this work, with a
focus on determining how and with what accuracy it will be possible to measure the relevant
parameters of the NLSP after a potential discovery, or what bounds can be set otherwise. In
addition, we would like to establish methods that can differentiate between a long-lived
sneutrino NLSP and a stable neutralino LSP. Given the experimental expertise in tau
identification, we also plan to investigate whether looking for taus from the decays of heavier
sparticles into a tau sneutrino NLSP could boost sensitivity. While super weakly interacting
DM cannot be detected directly, indirect detection could find its decay products if R-parity or
some other stabilizing symmetry is broken, making the DM unstable. For decaying DM
relating the coupling governing DM decay to the coupling governing production at colliders

16
Probing the charged Higgs boson at the LHC in the CP-violating type-II 2HDM, JHEP1211 (2012) 011.
17
A survey for low stau yields in the MSSM, JHEP04 (2014)053.
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links LHC and indirect searches. We plan to identify classes of such models and study their
phenomenology, in particular with respect to the discovery potential of the Cherenkov
Telescope Array.

By using global fits of new physics models we will explore the impact of the wealth of new
results from the LHC. Our participation in the GAMBIT Collaboration (a Global and Modular
Beyond the Standard Model Inference Tool) aims to produce a valuable tool for joint
experiment/theory studies of models across particle and astrophysics, using large scale
computing. This tool will be used on Run 2 results to constrain the large parameter spaces of
popular new physics scenarios such as the MSSM. Results from the LHC will also be
propagated to the DarkSUSY code, which explores DM models, in the form of model limits.

Indirect searches for DM require a good understanding of particle physics-based uncertainties.

We will apply LHC results to the following: improve models of cosmic ray propagation based
on the "trajectory approach", reduce uncertainties on secondary production in hadron
interactions by more careful modelling of these processes in Monte Carlo codes such as
QGSJET-II-04, and improve on models of antideuteron formation.

Education and Outreach. The ambition to bring to the “classroom” important LHC
discoveries will be carried on, building on the Z-path educational tool. The opportunities
offered by the 13 TeV LHC era and by the CERN open data access triggered the extension of
the educational material. Research projects based on large LHC data samples open new
possibilities for university students and result in strong interest in related lecture courses. New
features are being implemented into the Z-path that will serve both high school and university
students, and the key concept of missing energy is also in the pipeline.

Expertise,  manpower  and  tasks

In this section we first list the project activities and manpower needed to carry out the
ambitious scientific plan, described above, in the following areas:

● Physics analysis, including: expertise in lepton and photon reconstruction and

identification; data-driven background techniques; fluency in the use of advanced tools for
statistical interpretation of data.
● Expertise in semiconductor-based tracking hardware, software, and distributed
computing. This expertise will be crucial to achieve the commitments for the construction
and installation of the new inner tracker (ITk) and to tackle the extremely challenging
software and (distributed) computing tasks.

Description of project activities. The key activities for this project are:
A1: ATLAS Operations
Follow-up of the ATLAS Maintenance and Operations (M&O), including planning and
execution of service work and various shifts (detector, computing and software, data
preparation) to be committed.
A2: ATLAS detector Upgrade
This includes R&D in 3D pixels for the new Inner Tracker (ITk), prototyping and test beam,
deployment of technology within the ATLAS Forward Proton (AFP) detector, and the
operations of the newly installed Insertable B-layer (IBL).
A3: ATLAS Computing & Software. Development of software (new tracking and
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reconstruction techniques, multi-threading), middleware (ARC), data management (Rucio)

and other computing components to match the Exascale nature and complexity of the extreme
conditions prevailing at the Super LHC.
A4:  Physics  exploitation  
This is the most important activity related to the overall goal of the project. It is split into sub-
activities coordinated by physicists directly involved in the research fields. The physics
research plan and the strategy behind are detailed below.
A4.1: Combined performance. Build on the expertise and achievements in hardware and
software to optimise the use of physics objects, maximize efficiencies and minimise
systematic uncertainties.
A4.2: Standard Model and Higgs physics. A4.3: Supersymmetry and Dark Matter.
A4.4: Exotic physics. A4.5: Particle physics theory.
A5:  Management,  cooperation,  dissemination,  education  and  outreach,  exploitation.    

The Milestones corresponding to each of the activities Ax.y are listed as Mx.y.z in the
timetable of the project plan.

Manpower. The manpower contribution from the participating institutions, entered into
“Funding plan” of the online form, consists of senior staff, with an important record in all
aspects of research in particle physics, and PhD students. In addition we rely on excellent
researchers and postdocs, financed by the RCN. For more details we refer to the CVs and
information entered into the grant application form.

David Cameron is the ATLAS Distributed Computing Operations Co-coordinator, in

charge of ensuring smooth operations of ATLAS Grid computing, and heavily involved in the
commissioning of the new ATLAS computing systems developed during LS1 up to the final
preparations for the start of Run 2. He is also a key responsible in the ATLAS@Home
volunteer computing project and an active developer of the ARC middleware.

James Catmore plays a leading role in the development work for the ATLAS data derivation
framework and worked on the new analysis format. He has completed the main software
development optimisation of the framework. He is responsible for liaising between physics
groups and ATLAS Distributed Computing with regards to storage usage. Expert in B-physics
and muons, he joined the exotics group to search for new gauge bosons.

Eirik Gramstad has been part of the ATLAS train coordination team, and main responsible of
the production part of the new derivation framework. He follows up the requests from the
physics groups and ensures that the overall derivation production is successful. Expert in
SUSY analysis and QCD background determination, with several ATLAS publications, he
pursues supersymmetry searches through electroweak production of gauginos and sleptons.

Bertrand Martin is in charge of the energy calibration of hadronically decaying tau leptons for
early Run-2 analyses. Expert in calorimeter operation, he is working on advanced techniques
that exploit both tracking and calorimeter measurements to calibrate the energy of individual
pions from tau decays. He worked on searches for squarks and gluinos with tau leptons, and
made significant contributions to ATLAS Run-1 SUSY legacy papers.

Ole Røhne plays a key role in the R&D activities in Oslo, in close contact with the local
engineers and technicians. He has been leading the IBL contribution, co-convening the IBL
Stave working group, and responsible for delivering readout flexes. He collaborates with
 12

SINTEF on 3D silicon sensor R&D, in view of the use of unique single-sided 3D thin silicon
sensors for the ITk. He was member of the TALENT ERC Network for detector related PhDs.

Zongchang Yang is working on the study of the Higgs properties in the four leptons decay
channel, based on the production mechanism specific signatures. He develops new
categorization approach with advanced machine learning algorithm, which may improve the
measurements in Run-2. He is also involved in 3D pixel detector R&D activities for ATLAS
Phase-II upgrade, and building a pixel testing system in Bergen.

The excellent contributions to the ATLAS computing and software activities and to ARC
lead to a strengthening of the HEPP project. Jon Nilsen (USIT and NeIC) is ARC release
manager and co-developed and operates the ARC Control Tower. He helped ATLAS
computing to run on Chinese HPC through the ATLAS production system. Vincent Garonne
(ATLAS) is the Distributed Data Management (DDM) project leader. His responsibilities are
the coordination of the development team (~10 persons); support of the system; and
the development of the system project, called Rucio. He is responsible for the system
architecture, contributing as a core developer and release coordinator of the project. Cedric
Serfon, another Rucio key developer, also funded by ATLAS, starts 1st October 2015 for a
period of 3 years.

Project  management  and  organisation. University of Oslo (UiO) is the coordinator of

the project. Partners from University of Bergen (UiB) and University College of Gjøvik
(HiG)18 are entered under the item for “Partners” in the grant application form. Confirmation
letters from the three institutions are uploaded.

The management structure is chosen such as to be as efficient as possible and also to provide
the least overhead in comparison with related projects.
Farid Ould-Saada (UiO) will act as project leader (PL) and will be supported by a deputy
(DPL) to cover for him in case of absence and to provide a second hand in meetings
nationally or internationally when needed. The PL is the entry point to both the Research
Council of Norway and to the financial office at the Department of Physics. The PL will work
closely with and take part in meetings of the Norwegian CERN committee, with the main task
to report to the committee and to collaborate with the other CERN-related projects.
Anna Lipniacka (UiB) will act as DPL with further responsibility as coordinator of the Bergen
HEPP team. The PL, the deputy PL and a representation from the other permanent staff will
function as a "steering group" (SG). The PL and deputy will have frequent videoconference
meetings. The SG will meet twice a year, and when necessary, to assess the overall progress
of the project and to settle any nontrivial management issues. We will strive for consensus.

The SG will agree on the distribution of funds between the partners. A collaboration
agreement (CA), regulating partners' rights and duties, will be entered into with all partners
before a contract may be signed between the RCN and the coordinator.

Nomination of activity coordinators improves the functioning of the project and the
communication between project members and between partners. Weekly face-to-face
meetings (with videoconference possibility) allow the members to discuss progress and
technical challenges. Researchers are encouraged to play leading roles and PhD students to be

18
We will seek collaboration with NTNU when the merger is completed at the beginning of 2016.
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active in the relevant ATLAS working groups. Project members, including students, will
participate intensively in “service work” related to the operation and maintenance of the
experiment and computing infrastructure. PhD students are required to perform 90 working
days of technical work to qualify as ATLAS authors. Some of the qualification work is
directly relevant to the aims of the project and we will make full use of such synergies. We
will also recruit several master students.

Collaboration.  The experimental staffs at UiO and UiB are members of the ATLAS
collaboration, which consists of more than 3000 physicists and students from 37 different
nations, as well as Computing collaborations. The theoretical staff also have international
collaborations.

The HEPP project members are part of complementary projects or applications:

- The Strategic Dark matter Initiative, involving the experimental and theoretical particle
physics groups and the Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics at UiO, funds 5 PhDs and a
postdoc. This presents a case for cooperation within physics analysis and interpretation of
dark matter results at LHC and at other facilities, such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array.
- The RCN-funded four-year FRINATEK project “GAMBIT: a Global and Modular Beyond
the Standard Model Inference Tool”.
- Further developments of silicon sensors are included in AEgIS19 and 3DMiMiC20.
- Synergy Grid - particle physics research is a result of fruitful collaboration with NorduGrid.
- The NordForsk-funded project “ARC for eInfrastructures” starts in September 2015 and
runs for 3 years. The main goal is ARC middleware maintenance and support, and the
resolution of scalability issues linked with the increase usage of ARC.
- Advanced Resource Connector for Secure Data-Services Everywhere – Frinatek RCN
application (May 2015) with the aim to contribute to ARC development beyond HEP.

Budget. Budget information is accounted for in the electronic application form. The funding
we seek from the RCN and the breakdown among various activities is shown in Table 1.
Further details about the budget and the matching funding from the participating institutions
are detailed in entry “funding plan” of the online form.

The baseline budget shows an increase of order 25% (high Swiss Franc exchange rate, which
went from 6.4 to 8.6, and salary increase) compared to the current project. This is essential in
order to fulfil the overall goal of the program: (i) take part in a vital way in any discovery in a
new energy domain, by keeping the researcher team proposed, including enough PhD
students, (ii) ensure a sustained detector R&D to achieve a successful infrastructure proposal
in 2016 to cover the core detector phase 2 upgrade estimated to be ~2.5 MCHF for Norway,
and (iii) provide the pledged computing resources.

The computing infrastructure (Table 2) will be renewed for another period of 4 years in
March 2017 and will serve for Run 2 and data analysis during the LHC shutdown 2. The cost
estimate is 12 MNOK for 4 years, consisting of hardware, manpower for operation, support
and maintenance at sites. We allocate 6 MNOK to the hardware investments. We expect CPU
to be partly covered by the NOTUR quota, (currently 4,7 kHEP Spec 06). The project share of
the operations is agreed with Sigma2 and USIT to be of order 1.44 MNOK.

19
Norwegian participation in the AEGIS experiment at CERN.
20
The 3DMiMiC project is funded by RCN within the NANO2021 program.
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Table 1 - Detailed budget request from research council. All figures are in 1000 NOK.

Expenditure 2016 2017 2018 2019 Total

ATLAS Maintenance & Operations 1892 1892 1892 1892 7568
ATLAS Upgrades 1131 3131 1111 1111 6484
Phase 1 - AFP prototyping: flexes, holders 70 70 50 50 240
Phase 2 - 3D pixel R&D new inner tracker 1061 3061 1061 1061 6244
Tier-1 Computing Infrastructure: 630 6630 630 630 7440
Researcher positions 5058 6243 5364 4426 21092
Travel & subsistence: Atlas, outreach, theory 2275 2275 2275 2275 9100
Options (upgrade and position co-funding) 400 900 900 2900 5100
Sensor R&D - SINTEF run, workshop 100 100 100 2100 2400
Engineer Bergen 50% 500 500 500 1500
Co-funding of positions 300 300 300 300 1200
Budget – Baseline – no options 10548 20062 10858 10216 51684
Budget with Options 10948 20962 11558 13116 56784

Table 2 - ATLAS Norwegian share in the Nordic Tier1. Current CPUs expire end
of 2016 and disk in 2017. Tape lasts 8 years. Investments are in parentheses.

Tier 1 plan 2016 2017 2018 2019

CPU-kHS06 8,1(11,6) 10,5 (4,7) 11,5 (4,7) 12,6 (4,7)

Disk-Pbytes 0,7 0,9 (0,6) 1,0 1,1

Tape-Pbytes 1,81(1,4) 3,3 (1,4) 3,6 3,9

It is the baseline budget of 51.684 MNOK, which is entered to the online form.
In addition Table 2 features an option of 5.1 MNOK to further prepare for the infrastructure
proposal we will submit in 2016. This consists mainly of a part-time engineer position to be
matched by an own contribution from UiB and a second sensor run. In fact, with the latter,
SINTEF would offer 3 runs in total for the price of 2, which would be very attractive and
competitive. The 3D R&D is unique as SINTEF is the only producer of single-sided 3D thin
silicon sensors. If successful, the current thin sensor will have an impact on the ATLAS ITk
upgrade. We also include a buffer for co-funding of 2 researcher positions at a level of 20% of
a full position. This could come from the RCN or universities.

4.    Key  perspectives  and  compliance  with  strategic  documents    

Compliance  with  strategic  documents.    
The experimental particle physics group of one of the partners was amongst the 15% of
national physics groups that received a top ranking in the 2010 international evaluation of
Norwegian basic physics research carried out by the Research Council. Our involvement in
Grid development and exploitation was acknowledged. Synergy between theory and
experiment is exceptional in this proposal, with a strengthening of the collaboration with the
astrophysics community, following current university strategy encouraging cross-disciplinary
research. The host institutions are strategically committed to supporting our activities,
 15

developing the capabilities of their mechanical workshops and electronics labs and by funding
an impressive pool of PhD students, fulfilling the objective to educate tomorrow’s educators,
researchers and technology experts.

Relevance  and  benefit  to  society.    

The project's most direct benefit to society is to generate new knowledge about our
fascinating universe and how it works at a fundamental level - discoveries made today will be
taught in classrooms tomorrow. It provides a training ground for a new generation of
scientists who learn how to tackle difficult problems by learning new basic concepts, applying
advanced analysis methods and cutting edge technology, and by exploiting the advantages of
distributed computing to tackle the Exascale data era. The computing resource connector
proposed by ARChestrate aims to bring LHC computing know-how into other domains of
research and the public sector. Our 3D pixel project is an example of the process of
technology and know-how transfer from fundamental particle physics research to society at
large.

Environmental  impact.    
The project has no particular environmental aspects.

Ethical  perspectives.    
The project has no particular ethical aspects in itself. We comply with guidelines of the
respective scientific communities when it comes to data ownership, authorship of scientific
work and citations. The proposed activity includes working in collaboration with projects
having permission from the Local Ethical Committee (REK) for their research.

Gender  issues  (Recruitment  of  women,  gender  balance  and  gender  perspectives).  
In Norway, Particle Physics and technology are fields with a rather low fraction of female
researchers, but in line with Nordic trends in exact sciences. Our universities have been
aiming at becoming a more family-friendly workplace, providing adequate parental leave and
support facilities for young parents, respecting gender imbalance when hiring researchers, and
aiming at a balanced work environment. In the CERN-related Norwegian community there is
already a tendency towards a large fraction of young women PhD students who will naturally
be given the opportunity to progress further in their academic careers and ultimately position
themselves to compete for permanent academic positions.

5.  Dissemination  and  communication  of  results      

We refer to the electronic grant application form.

6.  Additional  information  specifically  requested  in  the  call  for  

proposals    
No additional information is specifically requested in the call for proposals.