Thesis

Search for flavour-changing neutral current top-quark decays with the ATLAS detector

• Call:

  FCT / IDPASC call 2010

• Academic Year:

  2010 / 2011

• Domain:

  Experimental Particle Physics

• Supervisor:

  Joao Carvalho

• Co-Supervisor:

• Institution:

  Universidade de Coimbra

• Host Institution:

  Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas

• Abstract:

  The study of the top quark decay into a W boson and a s-quark, in particular the direct measurement of the top quark decay rate on this channel, will constrain the CKM mixing matrix, in an independent way of the matrix unitarity condition, with possible clues for physics beyond the Standard Model and about the existence of a fourth fermion family. The present measurement starts with the reconstruction of the top quark decay and the identification of s-quark jets, namely from the production of long lived mesons with s-quarks.\ In the present work it will be developed signal selection and background rejection algorithms. which will be used both with simulated and real data acquired by the ATLAS experiment at LHC. The work will also stress the estimation and minimization of the systematic errors associated with this measurement.