Request for a DESY Summer Student in 2011
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  Name : Kerstin Tackmann    email : kerstin.tackmann@cern.ch 
 
  Tel  :                      Room :
 
  DESY-Group/Experiment : ATLAS

 
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   Short description of the project the student should work on  :

The ATLAS experiment at the LHC has been taking data for about a year
and both Standard Model measurements as well as searches for the Higgs
boson and New Physics are performed with the data taken in 2010 and
will be performed with the data that will be taken in 2011. While the
current amount of data is insufficient for the discovery of the Higgs
boson, the first searches are exercised.  A promising search channel
for a low mass Higgs is its decay to two photons, where the Higgs will
manifest itself as a narrow peak on top of a smooth background. A good
mass resolution is mandatory to achieve a good ratio of signal to
background.  Due to the large material budget of the ATLAS tracker,
about 40% of all photons undergo photon conversion in the material
before reaching the calorimeter. Their energy resolution is in general
degraded since the electron and positron tracks are subject to
bremsstrahlung in the tracker material.  The summer student will study
the use of dedicated electron fitters such as the Gaussian Sum Filter
and the Dynamic Noise Adjustor to improve the mass resolution of Higgs
decays into two photons, where at least one of the two photons
converts.

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   Physics / Computing/ Engineering  Content of the project :

    Physics project.



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  Special Qualifications expected from the student ( Computing,...) :
 
Prior knowledge of C++ and/or ROOT would be very valuable but he/she
can also learn it during the summer student program.

 
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  Other remarks :  



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   Supervisor(s) during the project (19/07/10 - 8/09/10) :
 
  
   Name:               Tel:       email :

   Kerstin Tackmann                  kerstin.tackmann@cern.ch
   Marcos Jimenez Belenguer          marcos.jimenez.belenguer@cern.ch