Programme Director Jorma Tuominiemi

The goal of the CERN LHC research programme is to study the basic structure of matter with the Large Hadron Collider being built at CERN. The parameters of the LHC and the planned experiments have been chosen such that the next decisive step in understanding the nature of matter can be taken. The main topics of interest are:

understanding of the symmetry breaking of the electro-weak interaction of the fundamental particles and the origin of their mass, physics of the strong interactions at extreme energies and properties of the strongly interacting matter at high energy densities, extension of the the present Standard Model theory (e.g. Supersymmetry) and any possible new physics. The LHC program is one of the most challenging physics projects of today.

The LHC programme of the Helsinki Institute of Physics is responsible for the Finnish participation in the design and construction of the large detector systems for the CMS and ALICE experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider as well as in the preparation of their physics analysis. The third experimental activity of the programme is research at the ISOLDE facility at CERN.

The CMS project is undertaken in a large international collaboration combining the efforts of 144 physics institutions from Europe, United States, Russia, India, Pakistan, China and Korea. Finnish physicists have been involved actively in the design of the CMS detector from the very beginning and hence play a central role in the project.

The HIP LHC program is concentrating its efforts in the design and construction of the Central CMS Tracking Detector and in the development of track pattern recognition and reconstruction software, where Finnish physicists have widely recognized expertise. The study of the physics discovery potential of the detector with physics simulation is an important part of these activities. Another important part of the programme is the design and building of the first level RPC Muon Trigger.

The ALICE project is an international enterprise of 85 institutes from Europe, United States, Russia, India, China and Korea. The Finnish group has participated in testing the Inner Tracking System and is specializing in the development of software, detector testing and physics analysis. The software development is closely connected with active theoretical research on ultrarelativistics nuclear collisions.

In constructing the LHC experiments, innovative solutions are needed for complex technological problems arising from the demanding experimental conditions.

Hence the LHC programme offers, besides the participation in frontline fundamental research, excellent opportunities for technology transfer and for high level education in advanced technologies in Finland.