Towards a measurement of the photon polarisation in the b->s gamma transition at the LHCb experiment
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MlleMichelle Nicol(LAL)
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Europe/Paris
Universe
Universe
Description
A large part of the physics programme at the LHCb experiment focuses on indirect searches for new physics via the analysis of rare B decays. Flavour changing neutral currents (FCNCs), which are forbidden at tree level in the SM, are particularly sensitive to the effects of physics beyond the standard model. The b->s gamma transition is one such example, where new physics could be present and detectable through analysis of details of the decay process. In particular, in the SM, the photon helicity is predominantly left handed. A measurement of this photon polarisation can be obtained via an angular analysis of B->K*ee.
In this student seminar, after an overview of the LHCb detector and general techniques for measuring rare B decays, a (very!) brief introduction to the theory and method of extracting the polarisation information will be given, followed by a focus on the detection of B->K*ee, highlighting the experimental challenges of analyses using electrons at LHCb.