@phdthesis{Swirski2021,
  author    = {Swirski, Thorben},
  title     = {Studies on the Effect of Gas Contaminations in Micromegas Detectors and Production of Micromegas Detectors for the New Small Wheel of the ATLAS Detector},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-24640},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-246405},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {This work consists of two parts. On the one hand, it describes simulation and measurement of the effect of contaminations of the detector gas on the performance of particle detectors, with special focus on Micromegas detectors. On the other hand, it includes the setup of a production site for the finalization of drift panels which are going to be used in the ATLAS NSW. The first part augments these two parts to give an introduction into the theoretical foundations of gaseous particle detectors.},
  subject      = {Gasionisationsdetektor},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Sidiropoulou2018,
  author    = {Sidiropoulou, Ourania},
  title     = {Characterization of the ATLAS-type Micromegas Detectors},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-167323},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Micromegas are parallel-plate gaseous detectors with micro-pattern readout structures that are able to measure precisely and efficiently at high particle rates. Their difference with respect to other gaseous detectors is that the space in which particles ionise the gas and create electrons is separated from the region in which these electrons are multiplied (or amplified) by a thin metallic mesh. In the ionisation region, typically a few mm thick, a moderate field of a few hundred V/cm is applied. The amplification region with a homogeneous electrical field of 40--50~kV/cm is only 100--150~\$\upmu\$m thick. The latter guarantees that the positive ions produced in the amplification process are rapidly evacuated and the possibility to build up space charge at high rate is reduced. Critical in micromegas detectors are sparks in the thin amplification region in the presence of the high electrical field. This problem was solved in 2011 by introducing a spark protection scheme. It consists of a layer of resistive strips on top of the readout strips, separated from the latter by a thin insulation layer. Micromegas with the spark protection scheme were selected as instrumentation of the first ATLAS forward muon station (NSW) in the upgrade of the ATLAS detector for the operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at high luminosity (HL-LHC), expected for 2026. The main subjects of this thesis are: the characterisation of the first micromegas quadruplet prototypes for the NSW detectors; the characterisation of the materials used in the spark-protection system; and the study of the influence of the mesh distance holders (pillars) on the detector performance. The thesis starts with a brief introduction into the LHC and ATLAS projects, followed by a chapter that explains the reason for the upgrade of the ATLAS muon system and shows the layout of the NSW. The first of the three main chapters covers the construction and the characterisation of the first two prototypes for the NSW detectors. These detectors comprise four detection layers and have the same mechanical structure as the NSW detectors. The mechanical precision as well as the homogeneity of the detector response are discussed. The latter has been measured using X-rays and cosmic rays. The spatial resolution that can be achieved with these detectors precision has been measured at the MAMI accelerator at Mainz with low-energy electrons. The chapter is completed by a section that describes the successful integration of a data acquisition system (DAQ) into the official ATLAS DAQ system that was required for an initially planned installation of one of the prototypes on the existing Small Wheel. The next chapter presents a study of the influence of temperature and humidity changes on the resistive strips used in the spark protection system. In addition the long-term stability of the resistive material has been measured accumulating charge equivalent to 100 years of operation in the HL-LHC and exposing the samples to intense gamma irradiation equivalent to 10 years of HL-LHC operation. The third part covers the impact of the mesh distance holders (pillars) on the performance of the detector. This study has been performed with a 10 x 10 cm\$^2\$ bulk-micromegas with two different pillar shapes. Both 5.9 keV gammas from a \$^{55}\$Fe and 8 keV X-rays from a Cu target were used. In this context also the electrostatic charge-up of the detector is discussed. In the Appendices one finds a summary of the fundamental physics relevant for gaseous detectors as well as some supporting material for the topics covered in the main part of the thesis.},
  subject      = {ATLAS <Teilchendetektor>},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Kuger2017,
  author    = {Kuger, Fabian},
  title     = {Signal Formation Processes in Micromegas Detectors and Quality Control for large size Detector Construction for the ATLAS New Small Wheel},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-152495},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {The Micromegas technology is one of the most successful modern gaseous detector concepts and widely utilized in nuclear and particle physics experiments. Twenty years of R \& D rendered the technology sufficiently mature to be selected as precision tracking detector for the New Small Wheel (NSW) upgrade of the ATLAS Muon spectrometer. This will be the first large scale application of Micromegas in one of the major LHC experiments. However, many of the fundamental microscopic processes in these gaseous detectors are still not fully understood and studies on several detector aspects, like the micromesh geometry, have never been addressed systematically. The studies on signal formation in Micromegas, presented in the first part of this thesis, focuses on the microscopic signal electron loss mechanisms and the amplification processes in electron gas interaction. Based on a detailed model of detector parameter dependencies, these processes are scrutinized in an iterating comparison between exper- imental results, theory prediction of the macroscopic observables and process simulation on the microscopic level. Utilizing the specialized detectors developed in the scope of this thesis as well as refined simulation algorithms, an unprecedented level of accuracy in the description of the microscopic processes is reached, deepening the understanding of the fundamental process in gaseous detectors. The second part is dedicated to the challenges arising with the large scale Micro- megas production for the ATLAS NSW. A selection of technological choices, partially influenced or determined by the herein presented studies, are discussed alongside a final report on two production related tasks addressing the detectors' core components: For the industrial production of resistive anode PCBs a detailed quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) scheme as well as the therefore required testing tools have been developed. In parallel the study on micromesh parameter optimization and production feasibility resulted in the selection of the proposed mesh by the NSW community and its full scale industrial manufacturing. The successful completion of both tasks were im- portant milestones towards the construction of large size Micromegas detectors clearing the path for NSW series production.},
  subject      = {Gasionisationsdetektor},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Schreyer2015,
  author    = {Schreyer, Manuel},
  title     = {Search for supersymmetry in events containing light leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum in \(\sqrt{s}\) = 8 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-120863},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {The results of two analyses searching for supersymmetry (SUSY) in data of the ATLAS experiment are presented in this thesis. The data were recorded in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012 at a centre of mass energy of \(\sqrt{s}\)=8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb\(^{-1}\). The first search is performed in signatures containing an opposite-sign electron or muon pair, which is compatible with originating from a Z boson decay, in addition to jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis targets the production of squarks and gluinos in R-parity conserving (RPC) models with SUSY breaking via General Gauge Mediation (GGM). The main Standard Model (SM) backgrounds are \(t\overline t\), WW, W+t and Z to \(\tau \tau\) processes which are entirely estimated from data using different-flavour events. Besides that, the SM production of Z bosons in association with jets and large fake missing momentum from mismeasurements plays a role and is predicted with the data-driven jet smearing method. Backgrounds from events with fake leptons are estimated with the data-driven matrix method. WZ/ZZ production as well as smaller background contributions are determined from Monte-Carlo simulations. The search observes an excess of data over the SM prediction with a local significance of 3.0 \(\sigma\) in the electron channel, 1.7 \(\sigma\) in the muon channel and 3.0 \(\sigma\) when the two channels are added together. The results are used to constrain the parameters of the GGM model. The second analysis uses the already published results of an ATLAS search for SUSY in events with one isolated electron or muon, jets and missing transverse momentum to reinterpret them in the context of squark and gluino production in SUSY models with R-parity violating (RPV) \(LQ\overline D\)-operators. In contrast to RPC models, the lightest SUSY particle (LSP) is not stable but decays into SM particles. "Standard" analyses often do not consider SUSY models with RPV although they are in principle sensitive to them. The exclusion limits on the squark and gluino mass obtained from the reinterpretation extend up to 1200 GeV. These are the first results by any ATLAS SUSY search which systematically cover a wide range of RPV couplings in the case of prompt LSP decays. However, the analysis is not sensitive to the full parameter space of the \(LQ\overline D\)-model and reveals gaps in the ATLAS SUSY program which have to be closed by dedicated search strategies in the future.},
  subject      = {Supersymmetrie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Tam2014,
  author    = {Tam, Jason},
  title     = {Search for Second Generation Scalar Leptoquarks using the ATLAS Detector},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-103451},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Leptoquarks are hypothetical particles that attempt to explain the coincidental similarities between leptons and quarks included in SM. Their exact properties vary between different theoretical models, and there are no strong theoretical constraints on their possible mass values. They can possibly be produced from particle collisions, and there have already been searching efforts at previous collider experiments. Their presence have yet been observed, and this fact has been translated into lower bound exclusions on their possible mass values. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) being the most recently constructed particle collider with the highest collision energies ever achieved experimentally, provides a new platform to continue the search for Leptoquarks at even higher mass ranges. This thesis describes a search for pair-produced second-generation Leptoquarks using 20.3 fb-1 of data recorded by the ATLAS detector of LHC at √s = 8 TeV. Events with two oppositely charged muons and two or more jets in the final state were used. Candidate leptoquark events were selected with the help of four observables: the di-muon invariant mass (Mμμ ), the sum of the pT of the two muons (LT ), the sum of the pT of the two leading jets (HT ) and the average Leptoquark mass (MLQ ). Monte Carlo simulations of SM background processes have shown to be in good agreement with data, both in the region constructed using selection requirements for candiate leptoquark events and in the designated control regions. Since no significant excess of events was observed in data, a exclusion limit was set as a function of the Leptoquark mass.},
  subject      = {Leptoquark},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Meyer2012,
  author    = {Meyer, Jochen},
  title     = {Muon performance aspects and measurement of the inclusive ZZ production cross section through the four lepton final state with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-78793},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {The "Large Hadron Collider" (LHC) is currently the most powerful particle accelerator. It provides particle collisions at a center of mass energy in the Tera-electronvolt range, which had never been reached in a laboratory before. Thereby a new era in high energy particle physics has began. Now it is possible to test one of the most precise theories in physics, the Standard Model of particle physics, at these high energies. The purpose is particularly served by four large experiments installed at the LHC, namely "A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS" (ATLAS), the "Compact-Muon-Solenoid" (CMS), the "Large Hadron Collider beauty" (LHCb) and "A Large Ion Collider Experiment" (ALICE). Besides exploring the high energy behavior of the well-established portions of the Standard Model, one of the main objectives is to find the Higgs boson included in the model, but not discovered by any preceding effort. It is of tremendous importance since fermions and heavy electroweak gauge bosons acquire mass because of this boson. Although the success of the Standard Model in describing nature is already undisputed, there are some flaws due to observations inexplicable within this theory only. Therefore searches for physics beyond the Standard Model are promoted at the LHC experiments as well. In order to achieve the defined goals, crucial aspects are firstly precise measurements, to verify Standard Model predictions in detail, and secondly an evaluation of as much information as accessible by the detectors, to recognize new phenomena as soon as possible for subsequent optimizations. Both challenges are only possible with a superior understanding of the detectors. An inevitable contribution to attain this knowledge is a realistic simulation, partially requiring new implementation techniques to describe the very complex instrumentation. The research presented here is performed under the patronage of the ATLAS collaboration with a special focus on measurements done with muon spectrometer. Thus a first central issue is the performance of the spectrometer in terms of physics objects that are recognized by the device, the compatibility of data and the existing simulation as well as its improvement and finally the extension of the acceptance region. Once the excellent behavior and comprehension of the muon spectrometer is demonstrated, a second part addresses one physics use case of reconstructed muons. The electroweak force is part of the Standard Model and causes the interaction of heavy electroweak gauge bosons with fermions as well as their self-interaction. In proton-proton collisions such gauge bosons are produced. However, they decay immediately into a pair of fermions. In case of the Z boson, which is one of the gauge bosons, oppositely charged fermions of the same generation, including muons, emerge. The various decay modes are determined precisely at particle accelerators other than the LHC. However, the associated production of two Z bosons is measured less exactly at those facilities because of a very low cross section. The corresponding results acquired with the ATLAS experiment exceed all previous measurements in terms of statistics and accuracy. They are reported in this thesis as obtained from the observation of events with four charged leptons. The enhancement of the signal yield based on the extension of the muon spectrometer acceptance is especially emphasized as well as alternative methods to estimate background events. Furthermore, the impact on the probing of couplings of three Z bosons and intersection with the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson are pointed out.},
  subject      = {ATLAS <Teilchendetektor>},
  language  = {en}
}