Analysis of D Meson Decays at LHCb
Using Dalitz plot analysis to study intermediate states in the decays of D mesons
This project focuses on the study of D mesons produced in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider measured with the LHCb experiment. The analysis of the decay products of the D mesons reveals the intermediate states that mediate these decays and probes at the quark-level transitions that occur. Comparison of the decays of the D+ (composed of a charm quark and a down antiquark) and the Ds+ (composed of a charm quark and a strange antiquark) shows the effects that different quark flavors have on D meson decays.
This project was completed during the summer of 2021 as part of an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It was quite challenging, as I had minimal experience in C++ and Linux going into the summer. By the end of the summer, I was familiar with the software and techniques used to analyze data in particle physics experiments like those performed at CERN.
Data for this project came from the LHCb experiment at CERN, and analysis was carried out on-site at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
LA-UR-21-27161