CDD Doctoral contract on the analysis of LHC data for studies of the W boson and construction of the future CMS tracker (M/F)

Job Description

Thesis Subject

The Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis de Lyon (IP2I), a joint laboratory of the French IN2P3/CNRS and the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, invites applications for a PhD position to work on the CMS experiment.
The IP2I is a founding member of CMS and had a key role in the development, installation and commissioning of the electromagnetic calorimeter and tracking detectors. The group has also made important contributions in the area of top quark physics (top mass, top pair resonances, vector like tops…), in Higgs boson searches (Higgs to two photons decay channel, top-Higgs coupling), and in standard model measurements (W boson mass, diboson production measurements). The group also has important responsibilities in the CMS upgrade effort (phase-2 outer tracker and improved muon RPC).

The CMS group at IP2I has an important responsibility in the construction of the future CMS tracker at the HL-LHC. The successful candidate will make strong contributions to the integration activities of silicon detection modules on the mechanical structures of the future tracker. These activities will be carried out at IP2I.
In the spring of 2026, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN delivered a unique, large dataset of proton-proton collisions with a dramatically lower number of simultaneous proton interactions than usual. This new dataset is highly valuable for high-precision studies of the W boson, the massive charged carrier of the weak force. Studies of W boson production in proton-proton collisions are essential to constrain its properties, including its mass and width, which are fundamental inputs to the Standard Model of particle physics. Precise measurements of these properties provide a rigorous test of the SM and could point to new physics in the electroweak sector. The Ph.D. student will develop a first analysis of this unique dataset, leading to a high-precision measurement of the W boson differential production cross sections. The development of new calibration techniques for the missing transverse momentum reconstruction—a critical element of the W boson measurement—will be an important aspect of the work. This calibration is expected to heavily exploit machine learning techniques.

Your Work Environment

The IP2I is a founding member of CMS and had a key role in the development, installation and commissioning of the electromagnetic calorimeter and the tracker. The group actively participated in the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, and is making important contributions to the analysis of LHC data. The group also has major responsibilities in the CMS improvement effort for the HL-LHC, on the muon detector and the tracker.
The work is carried out within an international collaboration. Short periods of work in Geneva (Switzerland), Hamburg (Germany) or Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) are possible.
The tracker module integration work will be carried out mainly at IP2I in the clean room dedicated to the project.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

2300 € gross monthly

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

The research professions