Ian Howley's Homepage

Ian Howley

High Energy Physics Group
The University of Texas at Arlington

Hello. This is my webpage for the High Energy Physics Group at the University of Texas at Arlington. I am currently a first year graduate student working with Dr. Andrew Brandt on building a fast timing detector for an ATLAS upgrade.

Teaching

I am currently the lab instructor for PHYS 1400 "Introduction to Musical Acoustics." Data collected in lab that is needed for your papers can be found here.

Current Work

ATLAS Forward Proton
     A group of a dozen universities from several countries are proposing to build a detector specifically designed to detect forward scattered protons originating from collisions in the center of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. The proton detector system consists of a novel silicon tracking detector, and a precision time-of-flight counter. The UTA group is leading the development of this time-of-flight detector (TOF).
     Since August 2009 we have designed and implemented a series of lenses, filters, and mirrors that split the laser signal. We focus the split laser beam on two different PMT channels and measure the time difference using a LeCroy 6 GHz oscilloscope. This setup allows us to measure the response of the PMT as a function of high voltage and light intensity. By isolating the individual components of the detector in this fashion we can fully characterize each device's response.
     Laser-based tests of the PMT and electronics will continue until spring 2009, when the next test beam is planned at Fermilab. Based on the results of these tests, further laser tests and simulation, we plan to finalize the design by the end of 2009. Next we would produce and test the detectors in 2010, and finally install them and collect first data in 2011.

AFP

Previous Research

MINERνA
In fulfillment of my undergraduate senior research requirement I worked with Dr. Jeff Nelson on the MINERνA Experiment. The goal of this experiment is to measure low energy neutrino interactions, in order to support neutrino oscillation experiments and also to study the strong dynamics of the nucleon and nucleus that affect these interactions. The high-energy group at William and Mary is working on the construction of the detector modules for the experiment. MINERνA is expected to begin taking data in 2009.

Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships
In Summer 2006 I participated in the SULI program at TJNAF in Newport News, VA. Under the supervision of Dr Harut Avagyan. Over a ten week period I analyzed the asymmetry in exclusive π^o production. We weres able to measure the asymmetry with good precision. The results of my research were later used as a baseline subtraction for various studies conducted in Hall B at JLab.