Mark Williams

Biography

My research primarily focuses on the behaviour of particles containing beauty or charm quarks. By performing precise measurements of their properties, and comparing to theoretical predictions, we can test our understanding of the universe at the smallest level. This will be key to reconcile apparent contradictions between particle-level measurements, and the wider cosmological observations (e.g. the matter dominance of our universe, dark matter, ...).

I am a member of the LHCb experiment, and from 2018-2021 was the Convener of the LHCb Charm Physics Group. I am particularly interested in:

• Matter-antimatter asymmetry (CP violation) in charm and beauty quark interactions and decays, especially multibody charm decays;
• Searching for new excited hadron states (spectroscopy);
• Measuring particle production and decay properties, including searching for rare and forbidden decays.

As well as fundamental particle physics research, I am active in detector technology R&D, both towards future particle detectors, and also for generic purposes with wider applications. I currently work on the LHCb Mighty Tracker, was formerly R&D Work Package leader for the LHCb Vertex Locator, and I also lead an STFC Opportunities Call grant on silicon pixel detectors with precise timing capabilities.

In January 2021 I was chosen as the Outreach group convener for the LHCb experiment. I have strong interest in sharing our research with the wider community, including the public, journalists, policy makers and potential collaborators beyond academia.

Previously I was a member of the D0 Collaboration (2005-2014, including four years as convener of the Heavy Flavor Physics group), and the Mu2e experiment (2017-2020). 

Mark currently offers the following PhD project opportunities:

Mark has featured in the following recent School news stories:

Recent publications