New spokesperson for the LHCb collaboration
Pierluigi Campana begins his 3-year tenure as LHCb spokesperson this June. As the new voice for the collaboration, Campana will lead the experiment through what should prove to be a very exciting phase.
Pierluigi Campana, from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Frascati, has been with the collaboration since 2000 and was heavily involved in the construction of the muon chamber of the LHCb detector. He replaces Andrei Golutvin, from Imperial College London and Russia’s Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics. “Leading such a large collaboration is not an easy task,” says Campana. While he will rely heavily upon the work of his predecessor, he plans on leaving his own mark on the position: “One of the main goals of my job will be to enhance the spirit of collaboration between the different institutes within our experiment.”
LHCb plays a key role in the search for new physics. The experiment is conducting a very precise search for the asymmetry between matter and antimatter, and is looking for new physics through the study of rare decays. “The important role of LHCb is to have a complementary approach with respect to the larger experiments,” explains Campana. “While other experiments examine a wider range of processes, we are mainly interested in B quark decays.”
With the LHC currently running at the ideal luminosity for LHCb, the experiment is collecting vast amounts of data specific to its lower luminosity needs. “It’s important that we take full advantage of the current data taking,” says Campana.
With the bulk of LHCb’s search for new physics to be done over the next 4-5 years, it’s an exciting time for the entire collaboration. “We are in the right place at the right moment, and I am looking forward to my job,” concludes Campana.
