After successful completion of the course, students are able to...

• create a project plan in order to work in a time-efficient and goal-oriented manner,
• to work in interdisciplinary and international research collaborations,
• to work independently on a topic for the further development of particle accelerators,
• use relevant simulation codes and/or perform measurements on particle accelerators,
• to analyze and critically question the simulation results and/or measurement data,
• assess the relevance and application of the results,
• summarize the results in a coherent and concise report to make them accessible to future researchers.

Project work in the field of accelerator technology and physics. The projects contribute to the further development of accelerator technology as well as to the planning of future accelerator facilities. Accelerator technology and physics span a broad field and possible topics include, e.g.

• Various topics in beam dynamics,
• Interaction between charged particle beams and matter,
• Applications of machine learning to optimize simulation frameworks, control systems, and/or beam diagnostics,
• Hardware development for future accelerator projects (magnet systems, ...), 
• Machine protection,
• Various topics in beam diagnostics,
• ...

Depending on the topic, the projects are carried out at TU, at the centre for ion beam therapyand research MedAustron or at CERN. Students exchange ideas with international and interdisciplinary research groups within the framework of their project.

After an introduction to the research area and the relevant tools, the students work independently on answering a specific research question. For this purpose, problem-specific simulation frameworks (e.g. X-Suite, MAD-X/cpymad, Geant4, FLUKA, ...) and/or measurements at particle accelerators (e.g. CERN, MedAustron) are performed, analyzed and documented.

Recommended literature:

• A.W. Chao „Lectures on Accelerator Physics“ (ISBN: 9789811227967)
• Video recordings of the CERN Accelerator School 2016 (https://indico.cern.ch/event/532397/timetable/)

Preliminary to a possible Austrian doctoral studentship at CERN

Written report on the scientific project. For the Bachelor-Study this report may serve as the so-called 'Bachelor-Arbeit'.

• Basic knowledge in accelerator technology is advantageous (e.g. 141.287 VO Particle accelerators  or 141.287 VO Accelerator physics).
• Depending on the topic, basic knowledge in programming is an advantage