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Claire David
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ATLAS Masterclasses

Hands-on particle physics for high school students

ATLAS Masterclasses
Sneak peek at the talk’s slides.
Credit: ATLAS Collaboration and International Masterclasses

What do experimental particle physicists do?
What do experimental particle physicists need?

This talk serves as an introduction to the ATLAS Masterclass, an international event hosted by participating schools or universities around the world inviting high school students to discover the physics of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Each LHC experiment has its dedicated Masterclass (and other particle physics experiments).

In the presentation, the learners get the essential theory explained in accessible terms. They learn about the detector parts and data analysis tools as well, preparing them for the hands-on session where they use an educational software called HYPATIA to perform a simplified data analysis. The event culminates with a videoconference led by CERN scientists where all the hosting institutes on the event discuss and combine their analysis results.

In March 2025, I organized the first ever Masterclass hosted at AIMS South Africa.

Participants using HYPATIA (Hybrid Pupil’s Analysis Tool for Interactions in ATLAS) during the hands-on session.
Participants using HYPATIA (Hybrid Pupil’s Analysis Tool for Interactions in ATLAS) during the hands-on session.
The closing videoconference chaired by CERN scientists, where all participating schools combine their results.
The closing videoconference chaired by CERN scientists, where all participating schools combine their results.
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