From detector development to detailed searches for new physics, ATLAS PhD students publish dozens of outstanding theses every year. Since 2010, a few have been celebrated at the annual ATLAS Thesis Awards.

The ATLAS Thesis Awards highlight outstanding contributions to the collaboration by PhD students. The theses awarded can cover any area of ATLAS physics, from contributions to the detector to analysis.

On February 16, 2017, at a celebration in CERN’s Main Auditorium, six winners were announced: Miguel Arratia (University of Cambridge), Kurt Brendlinger (University of Pennsylvania), Lene Bryngemark (Lund University), Joana Machado Miguéns (Lisboa University), Benjamin Philip Nachman (Stanford University), and Matthias Saimpert (Université Paris-Saclay).

“Once again, we received outstanding nominations for the award, encompassing all the major achievements in all areas of ATLAS results and activities,” said Claudia Gemme, addressing the auditorium on behalf of the 2016 ATLAS Thesis Awards Committee. “It was a pleasure for the committee to evaluate these excellent candidates, and selecting the winners was a real challenge!”

Following this introduction, each winner was presented with a certificate and a glass model of the ATLAS detector from Spokesperson Dave Charlton, Collaboration Board Chair Katsuo Tokushuku and Thesis Committee Chair Claudia Gemme. The winners went on to give short presentations about their work and experience at ATLAS, each thanking the committee for their selection.

Concluding the ceremony, Katsuo Tokushuku urged members of the collaboration to continue to send high-quality nominations – ensuring outstanding winners for many years to come.

• Miguel Arratia: Studies of radiation damage in silicon sensors and a measurement of the inelastic proton–proton cross-section at 13 TeV
• Kurt Brendlinger: Physics with Electrons in the ATLAS Detector
• Lene Bryngemark: Search for new phenomena in dijet angular distributions at √s = 8 and 13 TeV
• Joana Machado Miguéns: Observation and measurement of the Higgs boson in the WW decay channel with ATLAS at the LHC
• Benjamin Philip Nachman: Investigating the quantum properties of jets and the search for a supersymmetric top quark partner with the Atlas detector
• Matthias Saimpert: Mesure de la section efficace de production de paires de photons isolés dans l'expérience ATLAS au LHC et étude des couplages à quatre photons