The discovery in 2012 of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) represents a milestone for the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. Most of the SM Higgs production and decay rates have been measured at the LHC with increased precision. However, despite its experimental success, the SM is known to be only an effective manifestation of a more fundamental description of nature. The scientific research at the LHC is strongly focused on extending the SM by searching, directly or indirectly, for indications of New Physics. The extensive physics program requires increasingly advanced...

This thesis presents the first systematic electron transport investigation of rhombohedral graphite (RG) films and thus lies at the interface of graphene physics, vdW heterostructure devices and topological matter. Electron transport investigation into the rhombohedral phase of graphite was limited to a few layers of graphene due to the competing hexagonal phase being more abundant. This work reports that in exfoliated natural graphite films, rhombohedral domains of up to 50 layers can be found. In the low energy limit, these domains behave as an N-layer generalisation of graphene. Moreover,...

The thesis presents a systematic study of the Mpemba effect in a colloidal system with a micron-sized particle diffusing in a water bath. While the Mpemba effect, where a system’s thermal relaxation time is a non-monotonic function of the initial temperature, has been observed in water since Aristotle’s era, the underlying mechanism of the effect is still unknown. Recent studies indicate that the effect is not limited to water and has been studied both experimentally and numerically in a wide variety of systems. By carefully designing a double-well potential using feedback-based optical...

This thesis investigates the detection efficiency of field-resolved measurements of ultrashort mid-infrared waves via electro-optic sampling for the first time. Employing high-power gate pulses and phase-matched upconversion in thick nonlinear crystals, unprecedented efficiencies are achieved for octave-spanning fields in this wavelength range. In combination with state-of-the art, high-power, ultrashort mid-infrared sources, this allows to demonstrate a new regime of linear detection dynamic range for field strengths from mV/cm to MV/cm-levels. These results crucially contribute to the...

This thesis outlines the principles, device physics, and technological applications of electronics based on the ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor aluminum nitride. It discusses the basic principles of electrostatics and transport properties of polarization-induced two-dimensional electron and hole channels in semiconductor heterostructures based on aluminum nitride. It explains the discovery of high-density two-dimensional hole gases in undoped heterojunctions, and shows how these high conductivity n- and p-type channels are used for high performance nFETs and pFETs, along with wide bandgap...

This book presents an analytical framework for calculating the fracture toughness of generally layered beam structures with an elastically coupled response and hygrothermal stresses. The beam under study features several peculiarities: it consists of multiple layers of dissimilar materials, features bending-extension coupling, and contains residual hygrothermal stresses. Here, a generic analytical model is proposed to compute the energy release rate and the mode mixity. Mechanics of composite materials, crack closure integral, and energetic methods are among the theoretical tools employed for...

This thesis explores the electron-neutrino and antineutrino cross section on argon using the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber detector.With only a handful of electron neutrino cross section measurements in the hundred MeV to GeV range to date and only one of them on argon as the target nucleus: the result from the ArgoNeuT experiment, there is a need for new, large statistics, electron-neutrino cross section measurements. The precise knowledge of the electron neutrino cross section is fundamental for tests of lepton universality, making meaningful interpretations of neutrino...

Topological defects are an expected consequence of phase transitions in the early Universe. As such these objects, if detected, provide unequivocal evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. This means they are prime targets for new observational facilities. However, our understanding of defects is heavily bottlenecked by computational limitations. In this book, the author explores the use of accelerator hardware to alleviate this problem, presenting the world’s first (multiple-)GPU defect simulations. Such simulations can evolve a network of line-like cosmic strings at an...

This book reports on a comprehensive experimental characterization of the material, mechanical and dynamic properties of masonry infill walls. It analyses the critical parameters affecting their out-of-plane seismic behavior, including the effects of the panel support conditions, gravity load, and previous damage. Further, it offers an extensive review of infill masonry strengthening strategies and reports on the experimental assessment of various textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) strengthening solutions. It also presents the development, implementation and calibration of a numerical model...

This book is about coexistence patterns in ensembles of globally coupled nonlinear oscillators. Coexistence patterns in this respect are states of a dynamical system in which the dynamics in some parts of the system differ significantly from those in other parts, even though there is no underlying structural difference between the different parts. In other words, these asymmetric patterns emerge in a self-organized manner.As our main model, we use ensembles of various numbers of Stuart-Landau oscillators, all with the same natural frequency and all coupled equally strongly to each other....