CAREER: Heavy Flavor Physics with the CDF Detector and Saturday Physics Honors Statewide

这份CAREER提案是为费米实验室Tevatron的CDF探测器的工作申请资金，在那里发现了两个最重的夸克，底夸克和顶夸克。首席研究员提出了一个计划，该计划将对这些重夸克的性质进行新的测量。这样的测量无疑会使我们在最基本的层面上提高对自然的认识。尽管该物理项目强调对重夸克的精确测量，但作为该项目一部分的工作将对CDF物理项目的许多方面至关重要，包括寻找希格斯玻色子和通过超对称寻找新物理。具体来说，PI建议对CDF触发系统进行升级，称为极快追踪器（XFT），它将通过有效地发现每个质子-反质子相互作用中产生的带电轨迹，提高实验选择事件以供后续分析的能力。电荷轨道信息对CDF物理程序至关重要，数百种不同的物理分析在很大程度上依赖于XFT系统的高效运行。PI提议扩大伊利诺伊大学现有的物理拓展项目，即周六物理荣誉项目。该项目在秋季选定的周六为公众提供物理讲座。制作讲座的DVD副本，并分发给高中教师，将为全州的学生提供一个观看和学习前沿研究的机会，并将允许研究物理学家和高中科学教师之间的直接联系。

This CAREER proposal is a request for funding to work on the CDF Detector at the Fermilab Tevatron where the two heaviest quarks, the bottom quark and top quark, were discovered. The Principal Investigator proposes a program that will produce new measurements of the properties of these heavy quarks. Such measurements will undoubtedly lead to an improved understanding of nature at its most fundamental level. Although the physics program emphasizes precision measurements of the heavy quarks, the work performed as part of this project will be crucial to many aspects of the CDF physics program, including the search for the Higgs boson and new physics through Supersymmetry. Specifically, the PI proposes to construct an upgrade to the CDF trigger system, referred to as the eXtremely Fast Tracker (XFT), which will improve the experiment's ability to select which events to keep for subsequent analysis by efficiently finding the charged tracks produced in every proton-antiproton interaction. Charged track information is crucial to the CDF physics program and hundreds of different physics analyses rely heavily upon the very efficient operation of the XFT system. The PI proposes to expand the existing physics outreach program at the University of Illinois, known as the Saturday Physics Honors Program. This program provides physics presentations for the public during selected Saturdays in the fall. The production of DVD copies of the lectures, and the distribution to high school teachers, will provide an opportunity for students across the state to view and learn about cutting edge research and will permit a direct connection between research physicists and high school science teachers.