Experimental Studies of Fundamental Symmetries

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The proposed research at the State University of New York at Stony Brook aims to provide new understanding of the underlying causes for the symmetry breaking in the fundamental interactions of nature. The electromagnetic and weak interactions, though unified in phenomena at high energies and in the first moments after the Big Bang, appear at lower energies to be quite distinct. The Standard Model of fundamental interactions and constituents of matter builds in this symmetry breaking through the Higgs boson. One strand of the proposed research is the search for the Higgs boson. Another strand of the proposed studies seeks evidence for phenomena that will show how the Standard Model is modified, and help illuminate the more comprehensive theory. These aspects of symmetry breaking will be explored through work in the D0 (at Fermilab) and ATLAS (at CERN) experiments. The proposal also outlines a new participation in the KOPIO experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory, aimed at the measurement of a rare neutral kaon decay (to a neutral pion, neutrino and anti-neutrino). This would not occur unless there were a lack of symmetry between our world and one in which particles are replaced by antiparticles and viewed in a mirror (CP symmetry). The observation of a deviation from the value predicted by the Standard Model will signal that new non-standard mechanisms are at play in CP-violation, and should aid in understanding the origin of the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe. The broader impact of the research will occur at several levels: (a) Understanding how matter is constructed and how the forces of nature shape it into the myriad observed forms is a long standing question that resonates with scientists and non-scientists alike; (b) The research program poses a set of questions through which students and postdoctoral fellows will learn not only to frame crisp tests of the fundamental construction of matter, but also to devise innovative methods and tools for conducting them. Attacking such problems provides the rigorously educated young people that our society desperately needs; and (c) the proposal includes elements of outreach to the broader community.