NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Japan

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This action funds Matthew Walters of Johns Hopkins University to conduct a research project in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences area during the summer of 2013 at the University of Tokyo's Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe in Kashiwa, Japan. The project title is "New Light Particles in the Early Universe." The host scientist is Hitoshi Murayama.This research project studies the effects of new light particle species on early universe phenomena, such as the synthesis of light elements and the production of residual background radiation. These effects are explored in an effective field theory approach, in order to provide constraints on theories in a model-independent fashion. In addition, this project develops calculational methods to determine the mass of new light particles which become nonrelativistic during the era of recombination, when electrons and protons began to form neutral atoms. These results have significant implications for theoretical models and future experimental research, both in cosmology and elementary particle physics, with the potential to discover new particles and physical phenomena.Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, through this research project the Fellow is developing new analyses and applications for data from multiple observational experiments. The Fellow is both submitting these results for publication to aid experimental scientific collaborations in the use of current and future data and using them to educate the general population about current progress in physics and astronomy. In addition, the Fellow is sharing these methods of analysis with researchers in the host country and the U.S. to encourage further collaborations and extensions of this project.