Collaborative Research: Equipment for and Running of the PSI MUSE Experiment

合作研究：PSI MUSE 实验的设备和运行

• 批准号: 1401974
• 负责人: Steffen Strauch
• 金额: $ 6.5万
• 依托单位: University of South Carolina at Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-15 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1401974&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Equipment; Running; PSI

A fundamental goal of subatomic physics is the precise determination of the physical properties of subatomic particles. The radius of the proton is one of these properties. The radius can be measured by scattering electrons or muons from protons, or by measuring the energy levels of hydrogen or muonic hydrogen, an atom in which the electron is replaced by a muon. To date, the radius has been measured by scattering of electrons, and by the energy levels of hydrogen and muonic hydrogen. The muonic measurements disagree with the electronic measurements, an issue known as "the proton radius puzzle." The discrepancy has attracted wide attention, because it may indicate the existence of previously unobserved and unexpected differences between the interactions of muons and electrons.A dedicated MUon proton Scattering Experiment (MUSE), which will run at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and directly compare the scattering of muons and electrons from protons, is highly anticipated by experts in the field for its potential to resolve the puzzle. This project will cover the prototyping and development of several crucial components of the MUSE experiment detectors. This project will involve the training of students and young scientists, at the undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral, and junior faculty levels. The institutions involved in this project have trained large numbers of students of each type, including from minority populations. The training they have received in the process of doing basic research has led to careers in a variety of areas, from medical physics to national security, in addition to continued work in fundamental physics research. The MUSE experiment will broaden the perspective of American students by having them work in an international collaboration at an international laboratory, which will prepare them effectively to become prominent global scientists of the next generation. With the broad interest in the proton radius puzzle, MUSE has the potential to be broadly inspirational beyond the current scientific community.The experiment uses a mixed beam of electrons, muons, and pions. The measurement requires high precision and small systematic errors. This project will build and test the components of the detector system. These include scintillation fiber detectors to measure the trajectories of incoming particles, Cerenkov detectors for particle identification, GEM detectors for precise positioning, straw tube detectors for measuring the trajectories of scattered particles, and scintillation detectors for particle identification of the scattered particles. In addition, a liquid hydrogen target will be developed. Development and testing of these detectors will demonstrate that the required precision can be obtained.

亚原子物理学的一个基本目标是精确确定亚原子粒子的物理性质。质子的半径是这些性质之一。半径可以通过从质子散射电子或介子来测量，也可以通过测量氢或介子氢的能级来测量，在氢原子中，电子被介子取代。到目前为止，这个半径是通过电子的散射以及氢和介子氢的能级来测量的。子测量结果与电子测量结果不一致，这个问题被称为“质子半径之谜”。这种差异引起了广泛的关注，因为它可能表明介子和电子相互作用之间存在以前未被观察到的和意想不到的差异。一个专门的μ子质子散射实验（MUSE）将在瑞士的保罗·谢勒研究所运行，直接比较质子对μ子和电子的散射，该领域的专家们对它有很高的期望，因为它有可能解决这个难题。该项目将涵盖MUSE实验探测器的几个关键组件的原型设计和开发。该项目将包括对本科生、研究生、博士后和初级教师的学生和青年科学家的培训。参与该项目的各机构已培训了大量各类学生，包括少数民族学生。他们在进行基础研究的过程中所接受的培训使他们在各种领域从事职业，从医学物理学到国家安全，此外还继续从事基础物理研究工作。MUSE实验将使美国学生在国际实验室进行国际合作，从而拓宽他们的视野，为他们成为下一代杰出的全球科学家做好有效的准备。随着人们对质子半径谜题的广泛兴趣，MUSE有可能在当前科学界之外产生广泛的启发。这个实验使用了电子、介子和介子的混合光束。测量要求精度高，系统误差小。该项目将构建和测试探测器系统的组件。其中包括用于测量入射粒子轨迹的闪烁光纤探测器，用于粒子识别的切伦科夫探测器，用于精确定位的GEM探测器，用于测量散射粒子轨迹的吸管管探测器，以及用于识别散射粒子的闪烁探测器。此外，还将开发液氢靶。这些探测器的开发和测试将证明可以获得所需的精度。