Investigations in Elementary Particle Physics and Particle Astrophysics

基本粒子物理和粒子天体物理研究

• 批准号: 1410972
• 负责人: Raymond Brock
• 金额: $ 347万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1410972&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Investigations; Elementary; Particle; Physics; Astrophysics

Overview: Particle physics considers a vast range of scientific questions, from subatomic to cosmic scales. The Michigan State University (MSU) Group supported through this award investigates such questions through experimentation at the highest available collision energies at accelerators, through studies of the very rare interactions of neutrinos, and through studies of high energy gamma rays produced by astrophysical sources. These studies are relevant to the understanding of the Universe at its most fundamental level in the fleeting fraction of a second just after the Big Bang, and to why we see the Universe as we do now. To meet the challenges of this quest, new theories are advanced, new detectors and accelerators are developed and built, and new computing and analytical methodologies are created, all of which have significant broader impact for the training of young scientists in the near term and the advancement of technological benefits to society over the longer term. A notable element of the MSU Group's outreach activities has been the development of a planetarium show on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that has been well received. ATLAS itself is developing a show on dark matter with MSU leadership and participation. During the funding period covered by this proposal, the group will continue to improve and innovate on similar programs that can be shown nationally, internationally and locally, bringing the excitement of high energy physics to a large variety of audiences.A goal of experiments at the highest available collision energies at the LHC at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland is to understand the nature of the Higgs Boson, recently discovered there in 2012, and to discover new physics beyond the Standard Model, the current very effective, but not complete, theoretical model that provides insight into much of our present knowledge of particle physics. The next three years represent a transition of the LHC physics program from data taking and operation at a collision energy of eight Teraelectronvolt (TeV) to extended operations and data taking at nearly double the energy, 13-14 TeV. Over a thousand scientists from the United States are involved with this scientific program on several major experiments. The Michigan State group is one of the important participants in the ATLAS experiment at CERN. Group members hold responsible positions in physics analysis, detector operations, collaboration management, and in the upgrade of the experimental detector. Analytically, the group is focusing on studies of Standard Model physics and beyond the standard model through investigations in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), Higgs physics, top quark physics, and searches for new exotic states. The group has also made significant contributions to CTEQ, the Coordinated Theoretical-Experimental QCD project. The group has a long-standing involvement in neutrino physics, now focused on the NOvA (Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) Off-axis (electron) neutrino Appearance Experiment) experiment and the LArIAT (Liquid Argon in a Testbeam) test program, both associated with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The nature of neutrino mass and mixing looms as science already beyond the standard model and the NOvA experiment is the next major US-based experiment addressing these issues. Finally, the Michigan State group is a member of the HAWC (High Altitude Water Cerenkov) Experiment located in Mexico. A gamma ray observatory, HAWC will probe extreme environments in the universe, providing a view of non-thermal processes in the galaxy and beyond. The group is focusing its efforts on electronics and database development. Although the detector is not fully instrumented, it is nevertheless taking data.

粒子物理学考虑了从亚原子到宇宙尺度的广泛科学问题。密歇根州立大学（MSU）小组通过该奖项的支持，通过在加速器上进行最高碰撞能量的实验，通过对中微子非常罕见的相互作用的研究，以及通过对天体物理源产生的高能伽马射线的研究来研究这些问题。这些研究关系到在大爆炸后短短一秒钟内对宇宙最基本的理解，以及为什么我们现在看到的宇宙。为了迎接这一探索的挑战，提出了新的理论，开发和建造了新的探测器和加速器，并创造了新的计算和分析方法，所有这些都对短期内培训青年科学家和长期提高技术对社会的益处产生了广泛的影响。 密歇根州立大学小组外联活动的一个值得注意的内容是在大型强子对撞机（LHC）上开发了一个关于ATLAS实验的天文馆展览，该展览受到了好评。ATLAS本身正在MSU的领导和参与下开发一个关于暗物质的节目。在本提案所涵盖的资助期间，该小组将继续改进和创新类似的计划，可以在国内，国际和当地展示，将高能物理的兴奋带给各种各样的观众。在瑞士日内瓦的欧洲核子研究中心的大型强子对撞机上进行最高可用碰撞能量实验的目标是了解希格斯玻色子的性质，最近在2012年发现，并发现新的物理超越标准模型，目前非常有效，但不完整，理论模型，提供了深入了解我们目前的粒子物理学知识。 接下来的三年代表了LHC物理计划的过渡，从8万亿电子伏（TeV）的碰撞能量的数据采集和操作到扩展操作和数据采集，几乎是能量的两倍，13-14 TeV。来自美国的一千多名科学家参与了这一科学计划的几项重大实验。密歇根州立大学是欧洲核子研究中心ATLAS实验的重要参与者之一。小组成员负责物理分析、探测器操作、协作管理和实验探测器的升级。在分析上，该小组专注于标准模型物理学的研究，并通过量子色动力学（QCD），希格斯物理学，顶夸克物理学的研究超越标准模型，并寻找新的奇异状态。该小组还对协调的理论-实验QCD项目CTEQ做出了重大贡献。该小组长期参与中微子物理学，现在专注于NOvA（主注入器（NuMI）离轴（电子）中微子外观实验）实验和LArIAT（测试束中的液态氩）测试计划，两者都与费米国家加速器实验室有关。中微子质量和混合的性质已经超越了标准模型，而NOvA实验是解决这些问题的下一个主要的美国实验。 最后，密歇根州立大学是位于墨西哥的HAWC（高海拔水切伦科夫）实验的成员。HAWC是一个伽马射线观测站，将探测宇宙中的极端环境，提供银河系内外非热过程的视图。该小组的工作重点是电子和数据库开发。虽然探测器没有完全安装仪器，但它仍然在采集数据。