Ultra-Rare Kaon Decay Experiments at CERN

20世纪的主要智力成就之一是粒子物理标准模型(SM)的发展。这个模型成功地将当时已知的所有基本粒子归入具有相似量子性质的群组的层次结构中。最近在瑞士日内瓦附近的欧洲核子研究中心(CERN)的大型强子对撞机(LHC)上发现了希格斯玻色子，证实了这一模型的有效性。然而，目前存在的标准模型留下了许多关于宇宙的问题，包括为什么希格斯玻色子的质量具有它的价值这样的基本问题。为了回答这些问题，有必要超越目前标准模型所描述的宇宙图景，进入下一个发展阶段，超越标准模型(BSM)。BSM物理学的研究探索了这样的问题：为什么物质在宇宙中主导着反物质，物质的基本成分、夸克和轻子的质量值，夸克之间和轻子之间的混合的大小，以及暗物质的性质。该奖项将通过对带电K介子衰变的测量为这一探索做出贡献，这是一个罕见的过程。该奖项还将继续在扩大基础研究参与方面做出令人印象深刻的努力，通过参与QuarkNet和通过单独的NSF IRES(学生国际研究经验)拨款，每年夏天最多有五名本科生到CERN，申请者是从华盛顿特区大都会地区的大学和学院联盟中挑选出来的。对标准模型以外的新物理的证据的搜索可以通过在高能对撞束设施(如LHC)的能量前沿直接搜索和通过在强度前沿对已知粒子非常罕见的衰变模式的实验测量来实现。该奖项侧重于欧洲核子研究中心NA62实验的持续研究，该实验是对带电K介子通过K+-pion+、中微子、反中微子过程的罕见衰变的测量。这种衰变在粒子物理的标准模型中得到了很好的预测，如果观测到的速率与理论预测有很大不同，那么对实际速率的精确实验测量可以为新的物理提供证据。该奖项将在NA62的所有方面提供帮助，负责事件触发逻辑、触发硬件和前端电子通信、慢速控制以及用于探测束线中的Kaon的计数器。

One of the major intellectual achievements of the 20th century was the development of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. This model succeeded in classifying all of the elementary particles known at the time into a hierarchy of groups having similar quantum properties. The validity of this model to date was recently confirmed by the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN laboratory near Geneva Switzerland. However, the Standard Model as it currently exists leaves open many questions about the universe, including such fundamental questions as to why the mass of the Higgs boson has the value it has. To answer these questions it is necessary to go beyond the present picture of the Universe described by the Standard Model to the next phase of development, Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Investigations in BSM physics probe such questions as why matter dominates over anti-matter in the Universe, the values of the masses of the fundamental constituents of matter, the quarks and the leptons, the size of the mixings among the quarks, and separately among the leptons, and the properties of dark matter. This award will contribute to this search through measurements made of the decay of charged K mesons, a rare process. The award will also continue the impressive effort in broadening the participation in fundamental research, through its participation in QuarkNet and through a separate NSF IRES (International Research Experience for Students) grant that brings up to five undergraduates to CERN each summer, with applicants selected from a consortium of universities and colleges in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area.Searches for evidence for new physics beyond the Standard Model can be addressed through direct searches at the Energy Frontier at High Energy Colliding Beam Facilities such as the LHC and through a complementary technique of indirect searches at the Intensity Frontier, in experimental measurements of very-rare decay modes of known particles. This award focuses on continued research with the NA62 experiment at CERN, which is a measurement of the rare decay of the charged K meson through the process, K+ - pion+, neutrino, anti-neutrino. This decay is well-predicted in the Standard Model of Particle Physics, and a precision experimental measurement of the actual rate could provide evidence for new physics, if the observed rate differs significantly from the theoretical prediction. This award will provide help in all aspects of NA62, with responsibilities in event trigger logic, trigger hardware and front-end electronics communication, slow controls, and a counter for the detection of kaons in the beam line.