Searching for Physics Beyond the Standard Model at the LHCb Experiment

在 LHCb 实验中寻找超越标准模型的物理学

• 批准号: 1607225
• 负责人: Mike Williams
• 金额: $ 30.99万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-07-01 至 2019-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1607225&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Searching; Physics; Beyond; Standard; Model

The search for new fundamental interactions of nature is at the heart of experimental particle physics. The current Standard Model of particle physics has been enormously successful at describing current measurements, but it is an incomplete theory. All of the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operating at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland are focused on discoveries beyond the Standard Model. This project and the LHCb experiment as a whole seek new discoveries through precision measurements of particle decays produced at the LHC. These measurements aim to answer questions stretching back to the Big Bang, such as, why is our universe dominated by matter and not antimatter? Or what is Dark Matter? The existence of dark matter has been inferred from the effects of its gravitational interactions; however, little is known about the dark sector itself. The possibility that dark matter may interact via as-yet-unknown forces has motivated a dedicated worldwide effort to search for these interactions. Discovering and characterizing dark matter particles and their interactions is vital to advancing scientific understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe and the work from this award could make a break-through discovery at the LHCb experiment. Many compelling dark-sector force scenarios predict the existence of particles that could be observed at the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, such as the so-called hidden-sector theories. These theories predict a mixing between dark matter and the Standard Model particles such as the dark photon. Discovering such particles would provide humankind with its first window into the particle nature of the dark sector. This grant supports pioneering work focused on searching for dark-sector forces and dark-matter particles at LHCb. The focus will be on particular decays of B quarks, which the LHCb experiment was designed to measure, that have enhanced sensitivity to dark particles because of the decay channels involving b quark to s quark transition.

寻找新的自然基本相互作用是实验粒子物理学的核心。 目前粒子物理学的标准模型在描述电流测量方面取得了巨大的成功，但它是一个不完整的理论。 在瑞士日内瓦附近的欧洲核子研究中心运行的大型强子对撞机（LHC）的所有实验都集中在标准模型之外的发现上。 这个项目和LHCb实验作为一个整体，通过对LHC产生的粒子衰变的精确测量来寻求新的发现。 这些测量旨在回答可以追溯到大爆炸的问题，例如，为什么我们的宇宙由物质而不是反物质主导？什么是暗物质？暗物质的存在是从其引力相互作用的影响中推断出来的;然而，对暗区本身知之甚少。暗物质可能通过未知的力量相互作用的可能性激发了全世界的努力来寻找这些相互作用。 发现和表征暗物质粒子及其相互作用对于推进对宇宙基本性质的科学理解至关重要，该奖项的工作可能会在LHCb实验中取得突破性发现。许多令人信服的暗扇区力情景预测了可以在欧洲核子研究中心大型强子对撞机（LHC）的LHCb实验中观察到的粒子的存在，例如所谓的隐藏扇区理论。这些理论预测暗物质和标准模型粒子（如暗光子）之间的混合。 发现这样的粒子将为人类提供第一个了解暗区粒子性质的窗口。该补助金支持专注于在LHCb寻找暗部门力量和暗物质粒子的开创性工作。重点将放在B夸克的特定衰变上，LHC B实验旨在测量这种衰变，由于衰变通道涉及B夸克到s夸克的跃迁，因此这种衰变对暗粒子的灵敏度有所提高。