Research in Elementary Particle Theory

该奖项资助了东北大学Pran Nath、Brent D. Nelson和Tomasz R. Taylor教授的研究活动。经过近40年的实验研究，希格斯玻色子（负责给宇宙中所有粒子提供质量的粒子）在大型强子对撞机（LHC）的实验中被发现。在发现希格斯玻色子之后，为了寻找希格斯玻色子之外的新物理，LHC的能量已经升级到原来的两倍。众所周知，我们目前对粒子物理学的理解（被封装在所谓的标准模型中）并不是全部，因为它不能解释暗物质的存在，不能解释为什么我们的宇宙中有大量的物质超过反物质，也不能解释引力。在该奖项的支持下，Nath、Nelson和Taylor教授将致力于开发解决这些问题的新理论。值得注意的是，这项工作将有直接的实验结果，可以在未来的大型强子对撞机实验中进行测试。此外，他们的工作对宇宙学也有影响，他们的一些结果可以在寻找暗物质信号的地下实验和在宇宙中寻找暗物质和反物质的卫星实验中进行测试。因此，对这些PI的研究将增强我们对宇宙基本组成部分的理解。这一领域的研究促进了国家利益，因为它使我们能够突破科学的界限，测试迄今为止尚未在如此大的能量下测试过的物理定律。支助的研究所产生的成果将以各种方式传播：通过在档案上刊登、通过在标准期刊上发表、通过会议演讲和讲习班以及通过更普遍地向公众宣传。此外，该奖项还具有很强的教育成分。该奖项支持的项目将用于培养博士论文学生，以及指导本科物理专业的学生关于粒子物理学的发展。该奖项还将使非常成功的理论网络推广计划得以延续，该计划将新英格兰大学的理论物理学家引入从罗德岛到新罕布什尔州的高中物理教室，覆盖该地区约5000名高中生。

This award funds the research activities of Professors Pran Nath, Brent D. Nelson, and Tomasz R. Taylor at Northeastern University. After nearly forty years of experimental searches, the Higgs boson (the particle that is responsible for giving mass to all the particles in the universe) has been discovered in experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). After the discovery of the Higgs boson, the LHC has been upgraded to twice its previous energy in order to search for new physics beyond the Higgs boson. It is known that our current understanding of particle physics (as encapsulated within the co-called Standard Model) is not the full story as it does not explain the existence of dark matter, does not explain why our universe has a huge excess of matter over anti-matter, and also does not explain the gravitational force. With support from this award, Professors Nath, Nelson, and Taylor will work to develop new theories that address those issues. Quite remarkably, this work will have direct experimental consequences which can be tested in future experiments at the LHC. Further, their work also has implications for cosmology, and some of their results can be tested in underground experiments looking for signals of dark matter and in satellite experiments searching for dark matter and anti-matter in the universe. Thus the research of these PI's will enhance our understanding of the basic components of the universe. This area of research advances the national interest in that it allows us to push the boundaries of science and test the laws of physics which have thus far not been tested at such large energies. The results arising from the supported research will be disseminated in a variety of ways: through posting on the archives, through publication in standard journals, through conference talks and workshops, and through more general outreach to the public. In addition there is a strong educational component to the award. The projects supported by the award will be used to train Ph.D. thesis students as well as to mentor undergraduate physics majors regarding developments in particle physics. The award will also allow the continuation of the highly successful TheoryNet outreach program, which brings theoretical physicists from New England universities into high-school physics classrooms from Rhode Island to New Hampshire, reaching an estimated 5,000 high-school students in the area.