Experiments with Kaons at CERN

20世纪最重要的智力成就之一是粒子物理学标准模型（SM）的发展。这个模型成功地将当时已知的所有基本粒子划分为具有相似量子特性的等级。迄今为止，该模型的有效性已被欧洲核子研究中心大型强子对撞机发现的希格斯玻色子所证实。然而，目前存在的标准模型留下了许多关于宇宙的问题，包括为什么希格斯质量具有它所具有的价值以及为什么宇宙中没有反物质等基本问题。寻找这些和其他关于宇宙的开放性问题的答案的一个重要领域，是研究罕见的介子衰变，作为超越标准模型（BSM）的科学探索。介子是含有奇异夸克的最轻的粒子。位于瑞士日内瓦的欧洲核子研究中心（CERN）实验室的卡子物理项目包括对卡子超罕见衰变的测量，包括对弱相互作用的精确研究，以及寻找违反标准模型的现象和超越标准模型的物理特征。该项目将重点研究超稀有衰变。乔治梅森大学的小组是欧洲核子研究中心NA62实验的关键参与者和唯一的美国小组，其主要目标是通过改变味道的中性电流到带电的介子和一对中微子来测量超罕见的带电介子衰变的速率。标准模型预测了这种转变的速率，而其他模型预测的速率则大不相同。因此，这项具有挑战性的测量有可能为超越标准模型的新物理学提供重要证据。George Mason全程参与实验的设计、建造、操作和数据分析。乔治梅森计划的广泛影响是广泛的，通过欧洲核子研究中心的夏季研究计划为本科生提供广泛的夏季研究经验，并为弗吉尼亚夸克网络中心提供领导和指导，该中心吸引了高中教师和学生对粒子物理的兴奋。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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 confirmed by the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. However, the Standard Model as it currently exists leaves open many questions about the universe, including such fundamental questions as to why the Higgs mass has the value it has and why there is no antimatter in the universe. An important area to search for answers to these and other open questions about the universe, how it came to be, and why it is the way it is, is to study rare decays of kaons, as a probe of science Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Kaons are the lightest particles containing a strange quark. The kaon physics program at the CERN Laboratory, Geneva, Switzerland includes measurements of the ultra-rare decays of kaons, including precision investigations of the weak interaction, and searches for violations of and for signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model. This project will focus on the study of ultra-rare decays.The George Mason University group is a key participant and the sole U.S. group in the CERN NA62 experiment, whose primary objective is to measure the rate of an ultra-rare decay of charged kaons, through the flavor-changing neutral current to a charged pion and a pair of neutrinos. The rate of this transition is predicted in the Standard Model, while alternative models predict very different rates. Hence this challenging measurement has the potential to provide important evidence for new physics beyond the Standard Model. George Mason has been fully engaged in the experimental design, construction, operations and analysis of data from this experiment. The broader impacts of the George Mason program are extensive, providing extensive summer research experiences for undergraduate students through the CERN Summer Research Programme, and in providing leadership and mentoring for the Virginia QuarkNet Center, which attracts high school teachers and students to the excitement of particle physics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.