Experiments with Kaons 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。在欧洲核子研究中心的大型强子对撞机上发现的希格斯玻色子证实了这个模型到目前为止的有效性。然而，目前存在的标准模型留下了许多关于宇宙的问题，包括为什么希格斯质量具有它的价值，为什么宇宙中没有反物质等基本问题。要寻找这些和其他关于宇宙的悬而未决的问题的答案，它是如何形成的，为什么它是这样的，一个重要的领域是研究罕见的Kaon衰变，作为对标准模型(BSM)之外的科学的探索。介子是含有奇怪夸克的最轻粒子。瑞士日内瓦CERN实验室的Kaon物理计划包括对Kaon的超罕见衰变的测量，包括对弱相互作用的精确调查，以及寻找超出标准模型的物理违规和签名。这个项目将专注于超罕见衰变的研究。乔治梅森大学团队是CERN NA62实验的关键参与者，也是唯一的美国团队，该实验的主要目标是通过将气味改变为带电介子和一对中微子的中性电流来测量带电介子超罕见衰变的速率。这一转变的速度是在标准模型中预测的，而替代模型预测的速度则截然不同。因此，这一具有挑战性的测量有可能为超越标准模型的新物理提供重要证据。乔治·梅森一直致力于实验的设计、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CERN暑期研究计划为本科生提供广泛的暑期研究经验，并为弗吉尼亚QuarkNet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NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.