Improving the Understanding of New Physics, from Particle Physics to Cosmology, at the LHC

该奖项资助了内布拉斯加州大学林肯分校的黄培思教授的研究活动。大型强子对撞机是一台巨大的地下机器，它将质子束相互散射，以研究物质的基本成分，即基本粒子。鉴于来自大型强子对撞机和之前几代对撞机的大量数据，我们目前对基本粒子以及它们之间的力有了相当可靠的理解，这些基本粒子和它们之间的力被封装在所谓的粒子物理标准模型中。然而，有压倒性的证据表明，在标准模型之外存在着新的物理学。黄教授的研究旨在通过利用粒子物理学和宇宙学的理论见解，大幅扩展大型强子对撞机上新物理的发现潜力。因此，黄教授的研究通过促进科学最基本的方向之一--发现和理解新的物理定律--来促进国家利益。预计该项目还将产生更广泛的重大影响。拟议的研究将为不同的研究生和本科生群体提供培训机会。黄教授还将致力于通过特别努力让女性、其他代表性不足的少数民族和第一代大学生参与到STEM中来增加参与。更严格地说，在这项研究中，将进行三项理论研究，以显著增强大型强子对撞机的发现潜力。首先，为了提出新的探索，将解释和发展当前大型强子对撞机数据的理论含义。其次，为了实现间接搜索，这项研究将研究精确的希格斯测量对新物理学的影响。第三，为了利用大型强子对撞机进行宇宙学研究，这项研究将通过提供理论动机和重要过程的计算，在宇宙历史和大型强子对撞机物理之间建立联系。这一奖项反映了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。

This award funds the research activities of Professor Peisi Huang at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.The Large Hadron Collider is a vast underground machine that scatters beams of protons against each other in order to study the fundamental constituents of matter, known as elementary particles. Given huge amounts of data from the LHC and generations of colliders before it, we currently have a fairly robust understanding of the elementary particles and the forces between them that is encapsulated within the so-called Standard Model of particle physics. However, there is overwhelming evidence that there is new physics beyond the Standard Model. Professor Huang's research aims to substantially extend the discovery potential for new physics at the Large Hadron Collider by using theoretical insights in both particle physics and cosmology. As such, Professor Huang's research advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in one of its most fundamental directions: the discovery and understanding of new physical laws. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts. The proposed research will provide training opportunities for a diverse group of graduate and undergraduate students. Professor Huang will also aim to increase participation in STEM by making a special effort to involve women, other underrepresented minorities, and first-generation college students.More technically, in this research, three theoretical studies will be addressed to significantly enhance the discovery potential of the Large Hadron Collider. First, to propose novel searches, theoretical implications of the current LHC data will be interpreted and developed. Second, to enable indirect searches, this research will study the implications of precision Higgs measurements for new physics. Third, to leverage LHC for cosmology studies, this research will establish connections between the history of the universe and LHC physics by providing theoretical motivations and calculations of important processes.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.