Physics Beyond the Standard Model

该奖项资助了加州大学圣地亚哥分校的Elizabeth H. Simmons教授和R. Sekhar Chivukula教授的研究活动。大型强子对撞机（LHC）是世界上能量最高的粒子对撞机。粒子物理学家希望通过亚原子基本粒子以高能相互碰撞，了解宇宙中物质和能量的基本成分。在奖励期间，大型强子对撞机将开始新的实验运行，将收集比迄今为止更多的数据，大大扩展我们发现物质新成分和揭示新的物理原理的范围。分析这些数据符合国家利益，因为它将通过在最短距离尺度上检验物质的性质，并阐明物质和能量相互作用的规律，促进基础科学的进步。通过他们的研究，Simmons教授和Chivukula教授的目标是构建和分析新的理论，这些理论描述了在大型强子对撞机中发现的所谓“希格斯玻色子”的性质和特性，并为快速和果断地理解在大型强子对撞机中发现的任何新动力学的性质描绘出最好的实验分析。他们还将探索大型强子对撞机的结果与从其他新物理学实验中收集的数据之间的互补性，包括那些旨在揭示构成我们银河系大部分质量的“暗物质”本质的实验。这项研究还将产生实质性的更广泛的影响，包括在加州大学圣地亚哥分校开发新的和持续的科学课程，向所有年龄段的观众进行科学公开演讲，为所有参与者改善物理环境的广泛工作，以及继续为国内和国际物理界服务。该研究项目还将涉及学生和博士后研究人员，从而有助于培养和发展我国下一代科学家。从技术上讲，Simmons教授和Chivukula教授将扩展他们的简化极限形式主义，考虑如何最好地将LHC从各种衰变模式中搜索的结果结合起来，以发现可能衰变为多个通道的新共振。他们将把他们在简化极限上的工作应用于分析星系晕中暗物质粒子的非共振湮灭，并研究这些方法如何约束（或发现）暗物质粒子。他们将研究在许多复合希格斯模型中预测的顶级伴生态的理论和现象学，并研究在大型强子对撞机上发现这些态的新策略。他们将扩展他们在射流能量相关性方面的工作，以创建灵敏的新探测器，用于在大型强子对撞机中发现更多的有色态。此外，他们将检查和表征理论的性质，包括由引力紧化理论产生的大质量自旋二态，并将测试这些状态是否可以作为产生暗物质粒子的门户。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。

This award funds the research activities of Professors Elizabeth H. Simmons and R. Sekhar Chivukula at UC San Diego.The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most energetic particle collider in the world. By colliding subatomic elementary particles against each other at high energies, particle physicists hope to learn about the fundamental constituents of matter and energy in the universe. During the award period, the LHC will commence a new experimental run which will collect substantially more data than has been available to date, significantly extending our reach for discovering new constituents of matter and uncovering new physical principles. Analyzing this data is in the national interest since it will promote the progress of fundamental science through the examination of the nature of matter at the shortest distance scales and elucidating the laws by which matter and energy interact. Through their research, Professors Simmons and Chivukula aim to construct and analyze new theories which describe the nature and properties of the so-called "Higgs Boson" discovered at the LHC and to delineate the best experimental analyses for swiftly and decisively understanding the nature of any new dynamics discovered at the LHC. They will also explore the complementarity between LHC results and the data gathered from other experimental searches for new physics, including those designed to uncover the nature of the "dark matter" which comprises the majority of mass in our galaxy. This research will also have substantial broader impacts, including the development of new and continuing science courses at UC San Diego, public presentations on science to audiences of all ages, extensive work to improve the environment in physics for all participants, and continued service to the national and international physics community. This research project will also involve students and postdoctoral researchers and thereby contribute to the training and development of the next generation of scientists in our nation.More technically, Professors Simmons and Chivukula will extend their simplified-limits formalism to consider how best to combine LHC searches from various decay modes to uncover new resonances potentially decaying into multiple channels. They will apply their work on simplified limits to analyze non-resonant annihilation of dark matter particles in galactic halos and investigate how such methods can constrain (or discover) particulate dark matter. They will study the theory and phenomenology of top-partner states which are predicted in numerous composite Higgs models and examine novel strategies for discovering these states at the LHC. They will extend their work on Jet Energy Correlations to create sensitive new probes for discovering additional colored states at the LHC. Furthermore, they will examine and characterize the properties of theories which include massive spin-two states arising from compactified theories of gravity and will test whether such states can serve as portals for the production of dark-matter particles.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.