Tests for Lepton Universality Violating New Physics.

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This award funds the research activities of Professor Alakabha Datta at the University of Mississippi. High-energy physics focuses on discovering the fundamental building blocks of matter and how they interact with each other. There are two ways in which high-energy physicists try to discover new particles and learn about the laws that govern them. The first approach is to create conditions at high energies where these new states of matter will be produced, and the second approach is to make very precise measurements at lower energies where the indirect effects of these new particles can be detected. Professor Datta's work focuses on the second approach and involves developing methods that can search for new particles and test theories associated with these particles via precision measurements. Over the last few years hints have emerged at several experiments that show deviations from the existing theory. These anomalies could indicate the existence of new fundamental particles and Professor Datta's research will aim to confirm these anomalies and isolate the new particles causing these effects. As a result, research in this area 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. Professor Datta will involve graduate students in his research, and thereby provide critical training for junior physicists beginning research in this field. He also intends to give public lectures on his research results at various schools and universities, including institutions with significant minority-student enrollments. He will also develop new course curricula based on the results of his research. More technically, Professor Datta will explore theories that provide simultaneous explanations of the various flavor anomalies. He will investigate models that contain not only heavy new particles but also light and hidden-sector particles. He will also study how these theories can be tested using various experiments dedicated to neutrino physics, dark-matter searches, and new heavy-particle searches.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.