RUI: Providing Strong Field Quantum Electrodynamics Experiments to Cal Poly

量子电动力学(QED)是描述物质和光如何相互作用的电动力学相对论量子场论。在弱电磁场条件下，用微扰理论计算了QED的预测，并通过氢能级Lamb位移等实验进行了深入的验证。该奖项将允许在一个称为Schwinger场的临界场或其上存在强场的情况下测量QED，在这种临界场中微扰技术不再适用。量子电动力学预言，在非常强的电场存在下，真空变得强烈极化，发生自发的电子-正电子对产生，光子受到真空双折射的影响。利用激光技术的进步，现在可以测量深入到非微扰区域的强场QED(SFQED)现象。在该奖项中，作为强场量子电动力学(SFQED)E-320合作的一部分，在SLAC国家加速器实验室高级加速器实验测试设施II(FEET-II)中，粒子物理、等离子体物理和光学物理被用于将高能电子束(13GeV)与强激光脉冲(I 1020W cm-2)碰撞。本研究的目的是推进QED非微扰区的光-物质相互作用的研究，将一些参数提高一个数量级。该奖项将利用SLAC国家加速器实验室的Facet-II设施来加强加州理工州立大学圣路易斯奥比斯波(加州理工大学)粒子物理的实验物理研究、教学和推广。这项拟议的工作旨在：i)Cal Poly与SLAC的E-320国际合作在SFQED物理方面进行合作；ii)参与SLAC基础SFQED实验的组装和操作；iii)在给定第二面和激光操作条件的微扰条件下模拟SFQED非线性康普顿散射和真空对的产生；iv)使用商用硅条探测器开发快速、高分辨率的电荷粒子探测器，将用于未来的实验升级；v)编写粒子、激光和光束探测器的实时数据分析软件，在SLAC主控室进行数据采集期间显示；六)在世界级研究设施的实验粒子物理领域的一个以本科生为主的机构为学生提供支持和培训，包括来自代表人数不足的背景的学生。这项研究将提供PI和Cal Poly的本科生在SLAC的夏季和在Cal Poly的学年在SFQED的研究经验。这项研究允许首席研究员和加州理工大学本科生有机会推动粒子物理学的强度前沿，这可能会提供关于物质和空间基本性质的信息。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。

Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) is the relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics that describes how matter and light interact. In the regime of weak electromagnetic fields, the predictions of QED are calculated via perturbation theory that has been tested and validated in depth with remarkable agreement by experiments such as the Lamb shift of the energy levels of hydrogen. This award will allow the measurement of QED in the presence of strong fields at or above a critical field, called the Schwinger Field, where perturbative techniques are no longer applicable. Quantum electrodynamics predicts that in the presence of very strong electric fields the vacuum becomes strongly polarized, spontaneous electron-positron pair creation occurs, and photons are subject to vacuum birefringence. Using advances in laser technology, it is now possible to measure strong field QED (SFQED) phenomena deep into the non-perturbative regime. In this award, particle physics, plasma physics, and optical physics are used in colliding a high energy electron beam (13 GeV) with an intense laser pulse (I 1020 W cm-2) at the Facility for Advanced Accelerator Experimental Tests-II (FACET-II) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory as part of the Strong Field Quantum Electrodynamics (SFQED) E-320 collaboration. The aim of this research is to advance the study of light-matter interaction in the nonperturbative regime of QED, improving some parameters by orders of magnitude. This award will use the FACET-II facilities at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to enhance the experimental physics research, teaching, and outreach in particle physics at the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly). The proposed work intends to: i) collaborate on SFQED physics between Cal Poly and the E-320 international collaboration at SLAC; ii) take part in the assembly and operation of the fundamental SFQED experiments at SLAC; iii) simulate SFQED nonlinear Compton scattering and vacuum pair production in the perturbative regime given the FACET-II and laser operating conditions; iv) develop a fast, high resolution charge particle detector using commercially available Silicon strip detectors that will be employed in a future upgrade of the experiment; v) write real time data analysis software for particle, laser and beam detectors that will be displayed during data taking in the SLAC main control room; vi) provide support and training of students, including students from underrepresented backgrounds, at a predominately undergraduate institution in the field of experimental particle physics at a world class research facility. This research will provide the PI and Cal Poly undergraduate students research experiences in SFQED during the summer at SLAC and during the academic year at Cal Poly. The research allows the principle investigator and Cal Poly undergraduate students the opportunity to push the intensity frontier in particle physics that can potentially provide information on the fundamental nature of matter and space.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.