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的相对论量子场论。在弱电磁场条件下，量子电态的预测是通过微扰理论计算出来的，该理论已经通过氢能级的兰姆位移等实验进行了深入的测试和验证，结果非常一致。该奖项将允许在一个称为Schwinger场的临界场或以上存在强场的情况下测量QED，在这个关键场中，微扰技术不再适用。量子电动力学预测，在非常强的电场存在下，真空变得强烈极化，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状态的强场QED （SFQED）现象。在该奖项中，粒子物理学、等离子体物理学和光学物理学被用于高能电子束（13 GeV）与强激光脉冲（1 1020 W cm-2）在SLAC国家加速器实验室的先进加速器实验测试设施- ii （FACET-II）中碰撞，作为强场量子电动力学（SFQED） E-320合作的一部分。本研究的目的是推进QED非微扰状态下光-物质相互作用的研究，将一些参数提高几个数量级。该奖项将使用SLAC国家加速器实验室的FACET-II设备来加强位于圣路易斯奥比斯波的加州理工州立大学粒子物理学的实验物理研究、教学和推广。拟议的工作旨在：i)在加州理工学院和SLAC的E-320国际合作之间开展SFQED物理合作；ii)在SLAC参与SFQED基础实验的组装和操作；iii)在给定FACET-II和激光操作条件下，模拟SFQED非线性康普顿散射和真空对的产生；iv)利用市售的硅条探测器开发一种快速、高分辨率的电荷粒子探测器，该探测器将用于未来的实验升级；v)编写粒子、激光、光束探测器实时数据分析软件，在SLAC主控室采集数据时显示；Vi)为学生提供支持和培训，包括来自代表性不足背景的学生，在一个以本科生为主的机构，在一个世界级的研究设施的实验粒子物理领域。这项研究将为PI和加州理工学院本科生提供在SLAC夏季和加州理工学院学年期间在SFQED的研究经验。这项研究让首席研究员和加州理工学院的本科生有机会推动粒子物理学的强度前沿，这可能会提供有关物质和空间基本性质的信息。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。

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presence of strong fields at or above a critical field, called the Schwinger Field, where perturbative techniques are no longer applicable.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.