RUI: Providing Strong Field Quantum Electrodynamics Experiments to Cal Poly

量子电动力学（QED）是电动力学的相对论量子场论，描述了物质和光如何相互作用。在弱电磁场的情况下，QED的预测是通过微扰理论计算的，微扰理论已经通过实验进行了深入的测试和验证，如氢能级的兰姆位移。该奖项将允许在临界场或临界场以上的强场存在下测量QED，称为Schwinger场，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，自发产生电子-正电子对，光子受到真空双折射。利用激光技术的进步，现在可以测量深入到非微扰区的强场QED（SFQED）现象。在这个奖项中，粒子物理学，等离子体物理学和光学物理学被用于碰撞高能电子束（13 GeV）与强激光脉冲（I 1020 W cm-2）在SLAC国家加速器实验室的先进加速器实验测试-II（FACET-II）的设施，作为强场量子电动力学（SFQED）E-320合作的一部分。本研究的目的是在QED的非微扰区推进光-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设施，以加强圣路易斯奥比斯波加州理工州立大学（加州理工学院）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SLAC的Cal Poly和E-320国际合作之间进行SFQED物理合作; ii）参加SLAC基本SFQED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微扰区域中的真空对产生; ㈣利用市场上可买到的硅条探测器研制一种快速、高分辨率的带电粒子探测器，用于今后的实验升级; v）编写粒子、激光和光束探测器的真实的实时数据分析软件，在SLAC主控室采集数据时显示; ㈥为学生提供支持和培训，包括来自代表性不足背景的学生，在实验粒子物理领域的一个主要的本科院校，在一个世界级的研究设施。这项研究将提供PI和Cal Poly本科生在SLAC夏季和Cal Poly学年期间在SFQED的研究经验。该研究使主要研究者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，这可能提供有关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presence of strong fields at or above a critical field, called the Schwinger Field, where perturbative techniques are no longer applicable.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.