RUI: Studies of Heavy Quarkonium Spectroscopy with Belle and Belle II

当今高能物理学中最大的谜团之一是为什么宇宙几乎完全由物质而不是反物质组成。这种物质/反物质的不对称性可以通过粒子加速器实验中粒子和反粒子的不同反应来解释。该奖项将研究在日本高能加速器研究组织（KEK）实验室的Belle和Belle- ii实验中产生的粒子的这些差异。这个装置产生的粒子叫做介子，由夸克-反夸克对组成。通过研究这些介子，人们可以探索超越标准模型的基本物理过程，如粒子-反粒子跃迁，罕见的介子衰变和可能表明暗物质存在的奇异粒子。这些转变的差异可以说明为什么宇宙中物质比反物质占优势。日本KEK的Belle II实验拥有世界上最大的数据样本，记录在质量范围为10 GeV的底部共振，即所谓的Upsilon共振。在这些共振能量下，电子-正电子束粒子产生B介子的概率要高得多，这使得实验人员能够获得大量的统计数据并观察到罕见的现象。路德学院研究小组的这个RUI项目的中心目标是研究底铵和相关状态的光谱，重点是共振状态，探索我们对量子色动力学（QCD）的理解的局限性，并提高对晶格QCD（用于对QCD计算进行计算机预测的技术）的理论理解。路德学院的项目为本科生提供了一个不同寻常的机会，让他们有意义地参与到世界领先的实验中，参与Belle数据分析的各个方面，并为升级后的实验Belle II开发软件工具。该项目的广泛影响是示范性的，通过为高中生开设大师班，以及现在参与爱荷华州多里安音乐夏令营项目的Belle-II STEM课程，促进了爱荷华州东北部农村地区学生和教师更多地接触科学研究。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。

One of the big mysteries in high energy physics today is why the universe is almost entirely made of matter and not antimatter. This matter/antimatter asymmetry could be explained by understanding the different reactions of particles and antiparticles in particle accelerator experiments. This award will study these differences in particles created at the Belle and Belle-II experiments at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) laboratory in Japan. This facility creates particles called mesons consisting of quark-antiquark pairs. By studying these mesons, one can probe for Beyond the Standard Model fundamental physics processes such as particle – antiparticle transitions, rare meson decays and possible exotic particles which could indicate the presence of Dark Matter. Differences in these transitions could indicate why matter dominates over antimatter in the universe.The Belle II Experiment at KEK in Japan has the world's largest data samples recorded at the bottomonium resonances in the mass range of 10 GeV, the so-called Upsilon resonances. At these resonant energies the electron positron beam particles have a much higher probability of producing B mesons, allowing experimenters to acquire large statistics and observe rare phenomena. The central aim of this RUI program of research by the Luther College group is to study the spectroscopy of bottomonium and related states, with a focus on resonant states that probe the limits of our understanding of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and improving the theoretical understanding in lattice QCD (the techniques used to make computer predictions of QCD calculations). The Luther College program provides an unusual opportunity for undergraduate students to become meaningfully involved in a world-leading experiment, taking part in every aspect of Belle data analysis, and in the development of software tools for the upgraded experiment, Belle II. The broader impacts of the program are exemplary, fostering greater exposure to scientific research among students and teachers in rural Northeast Iowa, through masterclasses for High School students and now involvement of Belle-II STEM classes in the Dorian Music camp program in Iowa.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.