Investigations in High Energy Physics

该奖项资助匹兹堡大学的Ayres Freitas教授和Adam Leibovich教授的研究活动。这个项目的目的是开发改进的理论工具和计算方法，以强有力地解释当前和未来物理实验的结果。要从大背景中识别潜在的小的新物理信号，先进的技术需要对已知粒子和相互作用有很好的了解，并开发新的方法来计算这些过程。我们将研究各种各样的现象，从亚原子粒子到引力再到宇宙学。Freitas教授和Leibovich教授还计划与高能实验和天体物理学的同事密切合作，为新物理开发新的搜索和分析技术，并提高对我们目前对宇宙的理解的测试的精确度和理论稳健性。因此，这些领域的研究通过扩大我们对基本物理定律的知识和教育年轻科学家使用尖端计算和分析工具来促进国家利益。这一研究计划的更广泛影响包括几名博士生和一名博士后的培训和专业发展。Freitas教授和Leibovich教授还将帮助组织研讨会和暑期学校，向更多的学生和年轻研究人员传播现代研究的成果。从更技术上讲，这项研究计划可分为四个主要部分：(1)为对弱电弱精度可观测数据进行高阶修正的计算技术的发展，这与计划中的未来电子对撞机以及JLab和Mesa目前正在开发的几个低能量精度实验有关；(2)有效场论的应用，特别是软共线有效理论，用于大型强子对撞机喷气的产生，部分子分裂为强子，以及新的物理特征；(3)对标准模型的各种暗扇区扩展的研究，包括可以用非传统实验装置而不是在高能对撞机上更有效地搜索的光弱耦合信使场；以及(4)使用有效场论技术计算精确的引力波物理。在这种情况下，重要的是检查可行的模型设置与大范围的实验和理论约束的一致性。这项研究计划由正在进行和计划中的实验粒子物理工作指导，结果将向实验界公布。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。

This award funds the research activities of Professors Ayres Freitas and Adam Leibovich at the University of Pittsburgh. The purpose of this project is to develop improved theoretical tools and calculational methods for the robust interpretation of results from current and future physics experiments. Advanced techniques for identifying potentially small new physics signals from large backgrounds require excellent understanding of known particles and interactions as well as the development of new methods to calculate these processes. A wide variety of phenomena will be investigated, from sub-atomic particles to gravity to cosmology. Professors Freitas and Leibovich also plan to work closely with colleagues in high-energy experiments and astrophysics to develop new search and analysis techniques for new physics and to improve the precision and theoretical robustness of tests of our current understanding of the Universe. Research in these areas thus advances the national interest by expanding our knowledge of fundamental physical laws and educating young scientists in cutting-edge calculational and analysis tools. The broader impacts of this research program include the training and professional development of several PhD students and a postdoc. Professors Freitas and Leibovich will also help to organize workshops and summer schools to disseminate results from modern research to a larger audience of students and young researchers.More technically, this research program can be divided into four main parts: (1) The development of calculational techniques for higher-order corrections to electroweak precision observables, which are relevant for planned future e+e- colliders as well as for several low-energy precision experiments currently in development at JLab and MESA; (2) The application of effective field theories, in particular Soft-Collinear Effective Theory, for production of jets at the LHC, for fragmentation of partons into hadrons, and for new physics signatures; (3) An investigation of a varied class of dark sector extensions of the Standard Model, including light weakly coupled messenger fields that could be more efficiently searched for with non-traditional experimental setups rather than at high-energy colliders; and (4) Calculations of precise gravitational wave physics using effective field theory techniques. In this context it is important to check the consistency of a viable model setup with a large range of experimental and theoretical constraints. This research plan is guided by ongoing and planned experimental particle physics efforts, and results will be made available to the experimental community.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.