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。该项目的目的是开发改进的理论工具和计算方法，以便对当前和未来的物理实验结果进行稳健的解释。从大背景中识别潜在小的新物理信号的先进技术需要对已知粒子和相互作用的出色理解，以及计算这些过程的新方法的发展。各种各样的现象将被研究，从亚原子粒子到重力到宇宙学。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，为新物理学开发新的搜索和分析技术，并提高我们目前对宇宙的理解的测试的精度和理论稳健性。因此，这些领域的研究通过扩大我们对基本物理定律的认识，并在前沿计算和分析工具方面教育年轻科学家，从而促进了国家利益。该研究项目的广泛影响包括培训和专业发展几名博士生和一名博士后。弗雷塔斯教授和莱博维奇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成果。从技术上讲，本研究计划可分为四个主要部分：(1)发展电弱精度观测高阶修正的计算技术，这与计划中的未来e+e对撞机以及JLab和MESA目前正在开发的几个低能精度实验有关；(2)有效场论，特别是软共线有效场论，在大型强子对撞机的射流产生、粒子分裂成强子以及新的物理特征方面的应用；(3)对标准模型的各种类型的暗扇区扩展的研究，包括光弱耦合的信使场，这些场可以用非传统的实验装置而不是在高能对撞机上更有效地搜索；(4)利用有效场论技术进行精确引力波物理计算。在这种情况下，重要的是要检查一个可行的模型设置与大范围的实验和理论约束的一致性。该研究计划以正在进行和计划中的实验粒子物理工作为指导，结果将提供给实验社区。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。

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.