SMEFT, Collider, Neutrino, Axion, and Dark Matter Phenomenology

该奖项资助萨姆·休斯顿州立大学的詹姆斯·B·登特、威廉·谢泼德和乔尔·W·沃克教授的研究。登特、谢泼德和沃克教授致力于将理论物理的进步与实验结果联系起来，重点关注亚原子粒子的性质，如中微子和被称为“轴子”的假设粒子。他们还将研究宇宙中80%的物质所属的神秘“暗物质”的性质，并大体研究大型地下粒子对撞机产生的物理现象。他们将通过开发新的实验搜索策略、新的数据解释、新的软件工具和新的理论模型来探索新物理的场景。因此，该项目将通过探索和连接粒子物理中的每个研究领域来促进国家对基础科学的兴趣。通过对山姆·休斯顿州立大学本科生的密切监督，也将产生重大的更广泛的影响。萨姆·休斯顿州立大学是一所以本科生为主的机构，服务于不同的人群。PIS将寻求通过参与期刊出版物和会议演讲来引导学生发展他们的分析、数值和创造性技能，从而为毕业生在主要研究大学的博士课程中蓬勃发展奠定基础。更具体地说，大型强子对撞机上标准模型之外的物理可能的特征将通过标准模型有效场理论所封装的间接效应、通过探索新的尺度不变的喷流聚集算法以及通过开发促进此类分析的公共软件工具来调查。PIS还将研究相干弹性中微子-原子核散射，重点是米切尔研究所在反应堆(MINER)合作的中微子实验。登特和沃克是MINER的成员，将继续为模拟和分析框架工作做出贡献，期望在产生数据时提供理论解释。轴子和类轴子粒子将通过暗物质和中微子实验中使用的液体贵金属和固态探测器(如氙气、超CDMS和MINER)中可能的相互作用来研究，包括晶体探测器中光学类布拉格和鲍尔曼机制的新增强。这包括探索一种新的实验计划的可行性，通过固体探测器中的光子消失实验来寻找轴子和轴子类粒子。该项目中的暗物质研究将集中在低质量暗物质的新特征上，包括等离子体激元激发和这种信号的中微子背景，米格达尔效应及其实验校准的可能途径，以及非弹性暗物质模型。这一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 of Professors James B. Dent, William Shepherd, and Joel W. Walker at Sam Houston State University.Professors Dent, Shepherd, and Walker work to connect advances in theoretical physics to experimental results, with a focus on the properties of subatomic particles such as neutrinos and hypothetical particles called "axions". They will also study the properties of the mysterious "dark matter" which provides 80% of the matter in the universe, and generally study the physics that emerges from large underground particle colliders. They will explore scenarios for new physics by developing new experimental search strategies, new data interpretations, new software tools, and new theoretical models. As a result, this project will advance the national interest in fundamental science by exploring and connecting each of these research areas in particle physics. Significant broader impacts will also be realized through the close supervision of undergraduate research students at Sam Houston State University, a primarily undergraduate institution that serves a diverse population. The PIs will seek to guide students in developing their analytical, numerical, and creative skills through participation in journal publications and conference presentations, thereby creating a foundation for graduates to thrive in doctoral programs at major research universities.More specifically, possible signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model at the Large Hadron Collider will be investigated through indirect effects encapsulated by the Standard Model Effective Field Theory, through the exploration of a new scale-invariant jet clustering algorithm, and through the development of public software tools that will facilitate such analyses. The PIs will also study coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, with an emphasis on the Mitchell Institute Neutrino Experiment at Reactor (MINER) collaboration. Dent and Walker are members of MINER and will continue to contribute to the simulation and analysis framework efforts, with the expectation of providing theoretical interpretation as data is generated. Axion and axion-like particles will be investigated through possible interactions in the liquid noble and solid-state detectors used in dark matter and neutrino experiments (such as XENON, SuperCDMS, and MINER), including novel enhancements from optics-like Bragg and Borrmann mechanisms in crystal detectors. This includes the exploration of the feasibility of a new experimental program to search for axions and axion-like particles through photon disappearance experiments in solid state detectors. The dark matter studies within this project will focus on novel signatures for low mass dark matter including plasmon excitations and the neutrino background for such a signal, the Migdal effect with possible avenues toward its experimental calibration, and inelastic dark matter models.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.