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

该奖项资助山姆休斯顿州立大学的James B. Dent、William Shepherd和Joel W. Walker教授的研究。邓特、谢泼德和沃克教授致力于将理论物理学的进步与实验结果联系起来，重点关注亚原子粒子（如中微子）和被称为“轴子”的假想粒子的性质。他们还将研究神秘的“暗物质”（占宇宙物质的80%）的特性，并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的物理场景。因此，该项目将通过探索和连接粒子物理学中的每个研究领域，提高国家对基础科学的兴趣。萨姆休斯顿州立大学是一所主要面向不同人群的本科院校，通过对该校本科生的密切监督，也将实现更广泛的重大影响。pi将通过参与期刊出版物和会议报告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型大学的博士课程中茁壮成长奠定基础。更具体地说，大型强子对撞机超越标准模型的可能物理特征将通过标准模型有效场论封装的间接效应，通过探索新的尺度不变射流聚类算法，以及通过开发公共软件工具来促进这种分析来进行调查。pi还将研究相干弹性中微子核散射，重点是米切尔研究所反应堆中微子实验（MINER）合作。Dent和Walker是MINER的成员，他们将继续为模拟和分析框架的工作做出贡献，并期望在数据生成时提供理论解释。轴子和类轴子粒子将通过用于暗物质和中微子实验（如XENON， SuperCDMS和MINER）的液体惰性和固态探测器中可能的相互作用进行研究，包括来自光学的新增强，如晶体探测器中的布拉格和博尔曼机制。这包括探索在固体探测器中通过光子消失实验寻找轴子和类轴子粒子的新实验程序的可行性。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。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 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.