U.S. ATLAS Operations: Discovery and Measurement at the Energy Frontier

高能物理学的研究人员试图了解物质的基本性质和物质相互作用的基本力。其中一种方法是观察反向旋转的质子束碰撞时会发生什么。碰撞中产生的碎片的特征可以揭示基本粒子的基本物理学和它们之间的力。需要高度精密的粒子探测器和分析方法来测量这些特性。NSF为美国研究人员提供资金，用于在大型强子对撞机（LHC）上使用ATLAS探测器进行实验高能物理研究，LHC是世界上主要的高能物理研究实验室。除了直接支持研究活动外，NSF还将通过该奖项向22所美国大学提供资金，以维持美国提供的ATLAS探测器组件及其支持软件和计算系统的运行，开发新的软件工具，并安装和调试探测器增强功能，为计划于2027年开始的更密集的操作做准备。该奖项还将促进科学教育和促进研究的多样化参与。大型强子对撞机位于瑞士日内瓦附近的欧洲核子研究组织（CERN）。参加ATLAS将促进培养一支受过科学和技术教育的劳动力队伍，促进技术的多学科应用，以及向公众普及和传播科学。该合同将支持开发和维护复杂探测器设备、定制模拟和数字电子和软件系统的活动，用于数据管理，并支持探测器系统的数据处理和技术分析。技术专业人员需要执行许多这些任务，增加了美国劳动力的专业知识。现有探测器组件的操作、升级组件的设计以及相关的研究活动为大学物理人员、大学工程系人员以及物理系技术人员（物理学家、电气工程师、机械工程师和计算机科学家）与博士后和学生之间的跨学科合作创造了机会。同样，物理人员将与本国机构和国家实验室的计算机专业人员密切合作，以支持各种软件和计算活动。技术部分：该奖项支持仪器和分析工具的开发和操作，这些仪器和分析工具对于研究质子-质子碰撞产生的碎片至关重要。这些工具对于回答基本的、基础的问题是必不可少的，比如“基本粒子质量的起源是什么？”希格斯玻色子的发现，是产生基本粒子质量机制的物理表现，导致2013年诺贝尔物理学奖授予彼得·希格斯和弗朗索瓦·恩格勒。这是故事的结局，还是还有其他尚未被发现的对这一过程的贡献？其他同样重要的基本问题的答案，可能至少部分取决于，通过对大型强子对撞机获得的数据的持续操作和分析所观察到的物理现象。“占宇宙质量25%的暗物质是什么？”暗物质可以在大型强子对撞机中产生和观察吗？在某些模型中预测的额外维度的证据能否在大型强子对撞机的能量中找到？是否存在具有奇异性质的粒子，不同于迄今所观察到的任何形式的物质，它们的存在是由一些扩展基本粒子标准模型的理论所预测的？”在每种情况下，回答这个问题都需要收集大量数据，从中得出有意义的统计推断。该奖项将使研究人员能够将收集的数据量增加一倍，用于分析和调查这些现象。它将使准备工作成为可能，使今后收集的数据大约是目前可用数据的十倍。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。

Researchers in high energy physics seek to understand the fundamental nature of matter and the basic forces through which it interacts. One way they do this is by observing what happens when counter-rotating beams of protons collide. The characteristics of the debris produced in the collisions can reveal the basic physics of fundamental particles and the forces between them. Highly sophisticated particle detectors and analysis methods are required to measure these characteristics. NSF provides funding to U.S. researchers to conduct research in experimental high energy physics using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s premier laboratory for this research. In addition to directly supporting research activities, NSF will provide, via this award, funding to twenty-two U.S. universities to maintain the operation of U.S.-supplied components of the ATLAS detector and its supporting software and computing systems, develop new software tools, and install and commission detector enhancements in preparation for more intense operation planned to commence in 2027. This award will also promote science education and promote diverse participation in research. The Large Hadron Collider is located at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva Switzerland.U.S. participation in ATLAS will stimulate the development of a scientific and technically educated workforce, advancing the multidisciplinary application of technology, and the popularization and dissemination of science to the general public. The award will support activities that provide opportunities to develop and maintain complex detector apparatus, custom analog and digital electronics and software systems for data management, and to support data processing and technical analyses of detector systems. Technical professionals are required to perform many of these tasks, increasing the expertise of the U.S. work force. The operation of existing detector components, design of upgrade components, and related research activities create opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration among university physics personnel, university personnel in engineering departments, and physics department technical personnel as physicists, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and computer scientists work with post-docs and students. Similarly, physics personnel will work closely with computing professionals at their home institutions and at national laboratories to support the various software and computing activities.Technical part: This award supports the development and operation of the instrumentation and analysis tools that are essential to studying debris from proton-proton collisions. These tools are essential for answering basic, foundational questions, such as “What is the origin of mass of the elementary particles?” The Higgs Boson discovery, a physical manifestation of the mechanism that generates elementary particle masses, led to the 2013 Physics Nobel Prize that was awarded to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert. Is that the end of the story, or are there other, as-of-yet undiscovered, contributions to this process? Other fundamental questions, equally important, may have answers that depend, at least in part, on the physics observed through the continued operation and analysis of data obtained from the LHC. “What is the dark matter that accounts for 25% of the mass of the universe? Can dark matter be produced and observed at the LHC? Can evidence of extra dimensions predicted in some models be found at LHC energies? Are there particles with exotic properties, unlike any forms of matter observed so far, whose existence is predicted by some theories that extend the standard model of elementary particles?” In each case, answering the question requires the aggregation of large amounts of data from which to draw meaningful statistical inferences. This award will enable researchers to double the amount of data collected for analysis and investigations of these phenomena. It will enable preparations that will lead to future collection of about ten times the currently available data.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.