Deciphering Electro-Weak Scale Physics at Particle Colliders

该奖项资助了肯尼索州立大学的Andreas Papaefstathiou博士的研究活动。我们对自然界基本粒子及其相互作用的理解被封装在称为“标准模型”（SM）的理论框架中。 虽然SM非常好地描述了实验结果，但它缺乏解释几个重要问题的能力，例如：（i）我们的宇宙在目前的形式下是稳定的，还是在遥远的未来会衰变到一个不同的状态？ (ii)既然构成我们的物质很容易“蒸发”成纯粹的能量和它的“镜像”副本，反物质，它怎么能在宇宙中如此丰富地存在呢？ 以及（iii）不发光的（即，暗）物质渗透我们的宇宙？ 详细了解SM中最重要的粒子-所谓的希格斯玻色子，于2012年在CERN大型强子对撞机（LHC）发现-可以帮助解释这些谜团并阐明它们的潜在联系。有强有力的论点认为，这一成就可能是在大型强子对撞机和未来的对撞机实验的范围内。为此，Papaefstathiou教授在他的研究中旨在开发方法，通过这些方法，希格斯玻色子和其他类似的潜在新粒子的性质将在LHC和未来的实验中得到更深入的理解，可能会照亮上述谜团。预计该项目还将产生更广泛的重大影响。特别是，Papaefstathiou博士将与本科生研究助理合作，教他们物理学的研究方法。此外，该研究的教育部分将包括生成材料，使壮观的粒子碰撞可视化，因为它们发生在实验中，旨在提高公众对科学的兴趣，并吸引不同的观众追求STEM学科的研究。从技术上讲，Papaefstathiou教授的研究将：（1）开发一种新颖的、综合的唯象方法，伴随着高精度的蒙特-卡罗模拟工具，来测量标量的性质（即没有自旋的粒子），包括希格斯玻色子和任何新粒子，导致更深入地理解通过希格斯场为SM中的物质粒子产生质量的机制，称为电弱对称性破缺;（2）设计技术，使对撞机能够发现（或排除）和破译可行的机制，产生观察到的宇宙的物质-反物质不对称性;和（3）提供先进的蒙特-卡罗模拟工具和分析，用于检测被称为电-弱sphalerons和存在于SM内的量子色动力学的瞬子。作为一个额外的教育目标，材料将以讲座，教程和可视化程序的形式开发，这些程序与现实的蒙特-卡罗事件发生器相结合，目的是介绍粒子物理学和蒙特卡罗-卡洛技术，这是针对本科生研究人员和公众。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持，通过评估使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

This award funds the research activities of Dr. Andreas Papaefstathiou at Kennesaw State University.Our understanding of the elementary particles of Nature and their interactions is encapsulated in the theoretical framework known as the "Standard Model" (SM). While the SM describes experimental outcomes extraordinarily well, it lacks the ability to explain several important questions, such as: (i) Is our universe stable in its current form, or will it decay into a different state in the far future?; (ii) Given that the matter we are made of readily "vaporizes" into pure energy with its "mirror" copy, anti-matter, how can it exist so abundantly in the universe?; and (iii) What is the nature of the non-luminous (i.e., dark) matter that permeates our universe? Understanding in detail the most important particle in the SM --- the so-called Higgs boson, discovered at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012 --- could help explain these mysteries and elucidate their potential connections. There have been strong arguments that this accomplishment could be well within the reach of the LHC and future collider experiments. To this end, in his research Professor Papaefstathiou aims to develop methods through which the properties of the Higgs boson, and other potential new particles similar to it, will be understood in greater depth at the LHC and future experiments, potentially illuminating the aforementioned mysteries. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts. In particular, Dr. Papaefstathiou will work with undergraduate research assistants to teach them about research methods in physics. Furthermore, an educational component of the research will consist of generating material that will allow for the visualization of spectacular particle collisions as they occur at experiments, designed to enhance public interest in science as well as attract a diverse audience to the pursuit the study of STEM subjects.More technically, the research of Professor Papaefstathiou will: (1) develop a novel, comprehensive phenomenological approach, accompanied by high-precision Monte-Carlo simulation tools, to measure the properties of scalars (i.e. particles without spin), including the Higgs boson and any new particles, leading to a deeper understanding of the mechanism that generates mass for the matter particles in the SM through the Higgs field, known as electroweak symmetry breaking; (2) devise techniques that will enable colliders to discover (or exclude) and decipher viable mechanisms that generate the observed matter-anti-matter asymmetry of the universe; and (3) provide advanced Monte-Carlo simulation tools and analyses for detecting topological non-perturbative processes known as electro-weak sphalerons and instantons of quantum chromodynamics that exist within the SM. As an additional educational objective, material will be developed, in the form of lectures, tutorials, and visualization programs that are interfaced with realistic Monte-Carlo event generators, with the goal of providing an introduction to particle physics and Monte-Carlo techniques which is aimed at undergraduate researchers and the general public.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.