CAREER: Searching for New Physics Phenomena and New Audiences

粒子物理学的标准模型是一个在最小尺度上空前成功的宇宙理论。然而，由于种种原因，该理论并不令人满意和不完整。为了深入了解这些问题，由田纳西大学PI教授Lawrence Lee领导的小组在瑞士日内瓦外的欧洲核子研究中心（CERN）的大型强子对撞机（LHC）上研究粒子碰撞。作为能够探测世界上最大能量密度的设备，大型强子对撞机能够在受控实验中探测最小长度尺度。在对大型强子对撞机碰撞数据的仔细分析中，该小组寻找与标准模型预测的偏差，特别是以新的未知粒子的形式。发现这样一种新粒子将有助于解释我们目前认识的缺陷，并指导我们建立一个更完整的宇宙理论。鉴于在大型强子对撞机上还没有观察到明显偏离标准模型的现象，发现任何新的物理现象都需要新的技术和新的数据。该项目包括数据分析，以新的和创新的方式寻找超越标准模型的新粒子，升级大型强子对撞机的CMS实验，以便在未来几十年继续收集数据，并通过有趣和教育推广计划向公众传播这项工作。这一教育组成部分包括通过Lee的ColliderScope项目向公众传播物理启发的电子音乐，以及与当地设计学院合作举办粒子物理教育展览。PI Lee的团队主要是LHC紧凑型介子螺线管（CMS）实验的成员。这个项目有四个主要目标。在寻找新的物理现象的过程中，该小组将寻找新的长寿命的大质量粒子，这些粒子在衰变之前可以通过宏观距离进入CMS探测器。直接寻找这些粒子与探测器的相互作用，它们可以通过异常大的电离特征被发现。这项工作将侧重于当前现有的数据和收集到的新数据。为了继续在高亮度大型强子对撞机的环境中获取更多的数据，该小组还将在硅跟踪器升级的背景下升级CMS探测器本身，为CMS提供新的基于轨迹的触发能力。特别是，该小组参与了此次升级的构建、读出和控制软件。为了向公众传达LHC的目标，这个项目的教育组成部分包括工程“lissajous”音乐，其中粒子物理图像被编码成可以在示波器上可视化的音频波形，以及向K-12学生解释宇宙射线物理的教育展览，以及训练设计学生的粒子物理技术技能。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。

The Standard Model of Particle Physics is an unprecedentedly successful theory of the universe at the smallest scales. However, there exist numerous reasons the theory is unsatisfactory and incomplete. In order to gain insight into these issues, the group led by PI Prof. Lawrence Lee at the University of Tennessee studies the particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN outside of Geneva, Switzerland. As the facility able to probe the largest energy densities in the world, the LHC is able to probe the smallest length scales in controlled experiments. In careful analysis of the data from the collisions at the LHC, the group searches for deviations from Standard Model predictions, particularly in the form of new unknown particles. Finding such a new particle would help explain the shortcomings of our current understanding and guide us to a more complete theory of the universe. Given that no significant deviation from the Standard Model has been observed at the LHC yet, finding any new physics phenomena will require new techniques and new data. This project comprises data analyses searching for new particles Beyond the Standard Model in new and innovative ways, upgrading the CMS experiment at the LHC to continue to collect data for decades to come, and communicating this work to the public through fun and educational outreach programs. This educational component includes reaching the public with physics-inspired electronic music through Lee's ColliderScope project and the development of a particle physics educational exhibition in collaboration with a local college of design.PI Lee's group works primarily as members of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment at the LHC. This project has four main objectives. In the search for new physics phenomena, the group will search for new long-lived particles at high masses that travel macroscopic distances into the CMS detector before decaying. Directly looking for the interactions of these particles with the detector, they can be discovered via anomalously large ionization signatures. This work will focus on currently existing data and new data as it's collected. To continue to take increased data in the environment of the High-Luminosity LHC, the group will also work on upgrading the CMS detector itself in the context of the silicon tracker upgrade that provides new track-based triggering abilities to CMS. In particular, the group is involved in the construction, readout, and control software for this upgrade. To communicate the goals of the LHC with the general public, the educational components to this project involve engineering "lissajous" music in which particle physics imagery is encoded in audio waveforms that can be visualized on oscilloscopes, and an educational exhibition explaining cosmic ray physics to K-12 students as well as training students of design in the technical skills common to particle physics.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.