IRES Track I: Development of the Neutron Optics Parity and Time Violation Experiment in Japan

IRES Track I：日本中子光学宇称和时间违反实验的进展

• 批准号: 2246335
• 负责人: Christopher Crawford
• 金额: $ 29.48万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2246335&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; Track; Development; Neutron; Optics

This IRES Track I proposal will send three cohorts of six U.S. undergraduate students and one U.S. graduate student to Nagoya University, Japan for research and development experiments in conjunction with the existing Japan/US ``Neutron Optics Parity and Time Reversal EXperiment'' (NOPTREX) collaboration. The goal of these experiments is to investigate the physical mechanism responsible for the conversion of antimatter into matter in the early universe. This is one of the outstanding questions in particle and nuclear physics and cosmology, because the Big Bang theory requires matter and antimatter to have been created in equal parts, although now, we do not observe significant quantities of antimatter in the visible universe.Five collaborating institutions: University of Kentucky, Indiana University, Berea College, Eastern Kentucky University, and Western Kentucky University will recruit participants from their respective institutions to work together as a student team/cohort. Three of the institutions operate nuclear physics accelerator facilities with neutron sources for student training, and the other two possess outstanding undergraduate physics programs that draw undergraduates from Appalachia. An innovative aspect of this proposal is that participants will be recruited during the summer prior to the international experience and will receive extensive training with their advisor at their home institution before travelling to Japan. This personalized academic year-long training will prepare the students to make meaningful contributions in a highly technical field and give them extra time to study the Japanese language and culture.The program will directly train a new generation of talented physicists skilled at working in international collaborations and conducting team-based science. The small scale of the NOPTREX experiment and its use of techniques from many subfields of physics lends itself to hands-on student participation and the development of a broad understanding of physical principles and experimental techniques. Special consideration will be given to women, Appalachian, first-generation, and underrepresented minorities. Students chosen for the program will enjoy a rich intellectual research experience using the most advanced instrumentation currently available and will gain world-class skills in precision measurements with low-energy neutrons in an international collaborative setting. As a result, the program will strengthen intellectual and cultural ties between the nuclear science programs of the US and Japan both for the immediate future and in the rising generation of nuclear physicists.The scientific goal of the NOPTREX collaboration is to conduct a new type of sensitive search for time reversal symmetry violation in polarized neutron transmission through polarized nuclei. The discovery of a new source of time reversal violation in neutron-nucleus interactions would uncover new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics and could elucidate the origin of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. This experiment exploits special properties of low energy neutron-nucleus resonances, which can act as a natural amplifier of parity and time reversal violation. The design of the experimental apparatus directly embodies and exploits the principle of motion-reversal symmetry to conduct a sensitive search. The Japanese Spallation Neutron Source (JSNS) at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) is well-suited to host this experiment and will be an ideal backdrop for an international research experience for our students. Several measurements toward the NOPTREX goals have already been completed both at J-PARC and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).An innovative aspect of this proposal is the extensive individualized, academic-year training for each student prior to conducting nuclear physics research in Japan. It builds on the highly collaborative work environment centered around both the US multi-institutional team-based R&D experiments at LANL and the international collaborative experiments being performed at J-PARC. Each US institution contributes specialized hardware expertise and will provide personalized training to IRES participants during the full academic year to prepare them for specific tasks during their research in Japan. Participants will learn collaborative skills and bond as they share their progress with each other and their Japanese mentors in weekly collaboration video conference meetings during the academic year. Cohort building, scientific training, and cultural awareness will be consolidated during two in-person collaboration/training meetings before travel to Japan.The students will perform 10 weeks of summer research at Nagoya University under the supervision of Professors Hirohiko Shimizu, Masaaki Kitaguchi, and Takuya Okudaira, with the aid of one US graduate participant. Student research will be integrated in their Fundamental Neutron Physics research group, which is the largest in Japan. Students will test experimental hardware using the low energy neutron test facility at Nagoya University. They will take a short trip to J-PARC and analyze data collected on the ANNRI beamline at J-PARC. This program is underpinned by our longstanding Japan/US collaborative relationship and our solid record of training students who have worked on the project and conducted NOPTREX research in Japan.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.

这项IRES Track I提案将派遣三组六名美国本科生和一名美国研究生到日本名古屋大学进行研究和开发实验，与日本/美国现有的“中子光学宇称和时间反转实验”（NOPTREX）合作。这些实验的目的是研究早期宇宙中反物质转化为物质的物理机制。这是粒子物理学、核物理学和宇宙学中最突出的问题之一，因为大爆炸理论要求物质和反物质是等量产生的，尽管现在，我们在可见的宇宙中没有观察到大量的反物质。五个合作机构：肯塔基大学、印第安纳大学、伯里亚学院、东肯塔基大学和西肯塔基大学将从各自的机构招募参与者，作为一个学生团队/队列一起工作。其中三家机构运营着核物理加速器设施，配备中子源，用于培养学生，另外两家拥有优秀的本科物理专业，吸引了来自阿巴拉契亚的本科生。该提案的一个创新之处在于，参与者将在国际经验之前的夏季被招募，并在前往日本之前在其本国机构接受顾问的广泛培训。这种为期一年的个性化学术培训将为学生在高技术领域做出有意义的贡献做好准备，并为他们提供额外的时间来学习日本语言和文化。该项目将直接培养新一代有才华的物理学家，他们能够在国际合作中工作，并开展团队科学。NOPTREX实验的小规模和它使用的技术来自物理学的许多子领域，有助于学生的亲身参与和对物理原理和实验技术的广泛理解的发展。将特别考虑妇女、阿巴拉契亚人、第一代和代表性不足的少数民族。被选中参加该项目的学生将使用目前最先进的仪器享受丰富的智力研究经验，并将在国际合作环境中获得世界一流的低能中子精确测量技能。因此，该计划将加强美国和日本核科学计划之间的知识和文化联系，无论是在不久的将来，还是在新一代的核物理学家中。NOPTREX合作的科学目标是对极化中子通过极化核传输时的时间反转对称性破坏进行一种新型的灵敏搜索。在中子-原子核相互作用中发现时间反转违反的新来源将揭示粒子物理标准模型之外的新物理学，并可以阐明宇宙重子不对称的起源。这个实验利用了低能中子核共振的特殊性质，它可以作为宇称和时间反转违反的天然放大器。实验装置的设计直接体现和利用运动反转对称原理进行灵敏搜索。日本质子加速器研究中心（J-PARC）的日本散裂中子源（JSNS）非常适合举办这次实验，并将为我们的学生提供一个理想的国际研究经历的背景。J-PARC和洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室（Los Alamos National Laboratory， LANL）已经完成了对NOPTREX目标的几项测量。这项提议的一个创新之处在于，在日本进行核物理研究之前，对每个学生进行广泛的个性化学年培训。它建立在高度协作的工作环境之上，以LANL的美国多机构团队研发实验和J-PARC正在进行的国际协作实验为中心。每个美国机构都提供专门的硬件专业知识，并将在整个学年期间为IRES参与者提供个性化培训，为他们在日本研究期间的具体任务做好准备。在学年期间，参与者将在每周的协作视频会议上与彼此和他们的日本导师分享他们的进步，从而学习协作技能和联系。团队建设、科学培训和文化意识将在前往日本之前的两次面对面合作/培训会议中得到巩固。这些学生将在名古屋大学进行为期10周的暑期研究，导师分别是清水裕彦、北口正明和奥寺拓也教授，并有一名美国研究生参与。学生的研究将被整合到他们的基础中子物理研究小组，这是日本最大的。学生们将使用名古屋大学的低能中子测试设备测试实验硬件。他们将短途旅行到J-PARC，并分析在J-PARC的ANNRI光束线上收集的数据。该计划的基础是我们与日本/美国的长期合作关系，以及我们在培训参与该项目并在日本进行NOPTREX研究的学生方面的良好记录。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。