Partnership in EPP and STEM Ed Research: Particle Tracking at the HL-LHC and in STEM Education

这项研究项目旨在通过探索自然的基本对称性及其与质量起源的关系，在最小的尺度上更好地理解宇宙，同时研究如何在课堂和研究小组中将这些研究概念和实践带给本科生物理学生。它支持实验粒子物理(EPP)小组和物理教育研究(PER)小组合作实现这一目标。大型强子对撞机(LHC)的科学是关于早期宇宙、基本粒子及其相互作用的物理学。希格斯玻色子的发现是理解宇宙早期历史的一个重要里程碑，物理学家现在正在为发现潜力的下一个重大飞跃做准备：高光度大型强子对撞机升级(HL-LHC)。参与这项研究的物理学家相对较少，而且这一研究群体的多样性并不能反映美国人口的多样性。为了扩大研究的影响，研究人员将开发和评估各种方法，以同时增加EPP的多样性，并利用PER工具和方法扩大学生在这一尖端研究领域的参与。作为这项工作的一部分，该团队将设计和评估用于实验室课程和本科生研究人员的教学材料。该项目涉及实验粒子物理(EPP)小组和物理教育研究(PER)小组的合作，以开展尖端粒子物理研究，并将相同的尖端研究概念和实践带给普通本科生。对于HL-LHC，研究人员将从多个方面应对CMS升级挑战--模拟、工程和设计、硬件测试以及设备的最终构造。一个主要的重点将是轨迹查找固件的开发。这些努力将使CMS从HL-LHC升级中提取最大物理学成为可能。将跟踪添加到CMS硬件触发器将提高CMS实验对各种主题的灵敏度，例如搜索标准模型以外的物理和测量已知粒子的精确属性。在这个领域，研究人员将面对基本对称性、质量的性质、空间的维度以及宇宙的宇宙学起源。同时，研究人员将对教育干预进行对照和观察性研究，将EPP研究的概念和实践带给课堂和研究小组的本科生物理学生。研究小组将以基于课程的本科生研究经验(CURE)模式为基础，评估应用于物理学的CURE框架的有效性，以将EPP研究概念和技能引入本科课程，并扩大对EPP研究的参与。这项工作将需要PER和EPP专家之间的创新合作，以设计和评估特定学科的、真实的、具有教育意义的教材，这些教材将直接使课堂和LHC受益。该项目是对NSF 22-097《亲爱的同事来信：促进扩大研究参与的实验基础粒子物理和STEM教育研究的伙伴关系》的响应。该奖项由STEM教育局(EDU)的物理部(PHY)和本科生教育部(DUE)共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project aims to better understand the universe at the smallest scales by probing nature's basic symmetries and their relation to the origin of mass and to simultaneously study how to bring these research concepts and practices to undergraduate physics students in classrooms and research groups. It supports the collaboration of an experimental particle physics (EPP) group and a physics education research (PER) group to achieve this goal. The science of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the physics of the early universe, of the elementary particles and their interactions. The discovery of the Higgs Boson was a major milestone toward understanding the early history of the universe, and physicists are now preparing for the next big leap in discovery potential: the High-Luminosity LHC upgrades (HL-LHC). A relatively small number of physicists are involved in this research, and the diversity of this research community does not reflect the diversity of the U.S. population. To broaden the impact of the research, the investigators will develop and evaluate ways to simultaneously increase the diversity of EPP and broaden participation of students in this cutting-edge research area using PER tools and approaches. As part of this effort, the team will design and evaluate instructional materials to be used both in laboratory courses and with undergraduate researchers. This project involves the collaboration of an experimental particle physics (EPP) group and a physics education research (PER) group to conduct cutting-edge particle physics research and to bring the same cutting-edge research concepts and practices to the population of undergraduate physics students. For the HL-LHC, researchers will attack the CMS upgrade challenge on many fronts -- simulation, engineering and design, testing of hardware, and final construction of devices. A major emphasis will be the development of the track finding firmware. These efforts will make it possible for CMS to extract the maximum physics from the HL-LHC upgrade. Adding tracking to the CMS hardware trigger will improve the sensitivity of the CMS experiment to such diverse topics as searching for physics beyond the Standard Model and measuring precise properties of known particles. In this realm, the researchers will confront fundamental symmetries, the nature of mass, the dimensionality of space, and the cosmological origins of the universe. Simultaneously, the investigators will conduct a controlled and an observational study of educational interventions to bring the EPP research concepts and practices to undergraduate physics students in classrooms and research groups. Building on models of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), which have been especially used in biology and some other STEM fields to redesign courses and curricula, the research team will evaluate the efficacy of the CURE framework as applied to physics as a way to bring EPP research concepts and skills to the undergraduate curriculum and to broaden participation in EPP research. This effort will require innovative collaboration between PER and EPP experts to design and evaluate discipline-specific, authentic, educationally sound instructional materials that will directly benefit both the classroom and the LHC. This project is in response to NSF 22-097, "Dear Colleague Letter: Partnership in Experimental Elementary Particle Physics and STEM Education Research to Promote Broadening Research Participation." This award is jointly funded by the Physics Division (PHY) and the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU).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.