Supplementary Consumables for the Sheffield Particle Physics Programme Consolidated Grant

本投标涉及2012年底授予的谢菲尔德粒子物理计划综合拨款中使用的补充消耗品。我们正生活在一个特殊的时代，在粒子物理学和粒子天体物理学的发现与潜在的生产步骤的变化，在理解物质的组成和宇宙的结构。我们计划在谢菲尔德进行的粒子物理学和粒子天体物理学的研究是这些发现的核心。首先，我们似乎接近于回答是什么赋予粒子质量的基本问题。在这一领域，谢菲尔德将继续在ATLAS实验中发挥主导作用，该实验现在看起来即将通过探测著名的希格斯玻色子来解开谜团。我们的ATLAS工作，我们是目前唯一一个积极参与旗舰4轻子通道希格斯粒子搜索的英国小组，将致力于证实2011年12月报道的第一个过量证据。与此同时，将继续进行同样重要的寻找超对称粒子的工作，并为预计作为下一个实验的ATLAS升级进行辐射建模和探测器测试。我们目前为ATLAS提供英国发言人。最近的第二个重大进展是2011年的T2 K实验，报告了非零第三中微子混合角的证据。这可能会开启所谓的电荷宇称（CP）破坏实验的进展，以回答为什么宇宙包含物质而几乎没有反物质的奥秘。我们的T2 K和中微子小组将专注于进一步的分析，以确认新的结果，同时，利用我们在LBNO和LBNE合作中的成员资格，将关键的新探测器技术推向下一代长基线中微子实验，以观察CP破坏。为此，我们的重点将是液氩技术，我们在电致发光光读出方面的开创性工作，以及我们对μ子背景的模拟工作。后者也是我们正在进行的质子衰变实验的关键，这是理解物理学大统一理论的核心问题。与此密切相关的中微子计划对我们至关重要的是继续参与SNO+，旨在了解太阳中微子，以及MICE实验及其相关的高功率粒子束靶的研发，用于未来的中微子束。最近的技术发展导致探测器对WIMP暗物质的灵敏度显着提高，其中谢菲尔德小组对EDELWEISS和DRIFT做出了关键贡献。利用我们在背景减缓战略、校准和数据分析方面的领导地位，我们未来的工作将集中在EDELWEISS的运行和数据分析以及吨级低温实验EURECA的发展上。该小组也处于独特的有利地位，可以通过新的工作做出贡献，旨在看到或排除所声称的低质量WIMP事件的明确银河系签名。我们在定向WIMP探测器上的开创性工作将在英国的Boulby地下站点DRIFTIIe安装一个新的实验，而我们对南极洲南极DM-ICE 17的数据的持续分析，我们提供了NaI探测器，将寻求年度调制星系签名并为计划于2013年进行的新实验提供信息。

This bid concerns Supplementary Consumables for use in connection with the Sheffield Particle Physics Programme Consolidated Grant awarded in late 2012. We are living in an exceptional age for discoveries in particle physics and particle astrophysics with potential for producing step changes in understanding of the composition of matter and the structure of the Universe. The research we plan with this consolidated grant in particle physics and particle astrophysics at Sheffield is at the core of these discoveries. Firstly, we appear to be near answering the fundamental question of what gives particles mass. In this field Sheffield will continue to play a leading role in the ATLAS experiment that now looks to be on the verge of solving the mystery by detecting the famous Higgs Boson. Our ATLAS work, where we are currently the only UK group heavily involved in the flagship 4-lepton channel Higgs search, will aim to confirm the first evidence for excess reported in Dec. 2011. Simultaneously work will continue in the equally fundamental hunt to find supersymmetric particles and on radiation modeling and detector tests for the ATLAS upgrade anticipated as the next experiment. We currently provide the UK spokesman for ATLAS.A second recent major advance, made by the T2K experiment in 2011, reports evidence for a non-zero third neutrino mixing angle. This potentially unlocks progress to experiments in so-called charge-parity (CP) violation to answer the mystery of why the Universe contains matter and virtually no anti-matter. Our T2K and neutrino group will focus on contributing further analysis to confirm the new results but also, using our membership of the LBNO and LBNE collaborations, progress key new detector technology towards a next generation long baseline neutrino experiment to see CP violation. For this our focus will be with liquid argon technology, our pioneering work on electroluminescence light readout for that, and our simulation work on backgrounds from muons. The latter is key also to our on-going work towards an experiment to see if the proton decays, an issue at the core of understanding Grand Unified Theories of physics. Closely related and vital for our neutrino programme is continued participation in SNO+, aimed at understanding solar neutrinos, and the MICE experiment with its related R&D on high power particle beam targets for future neutrino beams.Technological developments recently led to significant improvement in sensitivity of detectors to WIMP dark matter with key contributions from the Sheffield group towards EDELWEISS and DRIFT. Exploiting our leadership in background mitigation strategy, calibration and data analysis, our future work will concentrate on EDELWEISS operation and data analysis, as well as on developments towards ton-scale cryogenic experiment EURECA. The group is also uniquely well positioned to contribute through new work aiming to see, or exclude, a definitive galactic signature for the claimed low mass WIMP events. Our pioneering work on directional WIMP detectors will see a new experiment installed at the UK's Boulby underground site, DRIFTIIe, while our continued analysis of data from DM-ICE17 at the Antarctic South Pole, for which we supplied the NaI detectors, will seek an annual modulation galactic signature and inform design of a new experiment there planned for 2013.