CAREER: Higgs and Dark Sectors

该职业奖资助辛辛那提大学Stefania Gori教授的研究和外展活动。粒子物理学面临着两个基本问题，这两个问题指向了超出我们目前理解的“新物理学”。第一个是2012年大型强子对撞机(LHC)发现的相对较轻的所谓希格斯玻色子的存在。这里最大的谜团是解释这种新粒子的质量来源。第二个基本问题是理解所谓的“暗物质”的性质和起源，这种物质在整个宇宙中的普遍程度是普通物质的五倍。一种可能性是，暗物质可能会与一种全新的暗粒子一起出现，而到目前为止，实验还没有发现这种粒子，因为这种粒子被推定与已知粒子的相互作用非常弱。作为她计划中的研究的一部分，戈里教授将实施一项雄心勃勃的研究计划，重点研究高能和高强度实验之间的这两个基本问题。她将探索具有不止一个希格斯玻色子的新模型，并研究扩展的暗区理论。作为她工作的一部分，她还将为费米实验室现有的和计划中的实验开发新的搜索策略，并将其科学任务扩展到搜索暗粒子。因此，戈里教授的研究促进了我们对自然基本规律的理解，并有可能加强美国一流国家实验室的研究，从而进一步促进了国家利益。戈里教授还将启动一项针对少数族裔(URM)的外联计划，将辛辛那提大学物理系与学生人口以女性或非裔美国人为主的当地高中和小学联系起来。特别是，她将启动一项“STEM中的女性：从高中到学术界”计划，她将扩大以URM学生为主的当地学校的课外计划。在技术上，戈里教授将建立夸克和轻子质量的扩展扇区的新模型，并在低能和高能实验中探索这类模型的特征，重点是希格斯和味道物理之间的联系。戈里教授将在费米实验室现有的和计划中的实验中为明暗部分开发新的搜索策略：Minos+、Nova和探测器附近的沙丘，以及SeaQuest核物理实验。这将允许搜索大量的黑暗部门理论。戈里教授还将与实验合作伙伴密切合作，探索沙丘和海洋探索的优化设置，以最大限度地扩大它们的物理覆盖范围。戈里教授还将利用希格斯粒子和暗扇区之间的联系，以开发希格斯衰变产生暗扇区粒子的场景，从而产生新的信号，并在未来几年内在大型强子对撞机上进行研究。

This CAREER award funds the research and outreach activities of Professor Stefania Gori at the University of Cincinnati. Particle physics faces two fundamental problems that point to "new physics" lying beyond our current understanding. The first of these is the existence of a relatively light so-called Higgs boson, as discovered by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012. The biggest mystery here is to explain the origin of the mass of this new particle. The second fundamental problem is to understand the nature and origin of the so-called "dark matter" that is five times more prevalent throughout the universe than ordinary matter. One possibility is that dark matter can arise together with a completely new sector of dark particles which have not been discovered by experiments conducted thus far because such particles are presumed to interact only very weakly with the known particles. As part of her proposed research, Professor Gori will pursue an ambitious research program focused on studying these two fundamental problems at the interface between high-energy and high-intensity experiments. She will explore new models with more than one Higgs boson and investigate extended dark-sector theories. As part of her work, she will also develop new search strategies for existing and planned experiments at Fermilab and extend its science mission with searches for dark particles. As such, Professor Gori's research furthers the national interest by advancing our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature and potentially enhancing the research done at one of the premier US national laboratories. Professor Gori will also initiate an outreach program aimed at underrepresented minorities (URMs), connecting the University of Cincinnati Physics Department with local high schools and elementary schools whose student populations are majority female or African-American. In particular, she will start a "Women in STEM: From High School to Academia" program, and she will broaden the after-school programs of local schools with predominantly URM student bodies. More technically, Professor Gori will build new models of extended sectors responsible for quark and lepton masses, and explore the signatures of such models at both low- and high-energy experiments, focusing on the connection between Higgs and flavor physics. Professor Gori will develop new search strategies for light dark sectors at existing and planned experiments at Fermilab: MINOS+, NOvA and the DUNE near detectors, and the SeaQuest nuclear physics experiment. This will allow searches for a vast set of dark-sector theories. Professor Gori will also work closely with the experimental collaborations to explore optimized setups for DUNE and SeaQuest to maximize their physics reach. Professor Gori will also exploit the connection between the Higgs and dark sectors in order to develop scenarios in which dark-sector particles are produced from Higgs decays, leading to novel signatures that can investigated over the coming years at the LHC.