RUI: A Program of Undergraduate Participation in the Search for Rare Events with CUORE

加州理工州立大学是一所以本科为主的大学，为本科生提供参与基础物理研究的机会。 Cal Poly的学生将有机会在世界上最好的地下实验室之一参加实践活动，并参与基础研究。 这将为学生提供在世界一流的地下实验室中进行尖端物理实验的宝贵经验。 这些经历促进了重要的个人和专业成长，伴随着出国旅行和学习。本科生的研究机会，如在这个项目中，让学生有助于真实的科学和早期技术职业生涯，这最终有助于一个有能力和有竞争力的美国劳动力产生形成的经验。首席研究员和他的学生将在意大利的格兰萨索国家实验室（Gran Sasso National Laboratory）进行CUORE实验。 CUORE被设计用来测量有史以来最慢的放射性衰变之一的半衰期：两个中微子双β衰变（2vBB）。 它还在寻找从未见过的无中微子双β衰变（0vBB）。 无中微子双β衰变是不可能的，除非中微子有质量，并且中微子与它自己的反粒子不同。 但物理学的标准模型认为中微子没有质量，并将中微子与其反粒子区别对待。 因此，对无中微子双β衰变的观测将意味着标准模型之外的新的令人兴奋的物理学。 CUORE合作已经建立了一个实验，该实验非常适合检测半衰期长达10^26年的无中微子双β衰变，这比宇宙年龄大数万亿倍。 Cal Poly小组将通过每年夏天提供现场支持来为实验做出贡献。 他们将在自己的实验室进行数据分析，并开发用于脉冲形状识别和分类的机器学习算法。他们还将使用这些数据来测试洛伦兹和CPT不变性的违反，直接测试爱因斯坦狭义相对论的极限。中微子物理和地下物理都是激发学生想象力的学科，因此这些主题为积极的公共宣传提供了独特的平台。PI和学生将创建外展活动，并与当地学校和社区组织合作，赞助物理演示和讨论科学时事。特别是，Cal Poly小组将为CUORE物理学开发一个交互式可视化方案。该互动软件将作为公众深入了解科学过程和探索粒子物理奥秘的渠道。该奖项反映了NSF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。

California Polytechnic State University is a primarily undergraduate institution that provides opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in fundamental physics research. The Cal Poly students will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities at one of the world's finest underground laboratories and to participate in fundamental research. This will give students invaluable experience working with a cutting-edge physics experiment in a world-class underground laboratory. These experiences facilitate important personal and professional growth which accompanies travel and study abroad. Undergraduate research opportunities such as those in this project allow students to contribute to real science and generate formative experiences for early technical careers, which ultimately contribute to a competent and competitive US workforce. The principle investigator and his students will work on the CUORE experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, an underground laboratory, in Italy. CUORE is designed to measure the half-life of one of the slowest radioactive decays ever observed: two neutrino double beta decay (2vBB). It is also searching for the never-before-seen neutrinoless double beta decay (0vBB). Neutrinoless double beta decay is impossible unless the neutrino has mass and the neutrino is distinct from its own antiparticle. But the Standard Model of physics suggests that the neutrino does not have mass and it treats the neutrino as distinct from its antiparticle. Therefore, observation of neutrinoless double beta decay would imply new and exciting physics beyond the Standard Model. The CUORE collaboration has built an experiment that is ideal for detecting neutrinoless double beta decay with a half-life up 10^26 years, which is trillions of times older than the age of the Universe. The Cal Poly group will contribute to the experiment by providing on-site support each summer. They will do data analysis in their home laboratory and they will develop machine learning algorithms for pulse-shape identification and classification. They will also use the data to test for violations of Lorentz and CPT invariance, directly testing the limits of Einstein's special theory of relativity.Both neutrino physics and underground physics are subjects that spark the imagination of students and so these topics provide a unique platform for vigorous public outreach. The PI and students will create outreach activities and work with local schools and community organizations to sponsor physics demonstrations and discuss current events in science. In particular, the Cal Poly group will develop an interactive visualization scheme for CUORE physics. The interactive software will serve as a channel for the public to gain insight into the scientific process and explore the mysteries of 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.