CAREER: Jets measurements at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

该奖项支持PI及其研究小组对强核力的研究，并支持几项倡议，以增加未被充分代表的少数民族在高能核物理领域的参与。原子核由核子组成，核子可以是质子，也可以是中子。它们又由夸克组成，并由胶子结合在一起。这些夸克和胶子只限于质子和中子，不能单独观察。为了研究将夸克和胶子结合在一起的强核力，像金原子核或铅原子核这样的重离子以超相对论的速度相互碰撞。这就形成了一种温度极高、密度极大的物质液滴，在这里，夸克和胶子不再局限于我们所知的正常物质中。这种新的物质状态被称为夸克胶子等离子体（QGP）。理解QGP可以更好地理解强核力，这对于辨别亚原子物质如何组织自身是必要的。世界上有两个设施可以产生这种物质，欧洲的大型强子对撞机（LHC）和位于纽约长岛布鲁克海文国家实验室的相对论重离子对撞机（RHIC）。在一些重离子碰撞中，两个核子相互猛烈撞击，足以以很高的速度撞出夸克或胶子。这个夸克或胶子将穿过QGP，通过相互作用失去能量，然后产生称为“喷流”的粒子喷雾。通过与未形成QGP的碰撞进行比较，以这种方式产生的喷流可以用作QGP的探测器。该奖项支持在RHIC （STAR）实验的螺线跟踪器上研究这一现象，该实验记录了几个大型数据集，非常适合射流测量。此外，它将支持使用一个名为sPHENIX的新实验来测量射流结果，该实验将在该奖项的最后几年开始收集数据。这个实验有一个中心强子量热计（HCal），它可以测量射流中几乎所有的能量，并将提高所有基于射流的测量的精度。除了与喷气机相关的分析外，该合同还包括测试电磁量热计（EMCal）和HCal的电子元件，并帮助进行最终组装。PI所在的机构将设立一个专门的测试台，这将允许里海大学的本科生和研究生对两种量热计使用的电子板进行表征。然后，这些学生将在布鲁克海文呆上一段时间，协助完成最后的组装，这样他们就可以看到探测器是如何设计、测试和组装的。此外，学生将继续协助STAR事件平面探测器的安装、调试和校准。该探测器是在先前的奖励的帮助下建造的，通过确定STAR实验中碰撞核的撞击参数，成为STAR实验的重要组成部分。参与该项目的本科生和研究生将获得大数据分析技能，开发硬件技能，并能够在RHIC的大型实验合作中建立网络。这些对于准备和指导下一代STEM工作者都很重要。此外，该奖项将用于继续在利哈伊大学的K-12外展计划，这将允许年轻的学生与不同的科学家群体一起工作。这将鼓励多元化的人群从事STEM职业。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。

This award supports the investigation of the strong nuclear force by the PI and her research group, and also supports several initiatives to increase the participation of under-represented minorities in the field of high energy nuclear physics. The nuclei of atoms are made up of nucleons, which can be either protons or neutrons. These, in turn, consist of quarks, and are bound together by gluons. These quarks and gluons are confined to the protons and neutrons and cannot be observed individually. In order to study the strong nuclear force that holds the quarks and gluons together, heavy ions such as gold or lead nuclei are collided with each other at ultra-relativistic speeds. This forms an extremely hot and dense liquid drop of matter, where the quarks and gluons are no longer confined into normal matter as we know it. This new state of matter is called the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP). Understanding the QGP allows for a better understanding of the strong nuclear force, which is necessary to discern how sub-atomic matter organizes itself. There are two facilities in the world that can create this matter, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) located in Brookhaven National Lab, in Long Island, New York. In some of the heavy ion collisions, two nucleons will strike each other hard enough to knock a quark or gluon out at a high rate of speed. This quark or gluon will travel through the QGP, losing energy to it via its interactions, and then produce a spray of particles called a "jet". The jets created in this fashion can then be used as probes of the QGP, by comparisons with collisions where QGP was not formed. This award supports studying this phenomenon at the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) experiment, which has recorded several large data sets ideal for jet measurements. Additionally, it will support measuring jet results using a new experiment, called sPHENIX, which will start taking data in the last few years of the award. This experiment has a central hadronic calorimeter (HCal), which allows nearly all the energy within a jet to be measured and will increase the precision of all jet-based measurements. In addition to the jet related analysis, this award includes testing electronic components of the Electromagnetc Calorimeter (EMCal) and HCal and helping with the final assembly. A dedicated test stand will be set up at the PI's institution, which will allow the electronic boards used by both calorimeters to be characterized by undergraduate and graduate students at Lehigh. These students will then spend some time at Brookhaven, assisting with the final assembly so that they can see how detectors are designed, tested, and assembled. Additionally, the students will continue to assist with the installation, commissioning and calibration of the STAR Event Plane Detector. This detector was constructed with the help of a previous award and forms a vital part of the STAR experiment by determining the impact parameter of the colliding nuclei within the STAR experiment. The diverse undergraduate and graduate students involved in this project will gain skills in the analysis of big data, develop hardware skills, and be able to network within the large experimental collaborations at RHIC. These will be important for both preparing and mentoring the next generation of STEM workers. Additionally, this award will be used to continue the K-12 outreach program at Lehigh University, which will allow the younger students to work with a diverse group of scientists. This will encourage a diverse population to pursue STEM careers.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.