MREFC: US ATLAS HL-LHC Upgrade Project

通过几十年的前期研究，科学家们开发了粒子物理学标准模型，这是一个定量描述放射性、光与物质相互作用以及原子核结构等物理现象的理论框架。标准模型的最后一个部分是希格斯玻色子，这种粒子与标准模型的其他组成部分相互作用，产生了不同的质量。它于2012年在欧洲核子研究中心被发现，导致2013年诺贝尔物理学奖授予彼得·希格斯和弗朗索瓦·恩格勒。标准模型是不完整的，因为它没有解释，例如，暗物质和暗能量的天体物理学观测，或者为什么反物质如此罕见。研究人员希望调查是否存在具有奇异性质的额外粒子，这与迄今为止观察到的任何形式的物质不同，它们的存在是由一些扩展标准模型的理论预测的。对希格斯玻色子性质的进一步研究可能会揭示这些问题，但这将需要比迄今为止产生的更多的数据样本。欧洲核子研究中心正在升级大型强子对撞机，以产生更大数量的质子-质子碰撞。在2027年升级完成后，当它被称为高亮度LHC（HL-LHC）时，相互作用的速率将是希格斯玻色子被发现时的十倍左右。 与此同时，ATLAS探测器将进行升级，以便在强度更高的HL-LHC环境中运行，并将提高关键的希格斯玻色子探测灵敏度。升级活动是一项国际协调的努力，由欧洲核研究组织管理，全球40多个供资机构参与和单独捐款。 NSF将向哥伦比亚大学提供7500万美元，作为由18所美国大学组成的联盟的牵头机构，该联盟将制造和提供ATLAS探测器升级的关键要素：更快的电子设备和附加的探测器元件，用于测量和记录碰撞中产生的粒子的能量、动量和方向，以及更复杂的电子设备和软件来从将要产生的洪流中选择用于记录的数据。NSF正在与美国能源部协调其参与，后者也为ATLAS升级提供资金。这延续了一个非常成功的机构间伙伴关系，使美国科学家能够共同参与LHC的前沿研究超过二十年。哥伦比亚大学及其18个次级获奖者将利用NSF奖来增加数百名本科生和高中生参与物理研究的多样性。 动手参与探测器制造和测试将使广泛的独特的教育和推广活动，再加上机构的本科和研究生课程。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。

Through decades of prior research, scientists have developed the Standard Model of Particle Physics, a theoretical framework that quantitatively describes physical phenomena such as radioactivity, the interaction of light with matter, and the structure of nuclei. The last piece of the Standard Model to fall into place was the Higgs boson, the particle whose interaction with other components of the Standard Model gives rise to their various masses. It was discovered at CERN in 2012, resulting in the award of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert. The Standard Model is incomplete, as it does not explain, for example, phenomena such as the astrophysical observations of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, or why anti-matter is so rare. Researchers want to investigate whether there are additional particles with exotic properties, unlike any forms of matter observed so far, whose existence is predicted by some theories that extend the Standard Model. Further study of the properties of the Higgs boson may shed light on these questions, but this will require a far greater data sample than that produced so far. CERN is upgrading the LHC to produce a much larger number of proton-proton collisions. After upgrading is complete in 2027, when it will be known as the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), the rate of interaction will be about ten times greater than when the Higgs boson was discovered. Concurrently, the ATLAS detector will be upgraded to operate in the much-higher-intensity HL-LHC environment, and it will incorporate critical Higgs boson detection sensitivity enhancements. The upgrade activities are an internationally coordinated effort, managed by CERN and involving the participation and individual contributions of more than 40 funding agencies globally. NSF will award $75M to Columbia University as the lead institution in a consortium of 18 US universities that will fabricate and deliver key elements of the ATLAS detector upgrade: faster electronics and additional detector elements for measuring and recording the energies, momenta, and directions of particles produced in collisions, and more sophisticated electronics and software to select data for recording from among the torrent that will be produced. NSF is coordinating its participation with the US Department of Energy, who is also funding elements of the ATLAS upgrade. This continues a highly successful inter-agency partnership that has jointly enabled US scientists to participate in cutting edge research at the LHC for more than two decades. Columbia University and its 18 subrecipients will leverage the NSF award to increase the diversity of participation in physics research by hundreds of undergraduate and high school students. Hands-on involvement in detector fabrication and testing will enable a broad range of unique education and outreach activities that are coupled to institutional undergraduate and graduate programs. These will advance NSF goals promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) workforce development.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.