Deciphering Electro-Weak Scale Physics at Particle Colliders

该奖项资助肯尼索州立大学Andreas Papaefstathiou博士的研究活动。我们对自然界基本粒子及其相互作用的理解被概括在被称为“标准模型”(SM)的理论框架中。虽然SM非常好地描述了实验结果，但它缺乏解释几个重要问题的能力，例如：(I)我们的宇宙在目前的形式下是稳定的，还是会在遥远的未来衰变到不同的状态？(Ii)考虑到我们所组成的物质很容易通过它的镜像副本--反物质--蒸发成纯能量，它怎么会在宇宙中如此丰富地存在？以及(Iii)渗透到我们宇宙中的不发光(即暗)物质的性质是什么？详细了解SM中最重要的粒子--2012年在CERN大型强子对撞机(LHC)上发现的所谓希格斯玻色子--有助于解释这些谜团并阐明它们之间的潜在联系。有强烈的争论认为，这一成就很可能在大型强子对撞机和未来的对撞机实验中实现。为此，Papaefstathiou教授在他的研究中致力于开发方法，通过这些方法，在大型强子对撞机和未来的实验中，将更深入地了解希格斯玻色子和其他潜在的类似粒子的性质，潜在地阐明上述谜团。预计该项目还将产生更广泛的重大影响。特别是，Papaefstathiou博士将与本科生研究助理合作，向他们传授物理学的研究方法。此外，这项研究的一个教育部分将包括产生材料，这些材料将允许在实验中出现壮观的粒子碰撞的可视化，旨在提高公众对科学的兴趣，并吸引不同的观众追求STEM主题的研究。更从技术上讲，Papaefstathiou教授的研究将：(1)开发一种新的、全面的现象学方法，并辅之以高精度的蒙特卡罗模拟工具，以测量标量(即没有自旋的粒子)的性质，包括希格斯玻色子和任何新粒子，导致对通过希格斯场为SM中的物质粒子产生质量的机制有了更深入的理解，这种机制被称为电弱对称破缺；(2)设计技术，使对撞机能够发现(或排除)和破译产生所观测到的宇宙物质-反物质不对称的可行机制；以及(3)提供先进的蒙特卡罗模拟工具和分析，用于探测SM内存在的称为量子色动力学的电弱闪子和瞬子的拓扑非微扰过程。作为一个额外的教育目标，将以讲座、教程和可视化程序的形式开发材料，这些课程与真实的蒙特卡罗事件生成器相结合，目的是提供粒子物理学和蒙特卡罗技术的入门，面向本科生研究人员和普通公众。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award funds the research activities of Dr. Andreas Papaefstathiou at Kennesaw State University.Our understanding of the elementary particles of Nature and their interactions is encapsulated in the theoretical framework known as the "Standard Model" (SM). While the SM describes experimental outcomes extraordinarily well, it lacks the ability to explain several important questions, such as: (i) Is our universe stable in its current form, or will it decay into a different state in the far future?; (ii) Given that the matter we are made of readily "vaporizes" into pure energy with its "mirror" copy, anti-matter, how can it exist so abundantly in the universe?; and (iii) What is the nature of the non-luminous (i.e., dark) matter that permeates our universe? Understanding in detail the most important particle in the SM --- the so-called Higgs boson, discovered at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012 --- could help explain these mysteries and elucidate their potential connections. There have been strong arguments that this accomplishment could be well within the reach of the LHC and future collider experiments. To this end, in his research Professor Papaefstathiou aims to develop methods through which the properties of the Higgs boson, and other potential new particles similar to it, will be understood in greater depth at the LHC and future experiments, potentially illuminating the aforementioned mysteries. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts. In particular, Dr. Papaefstathiou will work with undergraduate research assistants to teach them about research methods in physics. Furthermore, an educational component of the research will consist of generating material that will allow for the visualization of spectacular particle collisions as they occur at experiments, designed to enhance public interest in science as well as attract a diverse audience to the pursuit the study of STEM subjects.More technically, the research of Professor Papaefstathiou will: (1) develop a novel, comprehensive phenomenological approach, accompanied by high-precision Monte-Carlo simulation tools, to measure the properties of scalars (i.e. particles without spin), including the Higgs boson and any new particles, leading to a deeper understanding of the mechanism that generates mass for the matter particles in the SM through the Higgs field, known as electroweak symmetry breaking; (2) devise techniques that will enable colliders to discover (or exclude) and decipher viable mechanisms that generate the observed matter-anti-matter asymmetry of the universe; and (3) provide advanced Monte-Carlo simulation tools and analyses for detecting topological non-perturbative processes known as electro-weak sphalerons and instantons of quantum chromodynamics that exist within the SM. As an additional educational objective, material will be developed, in the form of lectures, tutorials, and visualization programs that are interfaced with realistic Monte-Carlo event generators, with the goal of providing an introduction to particle physics and Monte-Carlo techniques which is aimed at undergraduate researchers and the general public.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.