Sussex Experimental Particle Physics 2015 Consolidated Grant

苏塞克斯实验粒子物理小组参与了粒子物理的各个方面：欧洲核子研究中心大型强子对撞机的ATLAS实验；加拿大SNOLAB的SNO+中微子实验；瑞士苏黎世PSI的nEDM实验；NOVA实验和其他未来在美国芝加哥FNAL的长基线中微子项目。所有这些实验都探索了自然界的一些最基本的性质，试图为新的物理现象寻找证据。苏塞克斯在分析ATLAS数据方面做出了主要贡献，他在质子-质子相互作用中寻找超对称性(SUSY)的证据，重点是寻找电弱的SUSY粒子，即查尔吉诺和中性微子，以及顶夸克的超对称标量伙伴。超对称性的发现不仅将为新物理学的存在提供证据，还可能通过揭示我们宇宙中难以捉摸的暗物质的性质，在粒子物理学和宇宙学之间建立联系。苏塞克斯还通过参与触发操作以及触发系统核心软件的开发和维护，为ATLAS触发系统(就像实验的“大脑”一样发挥作用)做出了重要贡献。该小组还参与了ATLAS触发系统未来升级的准备工作。苏塞克斯在持续寻找中子的电偶极矩(EDM)方面提供了实质性的智力领导。找到EDM将为SM之外的物理学提供明确的证据；相反，没有任何EDM，在我们所瞄准的敏感度上，将对新物理模型提供严格的限制。这项工作还提供了与宇宙学的联系，因为任何中子EDM的大小都是由相同的破坏CP的机制决定的，这是宇宙中物质对反物质的优势所在。苏塞克斯通过参与SNO+和Nova实验，以及通过参与美国未来的长基线中微子计划，在中微子物理领域发挥着至关重要的作用。在SNO+上，苏塞克斯领导校准和数据流活动，并参与物理分析的准备工作，重点是关键的无中微子双β衰变分析。这既可以确定中微子的质量，也可以回答中微子是否是自己的反粒子这个长期存在的问题。该小组在NOVA数据分析中发挥了重要作用，并通过对数据采集软件和液态Ar时间投影室原型的贡献，参与了LBNE/LBNF。

The Sussex Experimental Particle Physics group is involved in various strands of Particle Physics: the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider; the SNO+ neutrino experiment at SNOLAB in Canada; the nEDM experiment at PSI, Zurich, Switzerland; the NOvA experiment and other future long-baseline neutrino projects at FNAL, Chicago, USA. All of these experiments probe some of the most fundamental properties of Nature, seeking to find evidence for new physics phenomena. Sussex makes leading contributions to the analysis of ATLAS data, searching for evidence of supersymmetry (SUSY) in proton-proton interactions, focusing on the search for electroweak SUSY particles, known as charginos and neutralinos, and of the supersymmetric scalar partners of the top quark. The discovery of supersymmetry would not only provide evidence for the existence of new physics, but also potentially establish a link between particle physics and cosmology, by uncovering the nature of the elusive Dark Matter in our universe. Sussex also makes important contribution to the ATLAS trigger system (which acts like the experiment's "brain") -- through participation in trigger operations and in the development and maintenance of core software for the trigger system. The group is also involved in preparations for future upgrades of the ATLAS trigger system. Sussex provides substantial intellectual leadership in the ongoing search for an electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron. Finding an EDM would represent unambiguous evidence for physics beyond the SM; conversely, the absence of any EDM, at the sensitivity for which we are aiming, would provide severe constraints on models of new physics. This work also provides a link to cosmology, since the size of any neutron EDM is determined by the same CP-violating mechanism that underlies the dominance of matter over antimatter in the Universe. Sussex plays a crucial role in the field of neutrino physics, through participation in the SNO+ and NOvA experiments, and through involvement in the future programme of long-baseline neutrinos in the USA. On SNO+, Sussex leads calibration and the dataflow activities and is involved in preparations for physics analysis, with focus on the crucial neutrinoless double-beta decay analysis. This could both determine the mass of the neutrino and answer the long-standing question of whether the neutrino is its own antiparticle. The group has a major role in the analysis of NOvA data and is becoming involved in LBNE/LBNF via contributions to the data-acquisition software and liquid argon time-projection chamber prototypes.