Overview: Particle physics considers a vast range of scientific questions, from subatomic to cosmic scales. The Michigan State University (MSU) Group supported through this award investigates such questions through experimentation at the highest available collision energies at accelerators, through studies of the very rare interactions of neutrinos, and through studies of high energy gamma rays produced by astrophysical sources. These studies are relevant to the understanding of the Universe at its most fundamental level in the fleeting fraction of a second just after the Big Bang, and to why we see the Universe as we do now. To meet the challenges of this quest, new theories are advanced, new detectors and accelerators are developed and built, and new computing and analytical methodologies are created, all of which have significant broader impact for the training of young scientists in the near term and the advancement of technological benefits to society over the longer term. A notable element of the MSU Group's outreach activities has been the development of a planetarium show on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that has been well received. ATLAS itself is developing a show on dark matter with MSU leadership and participation. During the funding period covered by this proposal, the group will continue to improve and innovate on similar programs that can be shown nationally, internationally and locally, bringing the excitement of high energy physics to a large variety of audiences.
A goal of experiments at the highest available collision energies at the LHC at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland is to understand the nature of the Higgs Boson, recently discovered there in 2012, and to discover new physics beyond the Standard Model, the current very effective, but not complete, theoretical model that provides insight into much of our present knowledge of particle physics. The next three years represent a transition of the LHC physics program from data taking and operation at a collision energy of eight Teraelectronvolt (TeV) to extended operations and data taking at nearly double the energy, 13-14 TeV. Over a thousand scientists from the United States are involved with this scientific program on several major experiments.
The Michigan State group is one of the important participants in the ATLAS experiment at CERN. Group members hold responsible positions in physics analysis, detector operations, collaboration management, and in the upgrade of the experimental detector. Analytically, the group is focusing on studies of Standard Model physics and beyond the standard model through investigations in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), Higgs physics, top quark physics, and searches for new exotic states. The group has also made significant contributions to CTEQ, the Coordinated Theoretical-Experimental QCD project.
The group has a long-standing involvement in neutrino physics, now focused on the NOvA (Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) Off-axis (electron) neutrino Appearance Experiment) experiment and the LArIAT (Liquid Argon in a Testbeam) test program, both associated with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The nature of neutrino mass and mixing looms as science already beyond the standard model and the NOvA experiment is the next major US-based experiment addressing these issues. Finally, the Michigan State group is a member of the HAWC (High Altitude Water Cerenkov) Experiment located in Mexico. A gamma ray observatory, HAWC will probe extreme environments in the universe, providing a view of non-thermal processes in the galaxy and beyond. The group is focusing its efforts on electronics and database development. Although the detector is not fully instrumented, it is nevertheless taking data.
