This proposal will fund the R&D needed for future lepton collider detector and in particular the International Large Detector (ILD) detector concept. The R&D projects will address critical issues related to the design of the ILD concept and associated beam instrumentation. The future lepton collider is expected to be a frontier scientific facility, exploring the interactions of electrons and positrons at energy scales of up to about 1 TeV. To fully exploit the physics opportunities of such an accelerator, it is essential to design a particle physics detector of unprecedented granularity, robustness and precision, and demonstrate that its feasibility. ILD is based around particle flow, a paradigm which aims for reconstruction of individual particles, using a highly robust tracking system centered on a time projection chamber supplemented with silicon tracking, and high granularity "camera-like" electro-magnetic and hadronic calorimetry suited to separation of individual energy deposits. Particle Flow calorimeters offer an exciting new approach to achieve significant better energy resolution needed by the new physics. If proven to work they could be useful for many future applications in High energy and Nuclear Physics experiments. This proposal will support the development and validation of Particle Flow Algorithms using test beam data. The detector projects address complementary aspects associated with advancing the design of the ILD detector with projects focused on tracking, calorimetry as well as beam instrumentation. This proposal will support the development of Low mass TPC endplates and luminosity monitoring system.
The proposal will have broader impact in that a number of the R&D projects utilize a significant numbers of undergraduate students who are highly integrated into the planned research. The university groups have a strong track record of encouraging the participation of under-represented groups in their research and this will continue to be emphasized. Many of the detector R&D projects have potential to lead to applications in areas such as medical imaging, and will lead to a cadre of scientists well trained in the art of experimentation and detector technologies.
