This award supports organization of the 2021 Multi-Petawatt Physics Prioritization (MP3) Workshop planned to be held in the summer of 2021 and intended to bring together U.S. and European research communities to discuss and prioritize the frontier science goals and corresponding experiments enabled by multi-petawatt laser systems over the next ten to twenty years. The MP3 workshop will bring together leading experts to: (1) Establish the most important goals and flagship experiments of promising new science enabled by a new generation of ultra-intense and powerful lasers; (2) Identify common interests and joint strategies for developing diagnostics needed for the flagship experiments; (3) Discuss a vision for the optimal next-generation high-intensity laser facility to address the frontier science goals. The MP3 organizing committee will reach out to and invite individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented in science to participate in both the series of pre-workshop topical working group meetings and the in-person workshop, as well as focus travel support and other assistance to encourage their participation. Webcasting the workshop online will also enable involving a broad range of individuals and institutions to expose underrepresented and minority populations to the MP3 fields.
The workshop organizing committee will lead a series of virtual working group meetings that focus on the most compelling science questions in four topical areas of multi-petawatt physics: - High-Field Physics and Quantum Electro-Dynamics - Laboratory Astrophysics - Particle Acceleration and Advanced Light Sources - Laser-Driven Nuclear Physics The working groups will solicit white papers for potential scientific goals and flagship experiments and discuss them during virtual meetings with the aim of identifying their scientific impact and readiness with particular attention to experimental diagnostics and facilities needed to realize them. A series of virtual meetings for each topic will enable sufficient time, broad participation and opportunities for diverse research communities to mix such that the resulting synergy will provide new ideas and interdisciplinary proposals. This process will culminate in a workshop to discuss and prioritize the top science goals and corresponding experimental programs identified by the working groups, and to recommend coordinated plans for future exploration by U.S. and European research communities. This award is supported by the Office of International Science and Engineering, the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities, the Division of Astronomical Sciences, and the Division of Physics.
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.
