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TITUS: Visualization of Neutrino Events in Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers

The amount and complexity of data recorded by high energy physics experiments are rapidly growing, and with these grow the difficulties in visualizing such data. To study the physics of neutrinos, a type of elementary particle, scientists use liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) detectors, among other technologies. LArTPCs have a very high spatial resolution and resolve many of the elementary particles that come out of a neutrino interacting within the argon in the detector. Visualizing these neutrino interactions is of fundamental importance to understanding the properties of neutrinos, but also monitoring and checking on the detector conditions and operations. From these ideas, we have developed TITUS, an event display that shows images recorded by these neutrino detectors. TITUS is a piece of software that reads data coming from LArTPC detectors (as well as the corresponding simulation) and allows users to explore such data in multiple ways. TITUS is flexible to enable fast prototyping and customization.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

The top quark, 20 years after its discovery

The heaviest of nature’s elementary particles plays an outsized role in many fundamental processes. But because the top quark is so massive, it eluded experimental detection for nearly two decades.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Breakdown of sound in superfluid helium

As elementary particles carry energy and momentum in the Universe, quasiparticles are the elementary carriers of energy and momentum quanta in condensed matter. And, as elementary particles, under certain conditions quasiparticles can be unstable and decay, emitting pairs of less energetic ones. Pitaevskii [Sov. Phys. JETP 9, 830 (1959)] proposed that such processes exist in superfluid helium, a quantum fluid where the very concept of quasiparticles was borne by Landau and which presented the first notable success of that concept. Pitaevskii’s decays have important consequences, including the possible breakdown of a quasiparticle [M. B. Stone et al. , Nature (London) 440, 187 (2006)]. Here, we present neutron scattering experiments, which provide evidence that such decays explain the collapsing lifetime (strong damping) of higher-energy phonon-roton sound-wave quasiparticles in superfluid helium. Importantly, this damping develops when helium is pressurized towards crystallization, or warmed towards approaching the superfluid transition. Our results resolve a number of puzzles raised by previous experiments and reveal the ubiquity of quasiparticle decays and their importance for understanding quantum matter.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Limits on Stellar-Mass Compact Objects as Dark Matter from Gravitational Lensing of Type Ia Supernovae

We present that the nature of dark matter (DM) remains unknown despite very precise knowledge of its abundance in the Universe. An alternative to new elementary particles postulates DM as made of macroscopic compact halo objects (MACHO) such as black holes formed in the very early Universe. Stellar-mass primordial black holes (PBHs) are subject to less robust constraints than other mass ranges and might be connected to gravitational-wave signals detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). New methods are therefore necessary to constrain the viability of compact objects as a DM candidate. Here we report bounds on the abundance of compact objects from gravitational lensing of type Ia supernovae (SNe). Current SNe data sets constrain compact objects to represent less than 35.2% (Joint Lightcurve Analysis) and 37.2% (Union 2.1) of the total matter content in the Universe, at 95% confidence level. The results are valid for masses larger than ~ 0.01 M ⊙ (solar masses), limited by the size SNe relative to the lens Einstein radius. We demonstrate the mass range of the constraints by computing magnification probabilities for realistic SNe sizes and different values of the PBH mass. Our bounds are sensitive to the total abundance of compact objects with M ≳ 0.01 M ⊙ and complementary to other observational tests. These results are robust against cosmological parameters, outlier rejection, correlated noise, and selection bias. PBHs and other MACHOs are therefore ruled out as the dominant form of DM for objects associated to LIGO gravitational wave detections. Lastly, these bounds constrain early-Universe models that predict stellar-mass PBH production and strengthen the case for lighter forms of DM, including new elementary particles.

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Modern Muon Physics: Selected Issues

The muon was discovered almost hundred years ago, but still remains largely a mystery. For a long time, the only difference between a muon and an electron was the approximately 200 times greater mass of the muon. However, with the later discovery of the charm quantum number, the muon played a decisive role in the formulation of the Standard Model of elementary particles, determining together with muon neutrino and the strange s and the charm c quarks the second generation of particles of this model. The equality of the reaction constant of muon decay with the constant of the vector interaction of beta-decay played a decisive role in the formulation of the conservation of the vector current (CVC) of the weak interaction of elementary particles. Processes involving muons testified in favor of the partial conservation of the axial current of weak interaction (PCAC), that is, one pion exchange in the interaction of the lepton and hadron currents. It was the muon that gave a rise to hopes of creating an alternative energy source within the framework of Muon Catalyzed Fusion (μCF). The possible realization of this process in the future as the intensity of muon beams increases can revolutionired energy supply. Nuclear fission by muons and the study of heavy-nucleus mesoatoms introduced muon physics into several separate branches of physical research.

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The Escaramujo Project: Instrumentation Courses During a Road Trip Across the Americas

The Escaramujo Project was a series of eight hands-on laboratory courses on High Energy Physics and Astroparticle Instrumentation, in Latinamerican Institutions. The Physicist Federico Izraelevitch traveled on a van with his wife and dogs from Chicago to Buenos Aires teaching the courses. The sessions took place at Institutions in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia at an advanced undergraduate and graduate level. During these workshops, each group built a modern cosmic ray detector based on plastic scintillator and silicon photomultipliers, designed specifically for this project. After the courses, a functional detector remained at each institution to be used by the faculty to facilitate the training of future students and to support and enable local research activities. The five-days workshops covered topics such as elementary particle and cosmic ray Physics, radiation detection and instrumentation, low-level light sensing with solid state devices, front-end analog electronics and object-oriented data analysis (C++ and ROOT). Throughout this initiative, about a hundred of talented and highly motivated young students were reached. With the detector as a common thread, they were able to understand the designing principles and the underlying Physics involved in it, build the device, start it up, characterize it, take data and analyze it, mimicking the stages of a real elementary particle Physics experiment. Besides the aims to awaken vocations in science, technology and engineering, The Escaramujo Project was an effort to strengthen the integration of Latinamerican academic institutions into the international scientific community.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Research in High Energy Physics at Duke University

This is the Closeout Report for the research grant in experimental elementary particle physics, carried out by the Duke University High Energy Physics (HEP) group. We report on physics results and detector development carried out under this grant, focusing on the recent three-year grant period (2010 to 2013). The Duke HEP group consisted of seven faculty members, two senior scientists, five postdocs and eight graduate students. There were three thrusts of the research program. Measurements at the energy frontier at CDF and ATLAS were used to test aspects of elementary particle theory described by the Standard Model (SM) and to search for new forces and particles beyond those contained within the SM. The neutrino sector was explored using data obtained from a large neutrino detector located in Japan, and R & D was conducted on new experiments to be built in the US. The measurements provided information about neutrino masses and the manner in which neutrinos change species in particle beams. Two years ago we have started a new research program in rare processes based on the Mu2E experiment at Fermilab. This research is motivated by the search for the $\mu \longrightarrow e$ transition with unprecedented sensitivity, a transition forbidden in the standard model but allowed in supersymmetric and other models of new physics. The high energy research program used proton and antiproton colliding beams. The experiments were done at the Fermilab Tevatron (proton-antiproton collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV) and at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (proton-proton collisions at 7-8 TeV). The neutrino program used data obtained from the Super-Kamiokande detector. This water-filled Cherenkov counter was used to detect and measure the properties of neutrinos produced in cosmic ray showers, and from neutrino beams produced from accelerators in Japan. The Mu2E experiment will use a special stopped muon beam to be built at Fermilab.

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Research in High Energy Physics at Duke University

This is the Closeout Report for the research grant in experimental elementary particle physics, carried out by the Duke University High Energy Physics (HEP) group. We re- port on physics results and detector development carried out under this grant, focussing on the recent three-year grant period (2010 to 2013). The Duke HEP group consisted of seven faculty members, two senior scientists, five postdocs and eight graduate students. There were three thrusts of the research program. Measurements at the energy frontier at CDF and ATLAS were used to test aspects of elementary particle theory described by the Stan- dard Model (SM) and to search for new forces and particles beyond those contained within the SM. The neutrino sector was explored using data obtained from a large neutrino detector located in Japan, and R & D was conducted on new experiments to be built in the US. The measurements provided information about neutrino masses and the manner in which neutri- nos change species in particle beams. Two years ago we have started a new research program in rare processes based on the Mu2E experiment at Fermilab. This research is motivated by the search for the {mu} {yields} e transition with unprecedented sensitivity, a transition forbidden in the standard model but allowed in supersymmetric and other models of new physics. The high energy research program used proton and antiproton colliding beams. The experiments were done at the Fermilab Tevatron (proton-antiproton collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV) and at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (proton-proton collisions at 7-8 TeV). The neutrino program used data obtained from the Super-Kamiokande detector. This water-filled Cherenkov counter was used to detect and measure the properties of neutrinos produced in cosmic ray showers, and from neutrino beams produced from acceler- ators in Japan. The Mu2E experiment will use a special stopped muon beam to be built at Fermilab.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Radiation reaction of classical hyperbolic oscillator: Experimental signatures

When accelerated by a constant force in the lab frame, a classical charge experiences no self force. In this case, the particle radiates without dissipating its kinetic and potential energy. But what happens when the particle enters another region with equal and opposite acceleration? Does the oscillating charge lose its mechanical energy similar to a radiating dipole, even though it seems to lose no mechanical energy within each region of constant acceleration? In this paper, I will show how mechanical energy is transferred to radiation energy via the Schott energy when the particle crosses the boundary between the two regions. In particular, I will show how preacceleration, which is usually regarded as an unphysical effect of the Lorentz–Abraham–Dirac self force, is essential for the energy transfer. Moreover, I will show that the commonly adopted Landau–Lifshitz approximation, which removes preacceleration, introduces second-order secular energy error. On a more fundamental level, the validity of classical electrodynamics is in fact questionable because quantum effects are likely important. The classical prediction can be tested experimentally by observing frequency chirping of radiation, whereby micro physics leaves signatures on macroscopic scales. The required experimental accuracy is estimated. Trap experiments of this type is complementary to collider experiments that endeavor to observe radiation reaction for elementary particles.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Theoretical & Experimental Research in Weak, Electromagnetic & Strong Interactions

The conducted research spans a wide range of topics in the theoretical, experimental and phenomenological aspects of elementary particle interactions. Theory projects involve topics in both the energy frontier and the intensity frontier. The experimental research involves energy frontier with the ATLAS Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In theoretical research, novel ideas going beyond the Standard Model with strong theoretical motivations were proposed, and their experimental tests at the LHC and forthcoming neutrino facilities were outlined. These efforts fall into the following broad categories: (i) TeV scale new physics models for LHC Run 2, including left-right symmetry and trinification symmetry, (ii) unification of elementary particles and forces, including the unification of gauge and Yukawa interactions, (iii) supersummetry and mechanisms of supersymmetry breaking, (iv) superworld without supersymmetry, (v) general models of extra dimensions, (vi) comparing signals of extra dimensions with those of supersymmetry, (vii) models with mirror quarks and mirror leptons at the TeV scale, (viii) models with singlet quarks and singlet Higgs and their implications for Higgs physics at the LHC, (ix) new models for the dark matter of the universe, (x) lepton flavor violation in Higgs decays, (xi) leptogenesis in radiative models of neutrino masses, (xii) light mediator models of non-standard neutrino interactions, (xiii) anomalous muon decay and short baseline neutrino anomalies, (xiv) baryogenesis linked to nucleon decay, and (xv) a new model for recently observed diboson resonance at the LHC and its other phenomenological implications. The experimental High Energy Physics group has been, and continues to be, a successful and productive contributor to the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Members of the group performed search for gluinos decaying to stop and top quarks, new heavy gauge bosons decaying to top and bottom quarks, and vector-like quarks produced in pairs and decaying to light quarks. Members of the OSU group played a leading role in the detailed optimization studies for the future ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk), which will be installed during the Phase-II upgrade, replacing the current tracking system. The proposed studies aim to enhance the ATLAS discovery potential in the high-luminosity LHC era. The group members have contributed to the calibration of algorithms for identifying boosted vector bosons and b-jets, which will help expand the ATLAS reach in many searches for new physics.

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Wanted! Nuclear Data for Dark Matter Astrophysics

Astronomical observations from small galaxies to the largest scales in the universe can be consistently explained by the simple idea of dark matter. The nature of dark matter is however still unknown. Empirically it cannot be any of the known particles, and many theories postulate it as a new elementary particle. Searches for dark matter particles are under way: production at high-energy accelerators, direct detection through dark matter-nucleus scattering, indirect detection through cosmic rays, gamma rays, or effects on stars. Particle dark matter searches rely on observing an excess of events above background, and a lot of controversies have arisen over the origin of observed excesses. With the new high-quality cosmic ray measurements from the AMS-02 experiment, the major uncertainty in modeling cosmic ray fluxes is in the nuclear physics cross sections for spallation and fragmentation of cosmic rays off interstellar hydrogen and helium. The understanding of direct detection backgrounds is limited by poor knowledge of cosmic ray activation in detector materials, with order of magnitude differences between simulation codes. A scarcity of data on nucleon spin densities blurs the connection between dark matter theory and experiments. What is needed, ideally, are more and better measurements of spallation cross sections relevant to cosmic rays and cosmogenic activation, and data on the nucleon spin densities in nuclei.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

International Linear Collider Technical Design Report - Volume 2: Physics

For more than twenty years, an advanced electron-positron collider has been put forward as a key component of the future program of elementary particle physics. We have a well-established Standard Model of particle physics, but it is known to be incomplete. Among the many questions that this model leaves open, there are two — the origin of the masses of elementary particles and the particle identity of cosmic dark matter – that should be addressed at energy scales below 1 TeV. It has been appreciated for a long time that a next-generation electron-positron collider would give us the ability to make precision measurements that would shed light on these mysteries. Now the technology to build this electron-positron collider has come of age. This report is a volume of the Technical Design Report for the International Linear Collider (ILC). The accompanying volumes of this report lay out the technical design of a high-luminosity e + e - collider at 500 GeV in the center of mass and of detectors that could make use of the collisions to perform high-precision measurements. In this volume, we summarize the physics arguments for building this collider and their appropriate relation to the situation of particle physics as of the fall of 2012. The discussion in this volume supplements the presentation of the physics opportunities for a 500 GeV e + e - collider given in the review articles, the 2001 regional study reports, the 2006 study of ILC/LHC complementarity, and the 2007 ILC Reference Design Report.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

From Detector Layout to Signal Analysis: Geometry Optimization and Neutron-Gamma Tagging in Plastic Scintillator Detectors

Neutrinos are elementary particles with many properties still unknown. Their masses so far have only upper and lower limits. Still, due to neutrino oscillations, it is clear that they are not massless, as stated by the Standard Model of Elementary Particles. Neutrinos are also present in the Universe in vast amounts, but they rarely interact with the surrounding matter. Their abundance makes them very interesting for many theories beyond the Standard Model, e.g., dark matter searches and CP symmetry violation in the leptonic sector, which could be (partially) responsible for the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in today's Universe.\\ The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiment that will study neutrinos with unprecedented precision and may answer many open questions. DUNE uses a powerful neutrino beam from Fermilab. It consists of a Near Detector (ND) complex to measure neutrinos before oscillat ion, and a Far Detector (FD) complex $1300\ \mathrm{km}$ away to measure them after oscillation. As part of the ND complex, measurements are also possible with different angles to the neutrino beam. This enables excellent control of systematic uncertainties of e.g., neutrino cross section measurements.\\ One detector in the near detector complex is The Muon Spectrometer (TMS), an extension of a Liquid Argon (LAr) detector that measures the charge and momentum of muons produced in neutrino interactions within the LAr. The design of this detector, which consists of alternating layers of steel and plastic scintillator bars, must be optimized for the expected muon energies.\\ In this thesis, a study of the optimal module orientation plan is presented, which is necessary for the physics performance of the near detector complex and, by extension, DUNE. As part of this study, the event reconstruction was also developed and improved. Simulated muons are then reconstructed, and the performan ce of different module orientation plans is tested.\\ As a second part, a study of neutron and gamma tagging using a Pulse Shape Discriminating (PSD) plastic scintillator is presented. The properties of this material allow particle differentiation based on the temporal distribution of emitted light. A novel approach to using the individual light signals was successfully tested using data from a small, local test setup.

Nehm, Asa [Mainz U.]↗

Measurement of top quark polarization in top-antitop lepton+jets final states at D0

This thesis presents a measurement of the top quark polarization in the $t\overline{t}$ events produced in $p\overline{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV using data corresponding to 9.7 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The final states used in the measurement contain one lepton and at least three jets. The polarization is measured using the angular distribution of leptons along three different axes: the beam axis, the helicity axis, and the transverse axis normal to the $t\overline{t}$ production plane. This is the first measurement of top quark polarization at the Tevatron Collider in lepton+jets final states, and the first measurement of transverse polarization in $t\overline{t}$ production. The polarization along the beam axis is combined with the previous result in the dilepton final states by the D0 experiment. The observed distributions are consistent with the Standard Model of nearly no polarization and no indication for beyond Standard Model physics is observed. The measurement offers legacy result from unique Tevatron Collider data and provides more information about the top quark production and decays, about the properties of the heaviest elementary particle.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measurement of top quark polarization in top-antitop lepton+jets final states at DØ

This thesis presents a measurement of the top quark polarization in the $t\overline{t}$ events produced in $p\overline{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV using data corresponding to 9.7 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The final states used in the measurement contain one lepton and at least three jets. The polarization is measured using the angular distribution of leptons along three different axes: the beam axis, the helicity axis, and the transverse axis normal to the $t\overline{t}$ production plane. This is the first measurement of top quark polarization at the Tevatron Collider in lepton+jets final states, and the first measurement of transverse polarization in $t\overline{t}$ production. The polarization along the beam axis is combined with the previous result in the dilepton final states by the D0 experiment. The observed distributions are consistent with the Standard Model of nearly no polarization and no indication for beyond Standard Model physics is observed. The measurement offers legacy result from unique Tevatron Collider data and provides more information about the top quark production and decays, about the properties of the heaviest elementary particle.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

I Would Like to Know... [Slides]

Problems of High-Energy Physics (NAL Design Report, January 1968) We would like to have answers to many questions. Among them are the following: Which, if any, of the particles that have so far been discovered, is, in fact, elementary, and is there any validity in the concept of “elementary” particles? What new particles can be made at energies that have not yet been reached? Is there some set of building blocks that is still more fundamental than the neutron and the proton? Is there a law that correctly predicts the existence and nature of all the particles, and if so, what is that law? Will the characteristics of some of the very short-lived particles appear to be different when they are produced at such higher velocities that they no longer spend their entire lives within the strong influence of the particle from which they are produced? Do new symmetries appear or old ones disappear for high momentum-transfer events? What is the connection, if any, of electromagnetism and strong interactions? Do the laws of electromagnetic radiation, which are now known to hold over an enormous range of lengths and frequencies, continue to hold in the wavelength domain characteristic of the subnuclear particles? What is the connection between the weak interaction that is associated with the massless neutrino and the strong one that acts between neutron and proton? Is there some new particle underlying the action of the “weak” forces, just as, in the case of the nuclear force, there are mesons, and, in the case of the electromagnetic force, there are photons? If there is not, why not? In more technical terms: Is local field theory valid? A failure in locality may imply a failure in our concept of space. What are the fields relevant to a correct local field theory? What are the form factors of the particles? What exactly is the explanation of the electromagnetic mass difference? Do “weak” interactions become strong at sufficiently small distances? Is the Pomeranchuk theorem true? Do the total cross sections become constant at high energy? Will new symmetries appear, or old ones disappear, at higher energy?

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Procurement of 100 kg of Enriched Xenon for the EXO Prototype and for its Installation at WIPP

This grant supported the enriched xenon procurement, detector construction and initial operation of the EXO-200 double beta decay experiment at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The period of performance was Aug 15, 2002 to Dec 31, 2014. The primary goal of the experiment is to search for the very rare (and to date not observed) neutrino-less double beta decay. Such decay, if observed, would shed the light of the quantum-mechanical structure of neutrinos, and the origins of elementary particle masses. Another goal of the detector is to serve as prototype of a larger neutrino-less double beta decay experiment, currently being considered by DOE-OS. EXO-200 has already been extremely successful in both areas and is, in fact, leading the way world-wide in this area of fundamental physics. In the initial part of the grant the EXO-200 collaboration acquired 200kg of xenon enriched to 80% in the isotope 136 that is a candidate for double beta decay. At the time this was the largest isotope separation program carried out for fundamental science. The enrichment was done in Russia, providing a rare and valuable opportunity for US scientists to work alongside Russian colleagues, in some cases from the former closed cities of their military complex. By now the EXO-200 collaboration include institutions from the US, Canada, South Korea, China, Germany, Switzerland and Russia. Many collaborating scientists from these countries have taken shifts at WIPP or at the various remote monitoring sites world-wide. EXO-200 detector construction was completed in early 2010, with the time projection chamber (TPC) installation in the cleanrooms already placed in NeXA. Detector commissioning at WIPP followed, with the last phase, the filling of the TPC with liquid Xenon, occurring in the spring 2011. EXO-200 is described in [1]. Low background data taking started on Jun 1, 2011 and within the first month of data the 2-neutrino double beta decay of 136Xe was discovered, as reported in [2]. More data provided the best half-life measurement of any 2-neutrino double-beta decay modes [3]. Until Feb 2014 the detector ran continuously producing some of the world leading results in the field and, in particular, two of the most sensitive searches for neutrinoless double beta decay [4,5]. These measurements show that the half life of this decay is longer than 1015 times the age of the universe. This is one of the leading results in this field world-wide and succeeded to put the DOE-funded research on the world stage in a very cost-effective way. Other results from EXO-200 include a search for exotic double-beta decay modes [6], a detailed report on the state of the art background levels achieved in the detector [7], the study of rare ion and neutral atom motion and neutralization rates in liquid Xenon [8], a study of the cosmogenic backgrounds in the detector at WIPP’s depth [9], a search for Lorentz and CPT symmetries violation [10] and a search for double-beta decay to excited states [11]. In Feb 2014 the EXO-200 detector was severely disrupted by the accidents in the WIPP underground (unrelated to EXO-200). The EXO-200 operations team was able to recover the unique stockpile of enriched Xenon to high pressure cylinders and warm-up the detector to room temperature without damaging the very delicate equipment. This was a very impressive achievement as no plan had been made to complete these operations entirely from remote. This validates the robustness of well-designed liquid xenon detectors for this and other measurements in particle and nuclear astrophysics. The operations team re-gained almost regular access to the WIPP underground and the EXO-200 detector in Jan 2015 and spent calendar 2015 cleaning up the soot from the WIPP fire, assessing the damage to the EXO-200 infrastructure, correcting such damage and restarting the detector. This process was successfully carried out and culminated in the re-filling of the detector with liquid xenon, in Jan 2016. As of late Jan 2016 EXO-200 is taking data again. The collaboration is in the process of upgrading the readout electronics and restarting a radon abatement system that had been commissioned just before the Feb 2014 events. The upgraded electronics will provide lower readout noise and, in turn, better signal to background discrimination. The radon abatement system will further reduce the radon in a small air-gap between the EXO-200 cryostat and the lead shielding. In a review in Jun 2015 DOE-OS approved EXO-200 for 2.5 more years of running at the end of which we expect to improve the sensitivity to the neutrino-less double-beta decay by a factor two or three. For the last 5 years the EXO-200 detector, located in the WIPP underground, has been at the center of the hunt for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics!

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Future Collider Options for the US

The United States has a rich history in high energy particle accelerators and colliders -- both lepton and hadron machines, which have enabled several major discoveries in elementary particle physics. To ensure continued progress in the field, U.S. leadership as a key partner in building next generation collider facilities abroad is essential; also critically important is the exploring of options to host a future collider in the U.S. The "Snowmass" study and the subsequent Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) process provide the timely opportunity to develop strategies for both. What we do now will shape the future of our field and whether the U.S. will remain a world leader in these areas. In this white paper, we briefly discuss the US engagement in proposed collider projects abroad and describe future collider options for the U.S. We also call for initiating an integrated R&D program for future colliders.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗