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I explore the essential role that kaons have played in revealing the nature of the micro-physics world of elementary particle physics.
The University of Louisville High Energy Physics group has undertaken a long-term effort in understanding baryon production in elementary particle processes in the 10 GeV energy region. We have contributed significantly to the broad program of the BaBar Collaboration, particularly in support of computing, data visualization, and simulation. We report here on progress in the areas of service to the Collaboration and understanding of baryon production via measurement of inclusive hadronic particle spectra.
The top quark discovery in 1995 at Fermilab is one of the major proofs of the standard model (SM). Due to its unique place in SM, the top quark is an important particle for testing the theory and probing for new physics. This article presents most recent measurements of top quark properties from the D0 detector. In particular, the measurement of the top quark mass, the top antitop mass difference and the top quark decay width. The discovery of the top quark in 1995 confirmed the existence of a third generation of quarks predicted in the standard model (SM). Being the heaviest elementary particle known, the top quark appears to become an important particle in our understanding of the standard model and physics beyond it. Because of its large mass the top quark has a very short lifetime, much shorter than the hadronization time. The predicted lifetime is only 3.3 {center_dot} 10{sup -25}s. Top quark is the only quark whose properties can be studied in isolation. A Lorentz-invariant local Quantum Field Theory, the standard model is expected to conserve CP. Due to its unique properties, the top quark provides a perfect test of CPT invariance in the standard model. An ability to look at the quark before being hadronized allows to measure directly mass of the top quark and its antiquark. An observation of a mass difference between particle and antiparticle would indicate violation of CPT invariance. Top quark through its radiative loop correction to the W mass constrains the mass of the Higgs boson. A precise measurement of the top quark mass provides useful information to the search of Higgs boson by constraining its region of possible masses. Another interesting aspect is that the top quark's Yukawa coupling to the Higgs boson is very close to unity (0.996 {+-} 0.006). That implies it may play a special role in the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism.
Neutrino scattering experiments have been studying QCD for over 30 years. From the Gargamelle experiments in the early 70's, through the subsequent bubble chamber and electronic detector experiments in the 80's and 90's, neutrino scattering experiments have steadily accumulated increasing statistics and minimized their systematic errors. An example of the more recent studies of QCD with neutrinos is from the TeVatron neutrino beam--the NuTeV {nu}-Fe experiment. The problem the community faces in trying to study QCD with modern neutrino data is that there is no experimentally verified way to scale neutrino-nucleus (for example, Fe) results to the equivalent neutrino-nucleon values making it difficult to combine neutrino nucleus scattering data with charged-lepton nucleus and nucleon scattering data in QCD global fits to extract parton distribution functions. This is particularly crucial since there is now indications that nuclear effects in neutrino nucleus interactions are different than those measured in charged-lepton nucleus scattering. To better understand this situation, the MINER{nu}A neutrino-nucleus scattering experiment at Fermilab, a collaboration of elementary-particle and nuclear physicists, is systematically studying neutrino nuclear effects off of He, C, Fe and Pb for a more thorough A-dependent study of nuclear PDFs and these correction factors.
The International Axion Observatory (IAXO) is a next generation axion helioscope aiming at a sensitivity to the axion-photon coupling of a few 10^{-12} GeV^{-1}, i.e. 1-1.5 orders of magnitude beyond sensitivities achieved by the currently most sensitive axion helioscope, the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST). Crucial factors in improving the sensitivity for IAXO are the increase of the magnetic field volume together with the extensive use of x-ray focusing optics and low background detectors, innovations already successfully tested at CAST. Electron-coupled axions invoked to explain the white dwarf cooling, relic axions, and a large variety of more generic axion-like particles (ALPs) along with other novel excitations at the low-energy frontier of elementary particle physics could provide additional physics motivation for IAXO.
We present a model of inflation in a supergravity framework in the Einstein frame where the Higgs field of the next to minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) plays the role of the inflaton. Previous attempts which assumed non-minimal coupling to gravity failed due to a tachyonic instability of the singlet field during inflation. A canonical Kähler potential with minimal coupling to gravity can resolve the tachyonic instability but runs into the η-problem. We suggest a model which is free of the η-problem due to an additional coupling in the Kähler potential which is allowed by the Standard Model gauge group. This induces directions in the potential which we call K-flat. For a certain value of the new coupling in the (N)MSSM, the Kähler potential is special, because it can be associated with a certain shift symmetry for the Higgs doublets, a generalization of the shift symmetry for singlets in earlier models. We find that K-flat direction has H{sub u}{sup 0} = −H{sub d}{sup 0*}. This shift symmetry is broken by interactions coming from the superpotential and gauge fields. This flat direction fails to produce successful inflation in the MSSM but yields a more interesting model in the NMSSM, even though it does not pass existing cosmological constraints. We point out that, in building more sophisticated models of this type, one may also need to take into account their implications for axion searches or other elementary particle constraints.
Understanding the origin of CP violation is currently one of the most forefront issues in elementary particle physics. Together with a better understanding of quark mixing and neutrino mixing phenomena, it is one of the central goals of particle physics, and has been pursued vigorously in many experiments. The very rare decay $K_L \to \pi ^0 v\bar{v}$ provides one of the best probes for understanding the original of CP violation in the quark sector. Particularly, theoretical uncertainties are very small in the Standard Model (SM) calculations, and the value therefore most suitable to be tested for beyond SM contributions. J-PARC E14 (also known as KOTO) aims to reach Standard Model sensitivity and beyond with Stage-1 and Stage-2. KOTO acquired 100 hours beam data in May 2013 and the result has been accepted for publication. From 2015-16, KOTO increased the data set by a factor of twenty, which will allow a limit to be set at the Grossman-Nir bound. This bound is valid in virtually any extension of the Standard Model. By comparing this model-independent bound and SM prediction, it is clear that there is considerable room for new physics. Analysis on these collected data sets shows neutron interactions which mimic the two-photon signal could become a potential background. To discriminate neutron background from the photon signal, one important tool, as shown in current data, is to perform detailed waveform analysis of the signal from the phototubes. To fully capture the calorimeter pulse shape with best fidelity from 100 out of the 2700 channels of CsI, we built the 500 MSPS (Mega Samples Per Second) with 14-bit digitizers. With KOTO Stage-2 currently in the planning stages, we started R&D work on a full width, but length scalable photon veto barrel detector with detailed layout of active detector elements.
The top quark is by far the heaviest known fundamental partic le with a mass nearing that of a gold atom. Because of this strikingly high mass, the top qu ark has several unique properties and might play an important role in electroweak s ymmetry breaking—the mech- anism that gives all elementary particles mass. Creating top quarks requires access to very high energy collisions, and at present only the Tevatron col lider at Fermilab is capable of reaching these energies. Until now, top quarks have only been observed produced in pai rs via the strong interac- tion. At hadron colliders, it should also be possible to prod uce single top quarks via the electroweak interaction. Studies of single top quark produ ction provide opportunities to measure the top quark spin, how top quarks mix with other quar ks, and to look for new physics beyond the standard model. Because of these interest ing properties, scientists have been looking for single top quarks for more than 15 years. This thesis presents the first discovery of single top quark p roduction. An analysis is per- formed using 2.3 fb − 1 of data recorded by the DØ detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Co l- lider at centre-of-mass energy √ s = 1 . 96 TeV. Boosted decision trees are used to isolate the single top signal from background, and the single top cro ss section is measured to be σ ( p ̄ p → tb + X, tqb + X ) = 3 . 74 +0 . 95 − 0 . 74 pb . Using the same analysis, a measurement of the amplitude of th e CKM matrix element V tb , governing how top and b quarks mix, is also performed. The measurement yields: | V tb f L 1 | = 1 . 05 +0 . 13 − 0 . 12 , where f L 1 is the left-handed W tb coupling. The separation of signal from background is improved by combining the boosted decisi on trees with two other mul- tivariate techniques. A new cross section measurement is pe rformed, and the significance for the excess over the predicted background exceeds 5 stand ard deviations
I present recent results on top quark production in pp collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The studies were performed by the D0 collaboration using approximately 5 fb{sup -1} of data taken during Run II at the Fermilab Tevatron accelerator. The top quark is the heaviest known elementary particle and completes the quark sector of the three-generation structure of the standard model (SM). It differs from the other quarks not only by its much larger mass, but also by its lifetime which is too short to build hadronic bound states. The SM predicts that top quarks are created via two independent production mechanisms at hadron colliders. The primary mode, in which a t{bar t} pair is produced from a gtt vertex via the strong interaction, was used by the D0 and CDF collaborations to establish the existence of the top quark in 1995. The second production mode of top quarks at hadron colliders is the electroweak production of a single top quark from a Wtb vertex. The predicted cross section for single top quark production is about half that of t{bar t} pairs but the signal-to-background ratio is much worse; observation of single top quark production has therefore until recently been impeded by its low rate and difficult background environment compared to the top pair production. In the following sections I will present results for the measurement of the t{bar t} pair and the single top quark production cross section using respectively 5.3 fb{sup -1} and 5.4 fb{sup -1} of data taken by the D0 experiment.
The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics has been very successful in describing the fundamental forces, the properties of elementary particles, and predicting particles prior to their discovery, for example the top quark and the Higgs boson. Yet the SM does not explain all phenomena, and discoveries of physics processes beyond the SM will allow progress in our understanding of the fundamental nature of matter and forces. The search for rare processes is one of the paths to look for new physics. Two of these searches are for muon to electron conversion and the decay $\text{K}_\text{L}\rightarrow \pi^0 \nu \bar{\nu}$. Our main effort was in the Mu2e experiment under construction at Fermilab, which has the goal of searching for the neutrinoless conversion of a muon into an electron at a single event sensitivity of 2.87 x 10-17 and, in the process, provide evidence of physics processes beyond the Standard Model. We developed the firmware to be used in the Mu2e tracker readout, assisted in the construction and operation of the Mu2e Vertical Slice Test, and provided input to studies of cosmic event reconstructions in Mu2e using simulated data. Under this reward we also concluded our effort in two KOTO experiment in J-PARC, Japan and set a limit on the rate of the rare decay, $\text{K}_\text{L}\rightarrow \pi^0 \nu \bar{\nu}$ using the data collected in the 2016-2018 period. We also maintained and operated the DAQ system used for data collection thru 2021.
Neutrino scattering experiments have been studying the DIS region, including high-x{sub Bj}, for over 40 years. From the Gargamelle experiments in the early 70's, through the subsequent bubble chamber and electronic detector experiments neutrino scattering experiments have steadily accumulated increasing statistics and minimized their systematic errors. Recent completed studies of high-x{sub Bj} with neutrinos are from the the NuTeV experiment off Fe in the TeVatron neutrino beam and both the CHORUS experiment off Pb and the NOMAD experiment off C/Al in the CERN neutrino beam. The significant factor here is that all recent high-statistics neutrino experiments have been off high-A nucleus targets. The unknown nuclear effects mask the high-x{sub Bj} behavior of the bare neutrino-nucleon interaction. In order to address this problem, current on-going studies have shifted to the Main Injector based NuMI facility at Fermilab and the MINER{nu}A experiment. This experiment is a collaboration of elementary-particle and nuclear physicists planning to measure absolute exclusive and inclusive cross-sections and nuclear effects in {nu}- A interactions as well as a systematic study of the resonance-DIS transition region and DIS with an emphasis on the extraction of high-xBj parton distribution functions. The MINER{nu}A experiment also plans to propose the use of a liquid hydrogen target to go after a measurement of d/u quarks at high-x{sub Bj}.
By studying the properties of muons, scientists at Fermilab hope to learn whether there are elementary particles beyond the ones we know.
Particle physics experiments in the United States and Asia have greatly contributed to the understanding of elementary particles and their interactions. With the recent discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN, interest in the development of next-generation colliders has been rekindled. A linear electron–positron collider in Japan and a circular collider in China have been proposed for precision studies of the Higgs boson. In addition to the Higgs programme, new accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino mega-facilities are being built in the United States and Japan. Here, we outline the present status of key particle physics programmes at accelerators, and future plans in the United States and Asia that largely complement approaches being explored in the European Strategy for Particle Physics Update. Furthermore, we encourage the pursuit of this global approach, reaching beyond regional boundaries for optimized development and operations of major accelerator facilities worldwide, to ensure an active and productive future of the field.
In this paper, we report on progress that has been made in beam dynamics simulation, from light sources to colliders, during the first year of the SciDAC-2 accelerator project 'Community Petascale Project for Accelerator Science and Simulation (ComPASS).' Several parallel computational tools for beam dynamics simulation are described. Also presented are number of applications in current and future accelerator facilities (e.g., LCLS, RHIC, Tevatron, LHC, and ELIC). Particle accelerators are some of most important tools of scientific discovery. They are widely used in high-energy physics, nuclear physics, and other basic and applied sciences to study the interaction of elementary particles, to probe the internal structure of matter, and to generate high-brightness radiation for research in materials science, chemistry, biology, and other fields. Modern accelerators are complex and expensive devices that may be several kilometers long and may consist of thousands of beamline elements. An accelerator may transport trillions of charged particles that interact electromagnetically among themselves, that interact with fields produced by the accelerator components, and that interact with beam-induced fields. Large-scale beam dynamics simulations on massively parallel computers can help provide understanding of these complex physical phenomena, help minimize design cost, and help optimize machine operation. In this paper, we report on beam dynamics simulations in a variety of accelerators ranging from next generation light sources to high-energy ring colliders that have been studied during the first year of the SciDAC-2 accelerator project.
In the first half-century of cosmic ray physics, the primary research focus was on elementary particles; the positron, pi-mesons, mu-mesons, and hyperons were discovered in cosmic rays. Much of this research was carried out at mountain elevations; Pic du Midi in the Pyrenees, Mt. Chacaltaya in Bolivia, and Mt. Evans/Echo Lake in Colorado, among other sites. In the 1960s, claims of the observation of free quarks, and satellite measurements of a significant rise in p-p cross sections, plus the delay in initiating accelerator construction programs for energies above 100 GeV, motivated the Michigan-Wisconsin group to undertake a serious cosmic ray program at Echo Lake. Subsequently, with the succession of higher energy accelerators and colliders at CERN and Fermilab, cosmic ray research has increasingly focused on cosmology and astrophysics, although some groups continue to study cosmic ray particle interactions in emulsion chambers.
The high energy physics group at the University of South Carolina, under the leadership of Profs. S.R. Mishra, R. Petti, M.V. Purohit, J.R. Wilson (co-PI's), and C. Rosenfeld (PI), engaged in studies in "Experimental Particle Physics." The group collaborated with similar groups at other universities and at national laboratories to conduct experimental studies of elementary particle properties. We utilized the particle accelerators at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Illinois, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in California, and the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. Mishra, Rosenfeld, and Petti worked predominantly on neutrino experiments. Experiments conducted in the last fifteen years that used cosmic rays and the core of the sun as a source of neutrinos showed conclusively that, contrary to the former conventional wisdom, the "flavor" of a neutrino is not immutable. A neutrino of flavor "e," "mu," or "tau," as determined from its provenance, may swap its identity with one of the other flavors -- in our jargon, they "oscillate." The oscillation phenomenon is extraordinarily difficult to study because neutrino interactions with our instruments are exceedingly rare -- they travel through the earth mostly unimpeded -- and because they must travel great distances before a substantial proportion have made the identity swap. Three of the experiments that we worked on, MINOS, NOvA, and LBNE utilize a beam of neutrinos from an accelerator at Fermilab to determine the parameters governing the oscillation. Two other experiments that we worked on, NOMAD and MIPP, provide measurements supportive of the oscillation experiments. Good measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters may constitute a "low energy window" on related phenomena that are otherwise unobservable because they would occur only at energies way above the reach of conceivable accelerators. Purohit and Wilson participated in the BaBar experiment, which collected data at SLAC until 2008. They continued to analyze the voluminous BaBar data with an emphasis on precision tests of Quantum Chromodynamics and on properties of the "eta_B," a bottom quark paired in a meson with a strange quark. The ATLAS experiment became the principal research focus for Purohit. One of the world's largest pieces of scientific equipment, ATLAS observes particle collisions at the highest-energy particle accelerator ever built, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Our efforts on ATLAS included participation in the commissioning, calibration, and installation of components called "CSCs". The unprecedented energy of 14 TeV enabled the ATLAS and CMS collaborations to declare discovery of the famous Higgs particle in 2012.
For nearly a century, studying cosmic-ray air showers has driven progress in our understanding of elementary particle physics. In this work, we revisit the production of millicharged particles in these atmospheric showers and provide new constraints for XENON1T and Super-Kamiokande and new sensitivity estimates of current and future detectors, such as JUNO. We discuss distinct search strategies, specifically studies of single-energy-deposition events, where one electron in the detector receives a relatively large energy transfer, as well as multiple-scattering events consisting of (at least) two relatively small energy depositions. We demonstrate that these atmospheric search strategies — especially the multiple-scattering signature — provide significant room for improvement beyond existing searches, in a way that is complementary to anthropogenic, beam-based searches for MeV-GeV millicharged particles. Finally, we also discuss the implementation of a Monte Carlo simulation for millicharged particle detection in large-volume neutrino detectors, such as IceCube.
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will be a world-class neutrino observatory and nucleon decay detector designed to answer fundamental questions about elementary particles and their role in the universe. The DUNE experiment will consist of a a Near Detector, located at Fermilab, and a Far Detector, approximately 1.5~km underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, located $\sim$1300~km away. The accelerator complex at Fermilab will host an intense beam of neutrinos directed toward the two detectors. My dissertation centers on the implementation of technologies used to detect scintillation photon signals in liquid argon in the context of the DUNE's Far Detector Single-Phase (SP) module design, and features direct contributions to the Photon Detection System (PDS) deployed in the ProtoDUNE-SP Large-Volume Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) prototype. The PDS is needed for non-beam event timing, such as atmospheric neutrinos, proton d ecay, and supernova detection. The PDS provides a prompt signal ($t_{0}$ information) for micro-second event time determination, which improves the TPC's spatial localization along drift direction, enables accurate ionization-signal-attenuation determination, and even provides calorimetry. My dissertation will discuss an overview of the DUNE and ProtoDUNE-SP experiment and how we detect neutrinos in LAr, via charge and scintillation light. It will discuss my core experimental and analysis work, in regards to the Photon Detection System; including my contributions in establishing procedures for the commissioning and integration for the Photon Detector System that will be valuable during the construction, installation, commissioning, and operations of the DUNE Far Detector. In addition, it will comprehensively discuss the capability of three different photon detection technologies, and their characteristics and responses to muon and electron beam particles over a range of beam momenta , from 0.3~GeV/$c$ - 7~GeV/$c$. Further, the overall progress detailed in this thesis will help pave the way toward understanding the physical properties of these detectors, which will contribute to the success of the sensitivity measurements required for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy and $\delta_{CP}$.