Searching for Magnetic Monopoles and Other Exotics with MoEDAL

MoEDAL, or Monopole and other Exotics Detector at the LHC, is an experiment that searches for particles with isolated magnetic charge and other indicators of new physics. Detection of magnetic monopoles would constitute a major discovery and have a profound effect on our understanding of fundamental physics. Their existence would help explain the current model of a single unified field that describes strong and electroweak particle interactions. Magnetic monopoles are expected to be produced in strong magnetic fields, and MoEDAL will search the strongest magnetic fields in the known universe, which are generated during the brief moments of heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. A recent addition to the experiment, the MoEDAL Apparatus for Penetrating Particles (MAPP), will expand the quest for new physics by searching for feebly interacting particles. Such particles are predicted by some dark matter theories. This award will support the University of Alabama group's leading contributions to the searches for magnetic monopoles and other exotic particles, from data analysis and simulations to detector commissioning and operations. Additionally, it will support the group's outreach effort aimed to help improve STEM education of high school kids in the county and statewide. The main goals of the project are to a) lead analysis of the MoEDAL Run-3 data to search for production of magnetic monopoles and other exotics in lead-lead and proton-proton collisions; b) participate in the simulation and analysis of the MAPP data; c) develop novel machine learning based approaches to analysis and simulation of the NTD data; and d) support operation of MoEDAL by organizing NTD calibrations and contributing to the planned upgrade of MAPP. The outreach goal is to develop and deploy to local schools a physics experiment related to the field of study. Depending on the outcome, judged in part by the feedback from teachers and students, the experiment may be included in the standard roaster of Alabama Science in Motion labs. This project is jointly funded by PHY/EPP and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). 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.