Experimental Physics Research Program at Columbia University/Nevis Laboratories

This award covers the Columbia University activities in several major ongoing programs: ATLAS and the ATLAS HL-LHC upgrade at the CERN Laboratory, and the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) programs at Fermilab. Particle physics considers a vast range of questions, from subatomic to cosmic scales. The current Standard Model (SM) of particle physics is believed to be only an approximate theory, and new physics beyond the SM holds the key to making progress in understanding the underlying theory. To discover if there are new symmetries or physical laws yet to be uncovered, one must search for new particles or interactions, or look for deviations from the SM through precision measurements. The Columbia program is preparing to do this by helping to develop and run new detectors that have better measurement and data collection capability. The group is also at the forefront in developing improved data analysis using artificial intelligence and machine learning computing techniques and instrumentation. The Columbia group has very strong education and outreach programs that cover students from high school (and even younger) through graduate/post-graduate school, including a summer REU program for undergraduates that has been operating since 2001. The group also maintains a very popular monthly public lecture series, called Science-on-Hudson, that presents the science that physicists do and how it is done to a general and diverse audience. This award will concentrate work in two areas: collider physics at the energy frontier, with the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and neutrino physics both probing neutrino properties and using neutrinos as probes through synergistic short- and long-baseline neutrino experiments. For all of these programs, the highly skilled group of faculty, postdocs, and students allows the Columbia group to take on major roles in physics analysis, as well as in instrumentation. The group’s ability to take on major experimental projects is made possible by the facilities at Columbia University’s Nevis Laboratories, including a world-renowned electronics shop, large high-bay areas, and significant computing resources. As examples, the group led the development of the ATLAS liquid argon (LAr) calorimeter readout, now leads its upgrade, and continues to make leading contributions to LAr operations. For the neutrino program, the group has led the development and production of the readout electronics and trigger for the MicroBooNE and SBND experiments, including methods and instrumentation which are also being applied to the future DUNE experiment. Some of the main physics goals of the proposed research program include: supersymmetry searches, dark energy and extra spacetime dimension explorations, probing the fundamental properties of the Higgs boson, addressing unanswered questions related to the number of neutrino species and fundamental symmetries between neutrinos and antineutrinos, answering if neutrinos have unexpected properties that give them a special place among other particles, and hunting for possible “dark sector” physics through direct dark matter searches or using neutrinos as a gateway to this new sector. 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.