NSF Award
2210161
This award funds the research activities of Dr. Andreas Papaefstathiou at Kennesaw State University.<br/><br/>Our understanding of the elementary particles of Nature and their interactions is encapsulated in the theoretical framework known as the "Standard Model" (SM). While the SM describes experimental outcomes extraordinarily well, it lacks the ability to explain several important questions, such as: (i) Is our universe stable in its current form, or will it decay into a different state in the far future?; (ii) Given that the matter we are made of readily "vaporizes" into pure energy with its "mirror" copy, anti-matter, how can it exist so abundantly in the universe?; and (iii) What is the nature of the non-luminous (i.e., dark) matter that permeates our universe? Understanding in detail the most important particle in the SM --- the so-called Higgs boson, discovered at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012 --- could help explain these mysteries and elucidate their potential connections. There have been strong arguments that this accomplishment could be well within the reach of the LHC and future collider experiments. To this end, in his research Professor Papaefstathiou aims to develop methods through which the properties of the Higgs boson, and other potential new particles similar to it, will be understood in greater depth at the LHC and future experiments, potentially illuminating the aforementioned mysteries. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts. In particular, Dr. Papaefstathiou will work with undergraduate research assistants to teach them about research methods in physics. Furthermore, an educational component of the research will consist of generating material that will allow for the visualization of spectacular particle collisions as they occur at experiments, designed to enhance public interest in science as well as attract a diverse audience to the pursuit the study of STEM subjects.<br/><br/>More technically, the research of Professor Papaefstathiou will: (1) develop a novel, comprehensive phenomenological approach, accompanied by high-precision Monte-Carlo simulation tools, to measure the properties of scalars (i.e. particles without spin), including the Higgs boson and any new particles, leading to a deeper understanding of the mechanism that generates mass for the matter particles in the SM through the Higgs field, known as electroweak symmetry breaking; (2) devise techniques that will enable colliders to discover (or exclude) and decipher viable mechanisms that generate the observed matter-anti-matter asymmetry of the universe; and (3) provide advanced Monte-Carlo simulation tools and analyses for detecting topological non-perturbative processes known as electro-weak sphalerons and instantons of quantum chromodynamics that exist within the SM. As an additional educational objective, material will be developed, in the form of lectures, tutorials, and visualization programs that are interfaced with realistic Monte-Carlo event generators, with the goal of providing an introduction to particle physics and Monte-Carlo techniques which is aimed at undergraduate researchers and the general public.<br/><br/>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.
