NSF Award
1913257
The James Madison University Particle and Nuclear Physics (JMU-PNP) group's activities are aimed at developing a three dimensional picture of the nucleon in order to get a glimpse of the interacting quarks within a proton or neutron. Given the small size of a nucleon, roughly a millionth of a billionth of a meter, this is not a trivial task. The field requires specialized detectors, techniques, and software. The JMU-PNP group has an established track record in these areas. Through immersion in state of the art research in Intermediate Energy Nuclear Physics the PIs will provide an outstanding educational experience for undergraduate students at JMU. Working on the hardware, software, and big data challenges associated with this research constitutes an excellent teaching opportunity for undergraduate students and promotes science and education beyond the university. <br/><br/>The JMU group is involved in experiments in Halls A, B, and C at Jefferson National Laboratory (JLAB). They are participating in planning, data taking and data analysis for experiments from the 12 GeV era. The foci of this research program will be: 1.) publishing the results of experiment E12-10-002 (one of the Hall C commissioning experiments) where the JMU group has taken the lead in the data analysis, 2.) planning and running of experiment E12-06-117 in Hall B, and 3.) the commissioning and running of the SuperBigBite spectrometer in Hall A. The JMU-PNP group will also participate in the Fermilab g-2 experiment, which holds the promise of uncovering physics beyond the Standard Model. <br/><br/>The members of the JMU-PNP group will continue their instrumentation R&D work which includes designing and building voltage dividers and PMT testing for the SuperBigBite spectrometer in Hall A. They will also participate in developing a Hermetic Compact Photon Source for the experiments in Halls C&D at JLAB<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.
