RUI: Studies of Heavy Quarkonium Spectroscopy with Belle and Belle II

Luther College, Decorah IA

Investigators

Abstract

One of the big mysteries in high energy physics today is why the universe is almost entirely made of matter and not antimatter. This matter/antimatter asymmetry could be explained by understanding the different reactions of particles and antiparticles in particle accelerator experiments. This award will study these differences in particles created at the Belle and Belle-II experiments at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) laboratory in Japan. This facility creates particles called mesons consisting of quark-antiquark pairs. By studying these mesons, one can probe for Beyond the Standard Model fundamental physics processes such as particle – antiparticle transitions, rare meson decays and possible exotic particles which could indicate the presence of Dark Matter. Differences in these transitions could indicate why matter dominates over antimatter in the universe. The Belle II Experiment at KEK in Japan has the world's largest data samples recorded at the bottomonium resonances in the mass range of 10 GeV, the so-called Upsilon resonances. At these resonant energies the electron positron beam particles have a much higher probability of producing B mesons, allowing experimenters to acquire large statistics and observe rare phenomena. The central aim of this RUI program of research by the Luther College group is to study the spectroscopy of bottomonium and related states, with a focus on resonant states that probe the limits of our understanding of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and improving the theoretical understanding in lattice QCD (the techniques used to make computer predictions of QCD calculations). The Luther College program provides an unusual opportunity for undergraduate students to become meaningfully involved in a world-leading experiment, taking part in every aspect of Belle data analysis, and in the development of software tools for the upgraded experiment, Belle II. The broader impacts of the program are exemplary, fostering greater exposure to scientific research among students and teachers in rural Northeast Iowa, through masterclasses for High School students and now involvement of Belle-II STEM classes in the Dorian Music camp program in Iowa. 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.