RUI: Studying the Strong Nuclear Force at Augustana University

Augustana University Association, Sioux Falls SD

Investigators

Abstract

This award continues the scientific program at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota devoted to the study of the strong nuclear force, which is the force responsible for binding protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom and for energy generation in the sun. The very early universe was so hot that protons and neutrons did not exist. Instead, a dense soup of quarks and gluons, the fundamental particles that make up the proton and neutron and interact by the strong nuclear force, existed. This state of matter has been recreated in the collisions of heavy nuclei, like gold, at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. As a member of the sPHENIX collaboration, the Augustana Nuclear Physics group proposes to analyze how high energy particles emerging from the quark-gluon plasma change their energy and direction. Such measurement yields information about the plasma's properties as well as details on the fundamental strong nuclear force interaction. The group is also a member of the ePIC collaboration that is designing the detector for the eventual Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) to be built at Brookhaven. The group will be contributing manpower to studying potential electromagnetic calorimeter technologies to be used. The proposed work is unique in South Dakota and the region and provide physics and pre-engineering students opportunities to be technically trained. They will work with collaborators from around the world and present at national conferences. The project will fund research for undergraduates studying both physics and pre-engineering and provide broad educational benefits. Students will gain practical skills such as computer programming, analysis of large data sets, electrical engineering application, and mechanical engineering design. All these skills are transferable to other vocations of interest to the student, the state, and the nation. Students will participate in weekly collaboration meetings, present at national conferences, and visit collaborating institutions. Such opportunities will build their communication skills, grow their professional network, put them in contact with potential graduate schools, and prepare them for 21st-century technical jobs. This award supports the continuation of the only laboratory in the state of South Dakota dedicated to studying the strong nuclear force. The PI is a member of the sPHENIX collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and ePIC collaboration at the Electron Ion Collider (EIC), both at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Broadly the PI and his students have focused on using high momentum transfer (Q2) processes, specifically jets, to understand low-Q2 processes. Using sPHENIX Au+Au and p+p data, hadron-jet azimuthal correlations will be measured. Depending on how the jets are binned, these correlations can be sensitive to different aspects of parton energy loss in a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). These measurements take advantage of the high luminosity of RHIC and high DAQ rate of sPHENIX to have a large sample of jets to study the transport properties of the QGP at RHIC. The PI and students plan to increase their participation in ePIC. The group will work alongside collaborators doing research and development work for homogeneous electromagnetic calorimeters for the central rapidity barrel or the electron-going "backward" rapidity arm. The group plans to participate in the Jefferson Lab test beam campaign. Deep inelastic e+A collisions at the EIC can probe a region which may be where gluon saturation dominates gluon kinematics. The group will continue working on ways to increase the sensitivity of two-particle azimuthal correlations to the photon-gluon fusion process. Beyond the physics deliverables, this project has additional broader impacts. Being the single strong-force physics laboratory in the state of South Dakota, students from the region have unique access to this kind of physics. Students that have worked in the group have gained valuable experience in mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. There are former students who are either completing their engineering degrees or in the work force in a technical job in and around South Dakota. The proposed analysis and detector testing work will provide current students with the same opportunities to be ready for current and future technical jobs. This project is jointly funded by Nuclear Physics Program 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.