{"id":791234,"date":"2024-11-16T22:58:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T03:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=791234"},"modified":"2024-11-16T22:58:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T03:58:01","slug":"americas-particle-physics-plan-spans-the-globe-and-the-cosmos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=791234","title":{"rendered":"America’s Particle Physics Plan Spans the Globe \u2014 and the Cosmos"},"content":{"rendered":"


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RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 Particle physicist Hitoshi Murayama admits that he used to worry about being known as the \u201cmost hated man\u201d in his field of science. But the good news is that now he can joke about it.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Berkeley professor chaired the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel, or P5, which drew up a list of multimillion-dollar physics experiments that should move ahead over the next 10 years. The list focused on phenomena ranging from subatomic smash-ups to cosmic inflation. At the same time, the panel also had to decide which projects would have to be left behind for budgetary reasons, which could have turned Murayama into the Dr. No of physics.<\/p>\n

Although Murayama has some regrets about the projects that were put off, he\u2019s satisfied with how the process turned out. Now he\u2019s just hoping that the federal government will follow through on the P5\u2019s top priorities.<\/p>\n

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Berkeley particle physicist Hitoshi Murayama speaks at the ScienceWriters 2024 conference in Raleigh, N.C. (Photo by Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThere are five actually exciting projects we think we can do within the budget program,\u201d Murayama said this week during a presentation at the ScienceWriters 2024 conference in Raleigh. Not all of the projects recommended for U.S. funding are totally new \u2014 and not all of them are based in the U.S. Here\u2019s a quick rundown:<\/p>\n

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  • Looking for dark matter:<\/strong> About 85% of all the matter in the universe is thought to exist in an invisible form that so far has been detectable only through its gravitational effect. For years, an experiment being conducted in a converted South Dakota gold mine has been looking for traces of dark matter\u2019s interactions with a huge reservoir of liquid xenon. The search hasn\u2019t yet found anything, but the P5 report calls for boosting the size of the reservoir from seven to 70 tons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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    • Following up on the Higgs boson:<\/strong> The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 provided the last missing piece in the Standard Model of particle physics, one of science\u2019s most successful theories. But physicists don\u2019t have a good grip on how the Higgs works. \u201cYou\u2019d like to mass-produce this Higgs boson and study its properties in great detail, so we know how it got stuck and frozen into space, so that we can stay in one place,\u201d Murayama said. That would require building a bigger particle collider, capable of smashing electrons and positrons \u2014 but the P5 panel determined that such a machine couldn\u2019t be built in the U.S. Instead, the panel recommends supporting an \u201coffshore Higgs factory\u201d like the FCC-ee facility that CERN is considering, or the International Linear Collider that\u2019s been proposed for construction in Japan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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      • Studying the nature of neutrinos:<\/strong> The Big Bang is thought to have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, which would theoretically annihilate each other. Fortunately for us, matter won out rather than being totally annihilated. How did it happen? \u201cThe only candidate elementary particle we know who might have done this is actually neutrinos,\u201d Murayama said. \u201cHow do we know if that\u2019s really the case? One thing we try to do is to look at the behavior of neutrinos by creating them in Illinois and shooting them to a location in South Dakota, because neutrinos can pass through the dirt without any problems.\u201d The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment is under construction, and excavation of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility was recently completed in South Dakota. The P5 report proposes upgrading DUNE\u2019s capabilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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        • Seeking signs of cosmic inflation:<\/strong> A widely held theory asserts that in the instant after the Big Bang, the universe inflated at a prodigious rate to \u201clock in\u201d the slight perturbations that scientists see in the cosmic microwave background radiation. In 2014, astronomers claimed that an experiment at the South Pole had picked up evidence of that primordial cosmic inflation, but months later, they had to back away from those claims. The Antarctic studies are continuing, however, and the P5 panel supported an experiment known as CMB-S4 that would widen the search for evidence. \u201cFor that, we need two sites, one in Chile, another at the South Pole,\u201d Murayama said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          In addition to the top five projects, the panel endorsed a longer-term effort to develop an advanced particle accelerator that would produce collisions between subatomic particles known as muons. Such a machine would increase the chances of finding new frontiers in physics in the 2030s, Murayama said.<\/p>\n

          \u201cWe call this a \u2018muon shot,\u2019 like a moonshot,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know quite well if we can really get there, but as you work toward it, that would end up producing so many interesting things on the way, more science and more technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

          Will the P5\u2019s priorities prevail? That\u2019s up to the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, which must decide what to do with the physicists\u2019 recommendations. Success isn\u2019t guaranteed: For example, NSF put the CMB-S4 experiment on hold in May to focus instead on upgrading aging infrastructure at its Antarctic facilities.<\/p>\n

          Looking ahead, it\u2019s not yet clear how particle physics will fare when Donald Trump returns to the White House. For what it\u2019s worth, the price tags for four of the projects add up to more than $2.5 billion over the course of several years. The cost of the offshore Higgs factory is certain to amount to billions more.<\/p>\n

          Murayama called attention to an issue that could affect IceCube, CMB-S4 and other Antarctic research in the nearer term. \u201cThere is a fleet of cargo airplanes that is owned by the U.S. Air Force that actually served us well over many decades,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they were built back in the \u201970s, and they\u2019re about to retire, and right now there are no plans to replace them. Then we will lose access.\u201d<\/p>\n

          Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., managed to get a $229 million appropriation for new planes into the Senate\u2019s version of the defense budget bill for the current fiscal year, but the House still has to take action. That sets up a bit of a congressional cliffhanger for the weeks and months ahead. <\/p>\n

          \u201cI don\u2019t get a good sense of the priority,\u201d Murayama confessed. \u201cBut this is supposed to be part of the defense budget, which is way bigger than the science budget \u2014 so in that part, it\u2019s peanuts. Hopefully, it just can get in and get funded.\u201d<\/p>\n

          For a critical perspective on the P5 wish list, check out physicist Sabine Hossenfelder\u2019s YouTube video:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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