Award Abstract #0320554
A Consortium for the Acquisition of Equipment to Complete a Proton Detector for the DZero Experimental Particle Physics Program

NSF Org:	PHY Division of Physics
Initial Amendment Date:	July 30, 2003
Latest Amendment Date:	July 30, 2003
Award Number:	0320554
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Kathleen V. McCloud PHY Division of Physics MPS Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences
Start Date:	August 1, 2003
Expires:	July 31, 2006 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$125209
Investigator(s):	Gerald Blazey gblazey@niu.edu (Principal Investigator) Andrew Brandt (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Northern Illinois University 301 Lowden Hall De Kalb, IL 60115 815/753-1581
NSF Program(s):	MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION
Field Application(s):	0000099 Other Applications NEC
Program Reference Code(s):	OTHR, 0000
Program Element Code(s):	1189

ABSTRACT

This proposal from the Northern Illinois University (NIU) and University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) groups, requests funds to fully equip a new proton sub-detector for an accelerator-based high-energy physics experiment, the D0 experiment at Fermilab. The Fermilab Tevatron is the world's highest energy collider, and will remain at the energy frontier for much of the decade. The D0 and CDF experiments will lead the U.S. high-energy frontier physics program during this period, and it is important to maximize their capabilities. The D0 experiment is a large international collaboration that has significantly advanced the understanding of particle physics through the discovery of the top quark and via a broad range of Standard Model tests and new phenomena searches. One of the new and most surprising results from Tevatron Run I was the existence of large rapidity gaps (regions with no produced particles) between high transverse energy jets. Improved understanding of this new field of hard diffraction, which probes otherwise inaccessible details of the strong force and vacuum excitation, requires new detectors for tagging and measuring scattered protons. The experience from Run I resulted in the proposal for a new component, the Forward Proton Detector (FPD), to be added to the baseline upgrade of the D0 detector. The FPD consists of momentum spectrometers that make use of accelerator magnets along with points measured on the track of the scattered proton to calculate its momentum and scattering angle. Preliminary results from a partially equipped FPD are very promising and show that the detector is working as designed. The funding of this proposal will allow UTA and NIU to purchase the phototubes and electronics needed to fully equip the FPD and to provide a graduate student to commission and maintain the new detectors.

Broader Impact: Located at Fermilab, the FPD will be widely accessible to students from more than 60 institutions of higher learning in the U.S. and abroad. The FPD will be an important component of vigorous outreach programs already in place at UTA and NIU. Graduate students will play a critical role in the installation and commissioning of this new detector. The knowledge gained from this experiment will lead to a deeper understanding of the basic forces of nature.

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