Elementary Particle Physics  (EPP)

PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Apply to PD 06-1221 as follows:

For full proposals submitted via FastLane: standard Grant Proposal Guidelines apply.
For full proposals submitted via Grants.gov: NSF Grants.gov Application Guide; A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=grantsgovguide)

Please be advised that the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) includes revised guidelines to implement the mentoring provisions of the America COMPETES Act (ACA) (Pub. L. No. 110-69, Aug. 9, 2007.) As specified in the ACA, each proposal that requests funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals. Proposals that do not comply with this requirement will be returned without review (see the PAPP Guide Part I: Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II for further information about the implementation of this new requirement).

DUE DATES

Full Proposal Target Date:  September 30, 2009

Last Wednesday in September, Annually Thereafter

It is recommended that proposals come in near the general Physics Division target date.

SYNOPSIS

Particle physics plays an essential role in the broader enterprise of the physical sciences.  It inspires U.S. students, attracts talent from around the world, and drives critical intellectual and technological advances in other fields. And it is entering an era of unprecedented potential as a result of new discoveries about matter and energy in the Universe.

 It seeks to explore, through accelerator experiments, the fundamental nature of matter, energy, space, and time.  It asks such questions as: What are the origins of mass? Can the basic forces of nature be unified?  How did the universe begin? How will it evolve in the future?  What is dark energy? Are there extra dimensions beyond space-time?  Formerly separate questions in cosmology (the universe on the largest scales) and quantum phenomena (the universe on the smallest scales) become connected through our understanding that the early universe can be explored through the techniques of particle physics.

At the NSF, particle physics is supported by three programs within the Division of Physics: (1), the Theory program which includes fundamental research on the forces of nature and the early history of the universe as well as support for the experimental program by providing guidance and analysis for high energy experiments; (2), the Elementary Particle Physics (EPP) program which supports particle physics at accelerators, and (3) the Particle Nuclear Astrophysics (PNA) program which supports non- accelerator experiments.

The EPP program supports, for example, accelerator experiments at the Tevatron at Fermilab, and in the near future, collider experiments utilizing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. The challenge of designing detectors for the LHC is unprecedented, as they are required to observe up to 600 million collisions each second. Yet some of the phenomena physicists are searching for will take place at the rate of only a few per day.  These include possible discoveries such as  a particle called the Higgs that is thought to endow other particles with mass, new forms of matter that explain the mysterious dark matter pervading  the cosmos and even phenomena that reveal new dimensions of spacetime.

A new generation of neutrino experiments, using beams from Fermilab and other accelerators in Europe and Japan, have set out to study this elusive, quantum-oscillating particles under laboratory-controlled conditions. The new experiments probe high-intensity neutrino beams produced by particle accelerators. The beams travel hundreds of miles through the Earth to underground detectors that measure changes in the composition of the neutrino beam.

EPP also supports advances in accelerator physics and detectors at accelerators, especially those directed at the International Linear Collider (ILC), and new methods of utilizing distributed computing in support of collaborative research, for example, grid development, both nationally and internationally. The program also engages K-12 educators, who participate in experiments with University Scientists and Students.

RELATED URLS

High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP)

Abstracts of Recent Awards Made Through This Program

Discoveries