Award Abstract # 1820345
RUI: Norfolk State University's Meson Spectroscopy Studies with GlueX and CLAS12 at Jefferson Lab

NSF Org: PHY
Division Of Physics
Recipient: NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: July 17, 2018
Latest Amendment Date: July 20, 2020
Award Number: 1820345
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: Allena K. Opper
aopper@nsf.gov
 (703)292-8958
PHY
 Division Of Physics
MPS
 Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Start Date: September 1, 2018
End Date: January 31, 2022 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $150,351.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $150,351.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2018 = $49,648.00
FY 2019 = $49,875.00

FY 2020 = $50,828.00
History of Investigator:
  • Carlos Salgado (Principal Investigator)
    salgado@jlab.org
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Norfolk State University
700 PARK AVE
NORFOLK
VA  US  23504-8050
(757)823-9053
Sponsor Congressional District: 03
Primary Place of Performance: Norfolk State University
700 Park Avenue
Norfolk
VA  US  23504-8060
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
03
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): XAHKEJAWL1N6
Parent UEI: X6KEFGLHSJX7
NSF Program(s): Nuclear & Hadron Quantum Chrom
Primary Program Source: 01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 9229
Program Element Code(s): 123200
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.049

ABSTRACT

Norfolk State University (NSU) participates in the study of the sub-atomic structure of matter as members of the GlueX and MesonEx (CLAS12) experiments at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) located in Newport News, Virginia. The group researches the forces that keep the basic components of sub-atomic particles together, known as the "strong" force. They expect to identify a new form of sub-atomic particles (exotics) that can greatly contribute to the understanding of the strong force. These exotics will provide an external manifestation of the strong force that otherwise is hidden (confined inside the particles). NSU faculty and undergraduate students are developing a software infrastructure to perform the analysis of big data in a user-friendly manner. Specifically, they are exploring new statistical techniques, hardware options and software programing to help the analysis. The NSU campus is near Jefferson Lab, providing NSU students opportunities to participate in research all year around. It is a goal of this project to strengthen the national participation of undergraduate minorities in nuclear and particle physics research. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), such as NSU, have been more successful than majority institutions in retaining minority students at the undergraduate level and introducing them to graduate programs in STEM disciplines.

Norfolk State University is participating in the experimental study of the strong interactions by testing basic Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) using Meson Spectroscopy. This project proposes to continue the group's participation in the GlueX (Hall D) and MesonEx (Hall B) experiments at Jefferson Lab. Meson spectroscopy is of fundamental importance for the understanding of the strong interaction at intermediate energies with the goal of finding more details about QCD confinement. NSU had been involved in hardware construction and software development for both experiments and in the data analysis of previous CLAS experiments related to meson photo-production. The group proposes to continue its current involvement in the analyses and software development of meson photo-production performing full Partial Wave Analysis (PWA) of few body final states. The spectroscopy studies concentrate in channels for the study of exotics and strangeonia states. They are working to obtain more efficient, user friendly and fast analysis code for pursuing amplitude analysis. GlueX and MesonEx will obtain data with such better systematic and statistical uncertainties that the limitations of the current methods of analysis will be exposed. Therefore new refinements in analysis will be required, and a close collaboration between theorists (models) and experimentalists (software), to obtain definite results. Through this program, NSU faculty and undergraduate students will directly participate in the software development and analysis of data from experiments in the forefront of nuclear physics research. NSU is one of the leading HBCU's in the country and its main campus is conveniently located at a short distance from Jefferson Lab. The group has a continuous record of involving minorities at Jefferson Lab for the last 20 years. This project will continue to provide opportunities to under-represented minorities and strengthen diversity in nuclear physics research.

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.

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

Norfolk State University’s (NSU) participates in the study of the sub-atomic structure of matter as members of the GlueX and MesonEx (CLAS12) experiments at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility located in Newport News, Virginia. Our research centers on studying the forces that keep the basic components of sub-atomic particles together, known as the “strong” force. We expect to identify a new form of sub-atomic particles (exotics), predicted by theoretical considerations, that can greatly contribute to the understanding of the strong force. These exotics will provide an external manifestation of the strong force that otherwise is hidden (confined inside the composed particles). NSU faculty and undergraduate students are developing a software infrastructure to perform the analysis of big data in a user-friendly manner. Specifically, we are exploring new statistical techniques, hardware options and software programing to help the analysis. We started to use Deep Learning techniques and the use of GPU farms in the analysis of particles.

We are working to obtain more efficient, user friendly and fast analysis code for pursuing amplitude analysis (see pypwa.jlab.org). We have finished the basic software structure for analysis. GlueX and MesonEx are obtaining data with such better systematic and statistical uncertainties that the limitations of the previous methods of analysis were exposed, therefore new refinements in analysis are required, and a close collaboration between theorists (models) and experimentalists, to obtain definite results. New models were included into the software.

 

The NSU campus is near Jefferson Lab, providing NSU students opportunities to participate in research all year around. The goal of this project was to strengthen the national participation of undergraduate minorities in nuclear and particle physics research. Six undergraduate students participated in this project, developing software and analysis experimental data, all of them graduated by the end of the project. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), such as NSU, have been more successful than majority institutions in retaining minority students at the undergraduate level and introducing them to graduate programs in STEM disciplines.

 


Last Modified: 05/02/2022
Modified by: Carlos W Salgado

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