Fundamental Physics with Hadrons and Nuclei, from Quarks to the Cosmos

Renewal Proposal Proposed Project Period: [07/15/2022 - 07/14/2025] DOE award number DE-FG02-96ER40989 “Fundamental Physics with Hadrons and Nuclei, from Quarks to the Cosmos” Principal Investigator Susan Gardner Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506-0055 Abstract We propose to continue our theoretical investigations of fundamental symmetries, and their violations, with the end of connecting to experimental and observational probes of new physics. We consider e?ects that could help to explain the cosmos’ gross excess of matter over antimatter, and possibly the origin of its dark matter, as well as to illuminate whether Majorana dynamics exists in Nature. In this project, a particular focus is on the interplay of strong and weakly-coupled dynamics in low-energy processes with hadrons and nuclei within and beyond the Standard Model. We propose to continue to study new mechanisms of CP violation and of baryon number nonconservation, considering not only the prospects for the discovery of baryon-number-violating processes at high-intensity, low-energy electron scat- tering facilities, but also the new constraints that are possible from observational studies of neutron stars and neutron star binaries. We also propose to continue to study the possibility of CP violation in η decays, particularly in the process η → π+π0π−, for which extensive experimental study is planned in the U.S. and worldwide. We also propose to study the impact of the light quark mass di?erence on the theoretical description of radiative correc- tions in neutron β decay in a systematic way, as this is necessary for the interpretation of the next generation of ultra-precise experiments. Additionally, we propose to continue our QCD analysis of hadronic parity nonconservation in few nucleon and nuclear systems, which is important to the interpretation of experiments at the SNS. Finally, we plan to continue our investigation of the manner in which magneto-optical e?ects can probe the structure of matter and the possibility of new particles and forces.