Jets as a Tool to Study Hadronization at RHIC and the EIC

This proposal outlines three separate experimental programs, each aimed at exploring the structure of our universe at the most fundamental level. The first two programs will investigate how the quarks and gluons that are liberated in high energy proton-proton and electron-proton collisions spawn new quarks and gluons and eventually combine to form the particles that comprise the visible universe. These studies will shed light on the nature of Quantum Chromodynamics, a theory that describes the strong force, one of the three fundamental forces that comprise the Standard Model of Particle Physics. The third program aims to discover signals of new forces and particles that are not yet included in the Standard Model. The g-2 experiment at Fermi National Laboratory just released a new precision measurement of the magnetic properties of the muon, a fundamental particle with characteristics very similar to the electron, but with 200x the mass. This result confirms the previous measurement made at Brookhaven National Lab nearly twenty years ago and differs significantly from Standard Model theoretical calculations of the same precision. This discrepancy points to possible contributions to the muon''s magnetic moment from Beyond the Standard Model forces and/or particles. The g-2 collaboration is in the process of analyzing and collecting additional datasets with the goal of further reducing the uncertainties on the measurement and pushing towards a discovery level discrepancy with the Standard Model predictions. The experiments supported by this grant will provide undergraduate and graduate students with the necessary tools and experience to either continue their work in basic research or to enter the technical workforce and lend their problem solving expertise to a myriad of fields, including finance, big data analysis, patent law and medical physics. Undergraduate students funded by this award will continue to have the rare opportunity to experience the scientific culture and basic research performed at U.S. National Laboratories.