Studies of Pion and Kaon Structure and AI to Expedite Science Output

One of the great quests throughout human history has been the effort over thousands of years to understand the structure of matter from its most fundamental constituents. We are driven by human curiosity to understand the physical world in which we have evolved. At the same time, advances in understanding the structure of matter have led to improvements in human quality of life. Despite this long history, our understanding of the nature of strongly bound sub-atomic matter in terms of its fundamental structure and origin is severely lacking. Methods to bridge this gap have been developed, and tools have emerged to 3D image the structure of matter deep inside a quantum world. Nuclear physics, the subject of this research program at The Catholic University of America, is the study of the atomic nucleus. It is a key scientific field that investigates the properties of matter performing ground-breaking research to expand our understanding of the sub-atomic world. Nuclear physics research leads to an enormous range of applications and technologies, and has contributed to data, computation, economic development, health and security. This research program at The Catholic University of America will perform research to advance the knowledge of the underlying quark-gluon structure of the basic building blocks of the atomic nucleus: its protons and neutrons, and also the pions and kaons that bind them. The program will include AI/ML methods to expedite science output in contemporary nuclear science. It will contribute to the improvement of sub-atomic particle detectors that are employed in particle accelerators and the education of the future advanced tech work force through training of graduate, undergraduate, and high school students in state-of-the art instrumentation and AI/ML informed software development. This research program has a threefold focus: 1) to deepen the QCD understanding of charged pions and kaons, 2) to provide measurements to validate the framework for 3D hadron imaging, 3) to include AI/ML methods to expedite science output for light-meson structure and 3D imaging experiments. The program focuses in the near and intermediate term on Jefferson Lab 12 GeV, and in the long term on the US-based Electron-Ion Collider. The experimental method uses beams of highly energetic electrons and/or photons to probe the deep inside of a hadron by a completely- (or nearly completely-) measured set of only a few particles, through exclusive (and semi-inclusive) scattering processes. The emphasis of the experimentation is on precision measurements of longitudinal/transverse separated deep exclusive meson electroproduction cross sections. The science program has an integral component making use of Jefferson Lab as a testbed towards applications of AI/ML to streaming readout (SRO) in contemporary nuclear science. This addresses the critical step towards physics analysis supported by foundational AI/ML models capable of identifying complex event topologies within the continuous data flow. Such models are also needed for future SRO-based experiments at JLab (and later EIC). Early-career scientists and students at all levels play an integral part in this project, which provides opportunities to gain experience in the design, assembly, and testing of modern subatomic particle detectors, fast signal processing electronics, and scientific data analysis folding in AI/ML. 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. NSF Award ID: 2609884 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Tanja Horn | Institution: Catholic University of America, WASHINGTON, DC | Award Amount: $750,000 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2609884 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2609884.html