Fundamental Physics in Small Experiments

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Blum, T, Winter, P, Bhattacharya, T, Chen, T Y, Cirigliano, V, DeMille, D, Gerarci, A, Hutzler, N R, Ito, T M, Kim, O, Lehnert, R, Morse, W M, Semertzidis, Y K
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 27.10.2022
• Subjects: Couplings; Dipole moments; Electric dipoles; Experiments; Fermions; Flavor (particle physics); High energy physics; Magnetic dipoles; Particle physics; Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics - High Energy Physics - Lattice; Physics - High Energy Physics - Phenomenology; Research projects; Standard model (particle physics)
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2209.08041

High energy physics aims to understand the fundamental laws of particles and their interactions at both the largest and smallest scales of the universe. This typically means probing very high energies or large distances or using high-intensity beams, which often requires large-scale experiments. A complementary approach is offered through high-precision measurements in small- and mid-scale size experiments, often at lower energies. The field of such high-precision experiments has seen tremendous progress and importance for particle physics for at least two reasons. First, they exploit synergies to adjacent areas of particle physics and benefit by many recent advances in experimental techniques. Together with intensified phenomenological explorations, these advances led to the realization that challenges associated with weak couplings or the expected suppression factors from the mass scale of new physics can be overcome with such methods. Second, many of these measurements add a new set of particle physics phenomena and observables that can be reached compared to the more conventional methodologies using high energies. Combining high-precision, smaller-scale measurements with the large-scale efforts therefore casts a wider and tighter net for possible effects originating from physics beyond the Standard Model. This report presents a broad set of small-scale research projects that could provide key new precision measurements in the areas of electric dipole moments, magnetic dipole moments, fermion flavor violation, tests of spacetime symmetries, and tests with gravity. The growing impact of these high-precision studies in high energy physics and the complementary input they provide compared to large-scale efforts warrants strong support over the next decades. In particular, EDM searches are expected to improve sensitivities by four or more orders of magnitude in the next decade or two.