No Arabic abstract
Broad and unexplored kinematic regions can be accessed at the LHC with fixed-target $pp$, $pA$ and $PbA$ collisions at $sqrt{s_{rm{NN}}}=72-115~rm{GeV}$. The LHCb detector is a fully-instrumented forward spectrometer able to run in fixed-target mode, and currently hosts a target gas cell to take data in the upcoming Run 3. The LHCspin project aims at extending this physics program to Run 4 and to bring polarised physics at the LHC. An overview of the physics potential and a description of the LHCspin experimental setup are presented.
LHCSpin aims at installing a polarized gas target in front of the LHCb spectrometer, bringing, for the first time, polarized physics to the LHC. The project will benefit from the experience achieved with the installation of an unpolarized gas target at LHCb during the LHC Long Shutdown 2. LHCb will then become the first experiment simultaneously running in collider and fixed-target mode with polarized targets, opening a whole new range of explorations to its exceptional spectrometer. LHCSpin will offer a unique opportunity to probe polarized quark and gluon parton distributions in nucleons and nuclei, especially at high $x$ and intermediate $Q^2$, where experimental data are still largely missing. Beside standard collinear parton distribution functions (PDFs), LHCSpin will make it possible to study multidimensional polarized parton distributions that depend also on parton transverse momentum. The study of the multidimensional partonic structure of the nucleon, particularly including polarization effects, can test our knowledge of QCD at an unprecedented level of sophistication, both in the perturbative and nonperturbative regime. At the same time, an accurate knowledge of hadron structure is necessary for precision measurements of Standard Model (SM) observables and discovery of physics beyond the SM. Due to the intricate nature of the strong interaction, it is indispensable to perform the widest possible suite of experimental measurements. It will be ideal to have two new projects complementing each other: a new facility for polarized electron-proton collisions and a new facility for polarized proton-proton collisions. LHCSpin stands out at the moment as the most promising candidate for the second type of project, going beyond the kinematic coverage and the accuracy of the existent experiments, especially on the heavy-quark sector.
The Picasso project is a dark matter search experiment based on the superheated droplet technique. Preliminary runs performed at the Picasso Lab in Montreal have showed the suitability of this detection technique to the search for weakly interacting cold dark matter particles. In July 2002, a new phase of the project started. A batch of six 1-liter detectors with an active mass of approximately 40g was installed in a gallery of the SNO observatory in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada at a depth of 6,800 feet (2,070m). We give a status report on the new experimental setup, data analysis, and preliminary limits on spin-dependent neutralino interaction cross section.
The JHF-Kamioka neutrino project is a second generation long base line neutrino oscillation experiment that probes physics beyond the Standard Model by high precision measurements of the neutrino masses and mixing. A high intensity narrow band neutrino beam is produced by secondary pions created by a high intensity proton synchrotron at JHF (JAERI). The neutrino energy is tuned to the oscillation maximum at ~1 GeV for a baseline length of 295 km towards the world largest water Cerenkov detector, Super-Kamiokande. Its excellent energy resolution and particle identification enable the reconstruction of the initial neutrino energy, which is compared with the narrow band neutrino energy, through the quasi-elastic interaction. The physics goal of the first phase is an order of magnitude better precision in the nu_mu to nu_tau oscillation measurement (delta(Delta m_23^2)=10^-4 eV^2 and delta(sin^22theta_23)=0.01), a factor of 20 more sensitive search in the nu_mu to nu_e appearance (sin^22theta_{mu e} ~ 0.5sin^22theta_{13}>0.003), and a confirmation of the nu_mu to nu_tau oscillation or discovery of sterile neutrinos by detecting the neutral current events. In the second phase, an upgrade of the accelerator from 0.75 MW to 4 MW in beam power and the construction of 1 Mt Hyper-Kamiokande detector at Kamioka site are envisaged. Another order of magnitude improvement in the nu_mu to nu_e oscillation sensitivity, a sensitive search of the CP violation in the lepton sector (CP phase delta down to 10-20 degrees), and an order of magnitude improvement in the proton decay sensitivity is also expected.
The NEMO experiment is investigating the neutrinoless double beta decay. The NEMO-3 detector is taking data in the Frejus Underground Laboratory. The goal of the SuperNEMO detector is to reach a sensitivity on the order of 10^26 year on the half-life of the bb0nu process. The chosen isotopes for the future detector are 82Se and 150Nd, because of the reduced background. The collaboration has started a 3-year R&D development on all components : tracking detector, calorimeter, source enrichment and purification, radiopurity measurements.
The International Linear Collider (ILC) is now under consideration as the next global project in particle physics. In this report, we review of all aspects of the ILC program: the physics motivation, the accelerator design, the run plan, the proposed detectors, the experimental measurements on the Higgs boson, the top quark, the couplings of the W and Z bosons, and searches for new particles. We review the important role that polarized beams play in the ILC program. The first stage of the ILC is planned to be a Higgs factory at 250 GeV in the centre of mass. Energy upgrades can naturally be implemented based on the concept of a linear collider. We discuss in detail the ILC program of Higgs boson measurements and the expected precision in the determination of Higgs couplings. We compare the ILC capabilities to those of the HL-LHC and to those of other proposed e+e- Higgs factories. We emphasize throughout that the readiness of the accelerator and the estimates of ILC performance are based on detailed simulations backed by extensive RandD and, for the accelerator technology, operational experience.